Exclusive Coverage of the Beyond and Shadowhunters Denver Premiere
Freeform held a contest to bring the season 2 premiere of Shadowhunters and the pilot debut of Beyond to the winning city. Denver took the prize and on December 10th the historic Bluebird Theater hosted Kat McNamara (Clary Fray), Matthew Daddario (Alec Lightwood) and Isaiah Mustafa (Luke Garroway) from Shadowhunters and Burkely Duffield from Beyond.
Talk Nerdy With Us had the opportunity to interview the cast before watching both shows on the big screen. Warning this newbie reporter said “so” and “awesome” way too many times, so it’s not advised to make a drinking game of it.
First up was Matthew Daddario who talked about his real-life parabati, why Alec won’t get irrationally jealous of Camille (but he’d love to see more of Kaitlyn Leeb), his driving force to find Jace in season 2, Alec’s need to balance a relationship with other responsibilities, Valentine’s manipulations for seeing his ideology come to life, strife within the Lightwood family (but more Max!), more facets to Alec (including some childishness which might annoy fans for a while), a flying grape and his nerdy love for sci-fi books (get your pens ready for recommendations!).
Next was Isaiah Mustafa discussing the new showrunners, his fatherly relationship to Clary, what impact Maia will have on Luke and his relationship with his step-daughter, his hope that Simon and Maia can bond over being new downworlders, his love for the Clint Eastwood movie Every Which Way but Loose and actress Ruth Gordon, his unspoken love for Jocelyn, the bumpy road ahead for Luke, Viktor’s arrival and his nerdiness for everything but (gasp!) Star Trek.
Now we get the chance to meet Burkely Duffield, the star of Freeform’s newest show. Beyond is about Holden, a young man who wakes from a 12-year coma after a fateful encounter in the woods that’s now left him with inexplicable abilities that propel him into a dangerous conspiracy while trying to uncover answers for himself.
The fan reaction to the pilot was wholly positive with viewers being heard to say they’d for sure watch the show. Here’s Burkely discussing the amazing scene that first demonstrates his powers, why it was worth it to be soaked for two days during filming (you’ll know the scene when you see it!), what it’s like to portray a character with arrested development, the unusual brother dynamic with younger sibling Luke (Jonathan Whitesell) coaching Holden on the things he’s missed out on, how he plans to celebrate the debut, whether or not he’s ready for fandemonium, who he’d become a crazed fan for, whether we’ll ever get to see his musical talents on the show and his greatest hope for Beyond.
Last, but certainly not least, is Kat McNamara who talks about diverging from the books, doing her own stunts, her love for Star Wars and books, shooting her fave scenes from the Mortal Instruments series, Sebastian’s arrival, checking out fanwork on Tumblr, Easter eggs on the show and the many things she nerds out about.
Teasers were live tweeted for the season 2 premiere of Shadowhunters and the pilot of Beyond on the TalkNerdyWithUs account under the hashtag #beyondandshadowhunters.
Look for the season 2 premiere of Shadowhunters and the 2-hour debut of Beyond on Freeform January 2nd.