British actor Dominic Sherwood has been setting young hearts aflame for the last few years in the Netflix series Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments. However, with the show having been announced as Season 3 being its last, an outpouring of grief and demands for it to be picked up are the resounding cries across social media. Unfortunately, not all shows can be saved from the chopping block, and its fate appears to be sealed.

Despite this being bad news for fans, Sherwood has taken it in his stride. Prior to his arrival back onto Australian shores for the Brisbane and Sydney Oz Comic-Con events, we had a chat with him about the love and support from the fans and also some first world hair problems.

The show has been Sherwood’s longest running project and for a young actor, a TV series can be one of the best training grounds. Offering an opportunity to get comfortable in the skin of a character, whilst also teaching the importance of working in and amongst a crew, and having to pull your weight to ensure the work gets done. Sherwood elaborates on the things he learnt from his experience on Shadowhunters that he feels has helped him become a better actor.

“From the point of view of just strictly acting, and what that artform has become, to me there’s a lot about this business that I didn’t really understand, especially in TV, because I hadn’t done TV in quite a long time. There’s a lot more about this business that I’m now starting to grasp a little better. And then, from the point of view of actual performance, some of what Jace had to go through was so incredibly difficult, that a lot of those times we didn’t have a huge amount of time. Whether it was physically learning these fights or emotionally getting into the right place.”

“From that point of view, I’ve sort of learned how to pull it out of my ass when I needed to, because sometimes we just didn’t have any choice. There were times when we’re losing daylight, or we have a night shoot and the sun’s coming up and you just have to get that take done there and then. It’s almost like theatre acting, because you don’t really have a second shot at it, because this is the only time we’re going to do it. I have to learn how to do that quite quickly. But, when you have a cast and a crew around you who are so supportive and amazing, it makes it a lot easier because you’re just being supported constantly. It’s a great lesson to learn with great people.”

It’s intriguing then, with the fortune of hindsight, and now with the ability to look back on his time playing Jace Herondale whether or not there would be something he would’ve liked to have changed about the character, be it physical, emotional or mental.

“Season 1, and the beginning of Season 2, we had some hair issues. Some pretty drastic hair issues. It got very long by the end and Jace is very in and out of. Because we had taken the sides so short there was nothing – this is the most cosmetic conversation that we were ever going to have. It is definitely the most cosmetic conversation that I’ve ever had. Towards the end was when we kind of had a problem because it was hot, so it was sweaty and with all of the product they were putting in my hair, we’d have to pin it back. There was no weight in my hair to keep it back and off my face. They were very clear that they did not really want hair in my face at any point. In Season 2 we just kind of gave up on that concept, and we were like “look it’s going to end up in his face and it’s going to happen”. There were times when my hair was so sprayed and slicked backwards that it honestly felt like a helmet. So maybe I would’ve changed that possibly, the hair was a bit of pain in the ass for some time.”

But, if we’re being a little more substantive, the one thing that can’t be changed or denied is the deluge of support the fanbase has shown since the cancellation announcement. It’s never pleasant for those working on the show to have to find new employment. However, Sherwood feels grateful that the sting of the cancellation has been overwhelmed by the love.

“Having a strong support base in any avenue in the world is so fundamental. I think that a lot of what we’ve seen over the course of the show, a lot of the issues we deal with, are real issues that young people are going through in the real world. A lot of what we have seen is that people really struggle with who to talk to about it all. I’m 28 now and I still do the same thing. People go through the same break ups as me. Maybe my story is a little different, and who do I talk to about it?”

“I think that the wonderful feeling of having all these people who support it from all over the world, all different avenues, from different countries and different places is just wonderful. Because, it’s really a nice, heartwarming moment in the world, where really we do need unity; we do need a sense of togetherness because it seems more and more every day I watch the news and people are trying to tear apart from each other. Or the powers that be are trying to tear people apart. I think it’s really important that we, as group of people, stick together and look after each other and make sure that everyone is happy, healthy and successful. That’s what this has really epitomised for me. The fan reaction has made me feel that there’s hope out there.”

he support can also be attributed to the show’s diverse casting and representation of LGBTIQ characters on screen. Shows like Shadowhunters, tap into an audience market that are specifically looking to see their community being shown. Something that was acknowledged by cast and crew alike.

