Shadowhunters 3B is back with a bang(ing trailer)!

Well, angels, we made it. We’ve finally been gifted with the Shadowhunters 3B trailer! And honestly, I can’t…. ? After watching, I spent a solid 15-minutes grinning because, “Hi Freeform, remember the show you canceled? Well… it’s back, baby, and oh boy, is it better than ever!” The long-awaited trailer comes just 25 days before season 3B airs on Freeform, Monday, February 25th, and on Netflix, for a worldwide audience, on the 26th. Let’s just say the fandom-press has been building the excitement but now we finally have some tangible content to unpack. Let the games begin!

Did it hurt when you rose from hell?

Oh, Jonathan Christopher! Welcome back to the world of people without gooey, charred faces. You certainly seem like you’re up for a good time. The trailer allowed us our first proper glimpse at Jonathan 3.0 – in the flesh – with an additional winged-version. Presumably our baddie for this season, I have to admit Luke Baines seems faultless from what we’re allowed to see so far. And (no) surprise, Clary is alive! But she’s with Jonathan… smells like trouble. The best kind, of course. The push-pull relationship between these two will be exhilarating to watch, and this new found connection they seem to have (Clary’s darkness is growing inside of her) could lead our fiery redhead down the slippery slope to hell. He seems to be tempting her toward the dark side (I hear they have cookies!), and as later scenes show, she’s quite possibly possessed – like Jace was, not long ago – as she’s shown violently fighting Izzy and telling Jace, “This is who I am.”

Loved shooting this scene. It’s sexy.

— Matt Hastings (@mattdirector) January 4, 2019

Dancing queen slipping through my fingers

The trailer, thankfully, gives us an overview of the upcoming season, while still retaining great mystery going into each episode. What is barely touched on is the loss of Magnus’ magic. He seems to return to himself – “Feels good to be back.” –  pretty quickly, so it’ll be interesting to see whether or not that’s true. That said, Malec fans have been gifted with a sneak peek into the training scene – which is, as Matt Hastings promised, quite sexy, as Alec pushes Magnus up against a pole. So we can only imagine what the before and after looks like… We also get to see the dancing scene, and I’m so curious about the context around it now… hope the slow/fast combo we were promised comes to fruition. Maybe the slow dance will happen at the wedding we seem to get a glimpse of. Although it’s not all good news for Malec fans. The trailer treats us to shots of Magnus having a seizure with Alec bent over him, a warlock (presumably Catarina) giving him CPR, Alec crying with the shadowhunters huddled around him and no sign of Magnus. And then there’s the line that carries throughout the snapshot scenes: “I won’t lose you. I can’t.” Have to admit, I’m very happy to see Alec worrying about someone other than his parabatai considering how much Magnus has sacrificed. It’ll be interesting to see, in the next twelve episodes, how much more is sacrificed and whether or not Alec ends up losing Magnus in the end.

Women taking the lead

The werewolves are featured with a transition of power from Luke to Maia, who has obviously returned. We can assume this takes place as he searches for Clary in the earlier part of the season, or perhaps, it’s later and he no longer wishes to be pack leader. Either way, the trailer shows the portrayal of badass leader Maia and that is something we’re very much here for.

Old flames reignite

A very prominent section of this trailer teases the long-anticipated build-up of Sizzy’s relationship. It seems as if the traumatic events of the Spring finale brings them closer together. It would also appear they move very quickly, so we’ll have to wait and see how their relationship develops within, what looks like, the Seelie Court – for, what any book fan knows, is the removal of the Mark of Cain. Then again, it could be for anything!

I am, as I’m sure many of you are after that trailer, so excited to see how the final episodes of our beloved Shadowhunters play out. It looks unpredictable, tragic, romantic, and so many more things rolled into one final season. Without question, this show, this cast, this crew, have blown the remainder of the episodes out of the park and they have done so as an ode to the incredible fanbase that supports them to the ends of the earth (and hell) and back.

These past few months, I have never felt so proud to be a part of something bigger than any of us could have ever imagined. It’s an odd thing to consider the end of something the beginning of something else. Maybe, quite literally, it is. But when you look deeper, that “something else” was just seeds planted years ago that have only just begun to grow. In light of Shadowhunters’ cancellation, spectacular forests have emerged from the darkness and they’ve flourished beyond what anyone could have expected.

With billboards and buses and planes and cupcakes and books and ducks and sweets and bikes, this fandom has globally connected and intertwined. We’ve bettered the world with the incredible donations towards The Trevor Project, whilst the show has bettered the representation of LGBTQIA+ relationships and persons, strong women and incredible courage to be who you are without fear.

Let’s look to the next 12 episodes not with sadness but with hope for more love, more power, more sisterhood, more family, more sacrifice, more reunions, more Ruelle songs, more epic wedding kisses, and a couple of (flaming this time!) glowing swords.

Perhaps, for some of you, not saving the show feels like a failure – but we were never the ones that could save the show. The most we could ever do was be loud and unite to show the power of a fandom they constantly side-lined, disparaged, and never fully understood. They – the powers-that-be – truly underestimated us and my God, have we ever shown them!

And if you haven’t already, be sure to check out our Speculations on Shadowhunters 3B. Also, we’ll be doing continued coverage weekly until the series premieres and throughout the season!