New York Comic Con is one of the biggest fan conventions of the year. It’s a fan’s inside scoop to their favorite shows and movies. This year at Comic Con, Freeform gave fans a sneak peek at their newest show, Siren, and upcoming seasons of their most popular shows, Beyond and Shadowhunters. Young Entertainment sat down with the stars and producers of these shows. Stay tuned to our site for more exclusive interviews from the cast and crew of Freeform’s biggest shows!
First up: Alisha Wainwright (Maia) and Isaiah Mustafa (Luke) of Shadowhunters
Young Entertainment Mag: What can you tell us about Maia’s character arc for this season?
Alisha Wainwright (Maia): One of the wonderful things about this season 2 finale, is that Maia finished her Rom Com movie. Think about it: she gets kidnapped, she gets rescued by her boyfriend, and then they enjoy a lovely night together. She’s coming from such a happy place. I feel like she’s one of the few characters from the finale, who everything has gone right for. I think what we will find is that Simon did some dealings behind her back, and consider not only what that says for Simon, but what that says for their relationship and trust. You want to know when you find a hiccup, how do you handle it? And I think they handled that story beautifully. And I think you’ll enjoy seeing how Simon and Maia work through problems together.
Isaiah Mustafa (Luke): And you want to see how Maia reacts to adversity. You have an idea of how she reacts based off of what you see already. But that’s a physical level, like how she busts out of an ice cooler, or how she changes when somebody tries to hurt her, but you know, I’d love to see more emotional stuff, like the things that go on between her and her boyfriend.
YEM: To what extent do you think the fan’s ideas or opinions influence the writing of the show or the actor’s performances?
Isaiah: I don’t think you can ignore it. They’re the fans, they’re the ones giving you attention, and who watch the show. I think, to a degree, you have to stay honest with what you know you’re setting forward, but I think you also want to give a little nod to the fans to say “we hear you.”
Alisha: We’re putting a product out there, and if you’re not listening to the customer reviews, (and that was such a weird analogy, but stay with me), I feel like you’re not a good business model. If we’re talking from that perspective, and obviously it’s way more personal than that, but I feel like everything is heard. And some of it has to be “I didn’t actually consider that opinion, and moving forward, we’ll keep that in mind.” And terms of performance, I perform for my own art, and I’m so happy with how its received by fans, but I wouldn’t necessarily a fan’s opinion of my portrayal influences anything I do moving forward. This is what I’m giving you guys: do you enjoy it? Okay, cool. I’ve got nothing but support from fans and thats one of the most positive things about the show.
Isaiah: As a fan, you may think you want all the information and know everything about the characters, but you don’t want that. Because then you’ll have everything and there won’t be anywhere to go. You need somewhere to go, its all about being patient. It’s like going through puberty, you’ve just got to be patient.
YEM: How was it for you when you first started working on the show? Did you get along with each other?
Alisha: It was great. The first people I met—
YEM: No, tell us the truth.
Alisha: No, I’ll be totally honest with you. So my first day, if you remember seeing episode 3, Maya is chasing Jace down that narrow alley way. That was the first scene I ever shot. And Alberto and Cat were wrapping up their scene, so they were the first cast members that I met, and immediately Cat was like “Oh my god, I’m so excited to meet, let’s take a selfie!” It was so perfectly open arms, it feels like summer camp, since we weren’t all Toronto locals, and we do reach out to each other a lot to spend time together. And we all were all very active and outgoing, we all liked to do stuff together. And also coming into season two, with Todd and Darren also starting season two as well, it felt like there was a new wave of energy in general, so all the cast mates took it in stride. Which, if it was the same show runners from season one to season two, I would react to that a little differently, but everything was changing so much to begin with.
Isaiah: It may have been different on that end of things, but for cast members, it wasn’t different. We’ve been the same since the jump. We do that with almost everybody. But there are certain cast members you can tell that there is a trajectory for their character, so you tend to want to be a bit more attentive, but then you learn that she’s a regular, then you don’t need to worry about any weirdness going on. Because some characters come in, and they leave. You never see each other again, but they may want to hang. And it’s kind of hard for us for us to keep going for our trajectory, but we left your character behind. It’s an icky feeling, but you’re always happy when someone you hang out with and care about, and [it turns out they’re a regular].
Alisha: For example, Joel, he was an absolute treat and pleasure to work with, and it was such a huge bummer that he got killed off, but he immediately booked another show. The show just tends to attract great people.
Isaiah: Even if we butt heads, it never comes to a head. It’s usually just difference of opinion: “okay, fine, let’s move on.”
Alisha: Like trying to decide on a Halloween costume.
Isaiah: Exactly.
YEM: What can you say about Luke’s exposure to his partner?
Isaiah: Oh, you mean being naked again?
YEM: No, about being a werewolf!
Isaiah: Well, I can’t give anything away, but all I can tell you is that she is very persistent, and she will not stop until she gets the answer she is looking for, but the answer she is looking for may not be what she thinks they are.
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