“It’s happening more and more with media which I think is fantastic; that there’s proof that people are being represented in a positive way. Where before, essentially they were represented in a negative, stereotypical way which is incorrect, because there aren’t just one version of people. There isn’t a stereotype for any of these groups, they’re people. Every single person is different. You have a different fingerprint; you have different irises; you’re different people. You are individuals and that’s what makes individuals and the collective so beautiful is that no one is exactly alike.”

For those who may not be familiar with the ~aesthetic~ of the show, think goth supernatural demon hunters, lots of leather, crazy weaponry, and magical rune tattoos. The tattoos of course serve a purpose in the show, and it’s no surprise that Sherwood has had some fans approach him at conventions with these same symbols tattooed, though one particular fan took him by surprise.

“Yeah. We’ve had a few that have come up here and there, and then I just had one recently where someone got my face tattooed on them pretty big, which is a little scary. The runes from the show is cool, but my face, I don’t really know why anybody would do that. It’s very flattering but I hope they got post-makeup Dom rather than pre-makeup Dom, because otherwise that’s just a shitshow. Oh sorry, I don’t know if I’m allowed to say that!”

Fans needn’t worry too much about Sherwood’s future prospects though. He’s not really allowed to elaborate but he reassures us that he has some projects lined up for future work. So obviously fans will want to keep track of him on his social media for those announcements.

“Correct. There are things coming up, and it’s important for me and my team that we make the right choices moving forward, career wise. There are some things that came in that weren’t exactly right or things that I didn’t necessarily want to do on the back of it and on the back of what I’ve done so far in my career. So it’s important we make the right choices moving forward but yes, there are very bright things on the horizon but unfortunately I am absolutely not allowed to talk about them. But the love of my life is this career, so I will not be gone, I will not be disappearing into the world. I don’t know what I would do if I wasn’t an actor, I’d probably be unemployed and I’ve done my fair share of that ”

SOURCE:theaureview

Shadowhunters has seen Jace (Dominic Sherwood) and Clary’s (Katherine McNamara) love survive a lot. First they thought they were brother and sister, then they were both with other people and then one of them even died! Now though, we’ll have to see if that love can survive being erased entirely.

After helping Simon (Alberto Rosende) out with his personal Praetor problems, Jace kicked back to reward himself with a beer, only to be magically roofied by Lillith (Anna Hopkins). Thanks to a sob story she spun to Magnus (Harry Shum Jr.), Lillith was able to entirely erase Jace’s love for Clary, which is good news for The Owl but bad news for Jace.

We had Dominic Sherwood break what this turn of events means for Jace (and Clace obviously), plus what the fallout will be from Lillith taking out the Angel.

So first off, why do you think Jace decided to help Simon with his Praetor problem?
Dominic Sherwood: Jace and Simon’s relationship is really interesting because they do have this bond based off of the bite in [Episode 210]. They do have this relationship with one another, and as much as I think they like to pretend that they really dislike each other, I actually think they have quite a lot of respect for each other. You know, Simon is a devoted, honest, wonderful man and friend to everyone around him – very self-sacrificial in very many ways. And in fact, Jace and Simon are actually very similar in a lot of ways… [They’re] very happy to be the person to lay on the wire so their buddy can crawl over them. They’re very, very similar people in that way. So I think as much as Jace is like, “Oh, whatever, I guess I’ll help Simon because I’m bored,” that’s not really the case. I think he sees Simon in trouble and is like, “I can help you, I know I can help you, we just would never admit it to one another.”

At the end of the episode, Lillith erased Jace’s love for Clary, but what does that mean exactly? What does it do to him?
Sherwood: What Lillith said before this is, “Oh Clary is the reason that I can’t turn you into this creature full time. Clary is the reason that you’re not this creature every minute of the day.” So she has to get in the way of that. By erasing the love for Clary, what she’s done is turn Jace into The Owl. There is no Jace left. The Jace that we see, the physical entity of him, he’s not there anymore. He’s trapped inside this shell that is The Owl, but The Owl is pulling the trigger. The Owl is driving the car now. That’s what’s happening, and that’s what the transition was at the bar.

Obviously there’s some hope of getting him back though, right?
Sherwood: I can’t tell you that! You know I can’t, come on!

Girl’s got to try.
Sherwood: That was close though, good try. Good try.

