Television series

Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments

Name: Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments
Genre: Drama, Fantasy, Supernatural
Released: 2016
Cast: Katherine McNamara, Emeraude Toubia, Alberto Rosende, Dominic Sherwood, Matthew Daddario

Urban fantasy

A demon-hunting fantasy where a teenage girl discovers her true heritage on her eighteenth birthday and crashes headlong into a world of warlocks, vampires, and Shadowhunters. It's fast, soapy, full of elaborate costumes and mythology, with the messy energy of early fandom—the kind of thing that builds fierce devotion in exactly the right viewer. For those who want their supernatural drama big, melodramatic, and unconcerned with subtlety.

TVMaze rating

3.4

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like soapy romance tangled up with demon-slaying, a big glittering secret-world setup, and characters who trade wisecracks between sword fights.

Skip it if the emotional ping-pong between its love triangle can feel repetitive, and the early episodes lean on lots of exposition that slows things down.

What it asks of you: Fifty-five hour-long episodes across three seasons, so you're committing to a long haul with a steady, cliffhanger-driven rhythm and a tonal mix of earnest and campy.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Vampire Diaries2009

Same engine—teen discovers supernatural secret, joins a found family of pretty immortals, navigates love triangles while demons literally hunt them. It understands the pleasure of overwrought supernatural soap opera.

But Eight seasons is a commitment, and it sustains itself through sheer melodrama. The plotting can collapse into chaos when you're not actively invested in who's sleeping with whom.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer1997

The template for this entire mode: girl discovers her power, assembles a crew, fights monsters as metaphor. Shadowhunters borrows its architecture wholesale, but Buffy has the wit and economy that come from truly understanding how to pack emotion into forty-two minutes.

But It's a nineties artifact with all that entails—the special effects are budget TV, the dialogue occasionally groans under its own cuteness, and the first two seasons require patience.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones2013

It's the source material in film form with a sharper budget and Lily Collins in the lead. If you love the show but wonder what Clary's story looks like with a proper cinema treatment and a two-hour limit, here's your answer.

But It's a feature adaptation of only the first book, so it doesn't capture the accumulation that makes the series work. The movie exists in a weird space between faithful and rushed.

The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Tokyo Babylon 11992

Both center a beautiful, orphaned protagonist discovering hidden powers and joining a marginalized crew to hunt supernatural threats, driven by loss and the search for belonging.

A Japanese manga series where an orphaned teen with supernatural abilities hunts demons alongside a mysterious, beautiful mentor in an urban setting. It has the aesthetic, the mythology, the romance, and the found family—but in a completely different cultural context with manga's particular storytelling gift. It moves with extraordinary grace.

But It's an older anime adaptation and only twelve episodes; the animation is hand-drawn in styles that won't match modern expectations. You have to want to meet it where it is.

Reign2013

Similar energy: gorgeous people in elaborate costumes navigating mythology and conspiracy while falling in and out of love in the most dramatic way possible. It commits fully to being ridiculous without apology, which is part of its charm.

But Historical accuracy is treated as a suggestion. If you want your fiction grounded in fact rather than pure aesthetic spectacle, this will frustrate you.

Supernatural2005

Demon hunting, monster-of-the-week episodes mixed with mythology, a core crew that becomes family. It has more grit and a lower budget feel, but the structure and the found-family warmth will be deeply familiar.

But It's fifteen seasons long and can feel repetitive in stretches. The early episodes haven't aged as gracefully as Buffy, and committing to it requires real patience.

The Originals2013

A spinoff of Vampire Diaries that leans into aristocratic vampire mythology and Gothic New Orleans atmosphere. Better paced than its parent show and actually improves on what it borrows.

But You really should watch Vampire Diaries first to understand the character relationships. Going in cold will feel like entering a conversation halfway through.

Grimm2011

A detective discovers a secret world of supernatural creatures hiding among humans. It shares Shadowhunters' fascination with hidden mythologies and found families, with slightly better writing and a procedural structure that gives each episode real shape.

But It's heavily procedural, so mythology takes a backseat to weekly cases. If you watch for mythology, you'll spend a lot of episodes wanting it to go deeper.

Chilling Adventures of Sabrina2018

A teen discovers her true nature and enters a hidden magical world while maintaining a foot in the normal one. It's darker than Shadowhunters and more focused on dread, but hits some of the same discovery-and-belonging beats.

But It takes itself far more seriously and moves slowly. If you want the speed and sass of Shadowhunters, this will feel ponderous and bleak.

Only Murders in the Building2021

Both understand that the deepest satisfaction is watching isolated people find a crew that accepts them completely and watching that bond become unbreakable.

Three strangers in an apartment building bond over investigating a mystery, and what emerges is a profound found-family drama with genuine humor and real stakes. It has none of Shadowhunters' supernatural apparatus, but it understands exactly what the show does best: making you believe that misfits become family.

But It's a mystery first and found-family second; if you want supernatural action, you'll be disappointed. The pacing is slow and deliberate, favoring character to plot.