6 Critical Differences Between The ‘Shadowhunters’ And ‘Mortal Instruments’ Posters 

6 Critical Differences Between The ‘Shadowhunters’ And ‘Mortal Instruments’ Posters

The official poster for the “Mortal Instruments” mulligan adaptation (for the small screen this time) “Shadowhunters” was released on Friday (Nov. 20) — after a little unlocking game meant to fan the flames of fandemonium — and we’re noticing some important differences between what ABC Family (soon to be FreeForm) has pulled together for their take on Cassandra Clare’s mega-hit YA fantasy series and Sony Screen Gems’ 2013 film, “The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones.”

As Shadowhunters (the long-held name of Clare’s fans, predating the TV series’ title) well know, “City of Bones” drew only so-so results from the box office and got eaten alive by critics, so the studio’s original plans to turn this into a “Twilight”-“Hunger Games”-“Divergent”-style franchise phenom were pretty much D.O.A.

\'Shadowhunters\' Cast Explain How The \'Mortal Instruments\' Show ‘Explores Possibilities The Books Didn\'t\'

But the book series, which has spawned a multitude of prequels and spin-offs and novellas, is still as popular as ever. So with “Shadowhunters,” ABC Family’s got the chance to turn it all around — and its hotshot young cast and the relaxed time-frame within which to pull off all the supernatural subplots presented by the series (among them: demonslayers, mundanes, warlocks, vampires, werewolves, angels, faeries, runes, portals and more) should help.

There’s also the fact that this …

(That’s not a dig on “City of Bones” as a whole, BTW. In the interest of full disclosure, I should note that I visited the set of “TMI: COB” on behalf of our former subsidiary site NextMovie and happened to quite like the movie. Anyway.)

First of all, Clary is clearly post-mundane and ready for her new reality.

Either it’s the giant red rune or that rad studded belt or her general fight stance mixed with her WTF face that has us ready to overlook the excessive photoshopping that’s happened here and enjoy the fire-haired heroine being front and center.

Oh, and it’s nice to see the Lightwood siblings with something to wield.

Kevin Zegers and Jemima West, the actors who played Alec and Isabelle in the movie, are beautiful and all, but having them just stand there and stare with zero tease of the talents they’d be ~whipping~ out was kinda pointless in the original poster. This offering with Matthew Daddario and Emeraude Toubia looks better — even if they could easily pass for a pair of lusty romance novel cover characters.

And, yay, Simon made it into the frame!

He is an ancient warlock who was cool enough to earn his own separate series, so yeah, he deserves some poster love. Especially the kind that highlights his cat eyes and magic hands.

It’s also nice to see Simon at least *trying* to do something.

Jace is … well, he’s all face here.

The “TMI” poster did well to highlight Jamie Campbell Bower’s awesome rune game and his spot-on book cover hairstyle mimicry, but when you’ve got a guy like Dominic Sherwood on tap, well, this is about all you need.

Like “TMI’s” “You have been chosen” phrasing, this tagline is vague enough to apply to pretty much any of its contemporaries.

“Shadowhunters” will air on ABC Family Tuesday, Jan. 12, 2016 at 9/8c.

Clumsy, wavy-haired, and full of good intentions. Yep, that about sums it up.