How will Clary react to losing Jace just when she thought they could finally be together?
Sherwood: Nothing seems to go right for us, it’s pretty rough. Clary is in an interesting position where she’s kind of both a lover and a fighter at the same time. She knows what the mission is, she knows what she’s got to do, but then also her resounding love for Jace will start to get in the way and then not get in the way. She’s in this whole dichotomy of what is and isn’t the right thing to do, which is really a difficult spot for her to be in.

Lillith also killed an angel this episode, so what is the fallout from that going to look like?

Sherwood: Killing an angel is, I think to us, the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen. Like, it’s killing our gods essentially. It’s the absolute worst thing that could possibly happen… It does cause a bit of an issue with Clary obviously because she feels responsible. It does become a bit of a roadblock later on actually in the episodes we’re filming now like 19 and 20. We do find a couple of roadblocks because this happened, because people are less willing to help or assist, because we’ve been involved in such an atrocity.

Does killing an angel affect Lillith or her plans?
Lilith doesn’t care. She’s going to tear down anyone in her path and has made that very clear from the get go. She is going to just stomp all over everything… Later on, we do discover the depths of this kind of weight on Jace. It’s difficult to explain because I’m not allowed to tell you what happens, but we are going to see how much this has affected Jace at some point. How, when, where why? I can’t tell you.

SOURCE:TV GUIDE

The secret is out: Jace is the Owl. Shadowhunters revealed Jace’s secret (even to him) identity two weeks ago, though no one inside the world of the show is aware just yet. While everyone else sleeps, Lilith has been using Jace to do her bidding, and according to star Dominic Sherwood, things are only going to get worse from here.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did you prepare to play the Owl, such a different character from Jace?
DOMINIC SHERWOOD: It was hard. We had a huge discussion, especially because at the beginning, this character doesn’t say anything, so everything we tried to do was about a physicality and a movement. What we tried to do was make him move as much as possible like Will playing Jonathan, not only for the red herring but also because of the connection with Lilith. We thought the physicality of this character would be mirrored by Lilith’s interpretation of who Jonathan is. So we worked very hard and I talked to Will about this a bunch, and then went back and watched what he did with his physicality and how he walked and talked and held himself, and I tried as much as I could to mimic that as the Owl.

Is the Owl face all CGI?
It’s not CGI at all. It’s a mask. That was an exploration. They do the face mold which is no fun — you’re in a warm room, and they put this goo on your face, and you have to sit there for like an hour breathing through a tube. It’s a pretty rough day. Then they give it to you and it feels funny wearing it, and then you can’t really breathe properly and you can’t see. The first scene I did, we had these rain towers up, and I couldn’t see through the lenses because they’re foggy. They’re also tinted, and it was night so everything was really dark. Then what we found out is that the masks leaked and the lenses started to fill up with water. That was difficult. And the pants ripped, too, literally from my belly button all the way to the small of my back. That was fun. Because every time this creature possesses someone, he kneels over them and holds their face. And sure enough, I kneeled down and [my pants] ripped all the way through. Thank god I chose to even wear underwear that day, but I chose to wear bright orange underwear, which everybody saw. All around it was a pretty difficult day, and we all learned a lot about changes we had to make to the Owl’s costume. [Laughs]

How is Jace going to react to finding out he’s the Owl?
Jace doesn’t find out until late in the season because he’s still possessed. He still has no idea what’s going on. He’s the last person to find out, and as far as his reaction, it’s not good. We also haven’t seen the worst of the Owl yet. We haven’t seen the worst of this creature, we haven’t seen the depths of depravity that Lilith is going to make this creature go to. It gets much, much worse. This is about revenge for Lilith more than anything. She wants to use this creature for his abilities and to get what she wants, but at the end of it, she’s going to destroy him. She’s going to take a mean swing at it, trust me.

How does being the Owl affect his relationships?
The relationships are tricky. It’s difficult, like when Alec approached him about losing his mind, he snapped at Alec. That kind of snap to aggression isn’t something that we see in that relationship very often, especially when Alec has come to him with such concern. In the next episode, we see them come together and discuss Jace’s situation a little bit more, which is nice. But what Lilith is trying to do is going to have an effect on all of them because what we’re going to find out more and more is that this creature has Jace’s memories, so he knows how to get to Alec and how to get to Clary and how to get to Izzy and how to get to Magnus. It’s this creature trying to destroy Jace through his friends. It’s really quite awful.

Shadowhunters airs Tuesdays at 8 p.m. ET on Freeform.

SOURCE:EW