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Why fandom’s love of the ‘Shadowhunters’ cast knows no borders

In the past two months that fans have been passionately fighting to save Shadowhunters, it’s become very clear that the campaign isn’t solely isolated to North America.

The #SaveShadowhunters fan campaign knows no borders and is being expressed in a myriad of different, beautiful languages online.

Take a merry skip through the enthusiastic camaraderie of the fan campaign on Twitter, for instance, and you’ll find the good ship #SaveShadowhunters is being carried by an international wave of fans.

They share adorable tweets about how beautiful Kate McNamara and Harry Shum Jr. are together in Turkish:

They preach the good gospel of Malec while urging for a fourth season in Korean (and with adorable illustrations):

They wake up in German and prepare for their #SaveShadowhunters battle in English:

And they discover the meaning of life in Shum Jr.’s jacked body (amen honey) and tell the world about it in Spanish:

Simply put, this isn’t just a bunch of fans sad about their favorite TV show being cancelled and griping about it online. It’s an international movement being carried out across the globe via a number of grassroots fan-led activities.

It’s a protest realized in multiple languages across multiple continents, united by one very large and unparalleled love and an even louder message: Shadowhunters deserves a fourth season (at the very least).

Since the show was cancelled in June, fans have organized some incredible efforts across the planet (and beyond, if you can believe it) in a bid to help save the show from cancellation. Here’s a roundup of all the most powerful efforts so far and where they took place.

South Korea

At the start of July, fans managed to organize #SaveShadowhunters billboards in Seoul subway stations. One was posted up at Gwanghwamun Gate Station (craftily situated conveniently close to Netflix’s Korean offices):

Meanwhile, another was put up in Jung-gu and was recently (and adorably) discovered by Shadowhunters actor Jade Hassouné “by accident”.

United Kingdom

The campaign also made its way to London at the start of July where #SaveShadowhunters banners emblazoned the sides of 24 of the city’s iconic red buses. The campaign circled round the busy streets of London for two weeks and attracted a great deal of local press attention.

Canada

At the end of July, a similar billboard was put up in Toronto, Canada where the show is filmed. The colossal media hub of a city is the perfect place for the campaign and not just because it holds such a special place in the hearts of the show’s cast and crew.

The billboard is accompanied by stickers and other promotional items nearby that are sure to be seen by a huge amount of people – particularly those important and influential media professionals who can be critical in helping out with a campaign like this.

Meanwhile, an auction of Shadowhunters set pieces and costumes is due to go ahead in a fortnight in Toronto. The selling off of key items from the Shadowhunters set is sure to be bittersweet for fans unwilling to let go of the show yet, but also hoping to grab some memorabilia from it.

Most importantly, many fans have been (only half-jokingly, we suspect) suggesting that the ShadowFam buy up every goddamn last item so they can film S4 themselves on an iPhone in someone’s backyard. Joking or not, we’re kind of crazy for this idea.

USA

Of course, the main bulk of activity has been concentrated in the United States. At the end of June just a few weeks after Shadowhunters was cancelled, fans combined their efforts to arrange for an aerial banner to be flown above the Netflix headquarters in Los Angeles.

The #SaveShadowhunters message circled the building for three badass hours.

As part of our #FreeShadowhunters mission, we’re chiming in on how a TV Scoop Award can also raise awareness of 'Shadowhunters'.

New York

A couple of days later, fans organized a digital billboard that aired the #SaveShadowhunters message for five minutes in Times Square.

That might not seem like a great deal but hell, do you even know how much a Times Square billboard costs to rent? It’s a lot. Plus, approximately 330,000 people from all over the world walk through Times Square each day, so that ad would have caught a great deal of attention.

A Teen Choice Awards win can help us #SaveShadowhunters. Now as part of our 'Shadowhunters' mission, we help y’all get organized about how and when to vote.

San Diego

In July, the ShadowFam ramped up their marketing even further with #SaveShadowhunters branded pedicabs promoting the campaign at San Diego Comic-Con.

The pedicabs are an important part of the humongous convention as they help to ferry people around the SDCC site. The presence of the campaign was also significant because Freeform had notably failed to bring the show to SDCC in 2018 – with the help of the pedicabs, fans still ensured the show maintained a bold presence.

The Trevor Project

By far, the best fan-organized part of the #SaveShadowhunters campaign has been the incredible achievement of fans raising over $21,875 for The Trevor Project – a US-based charity providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention for LGBTQI youth.

Space

And last but not least, the #SaveShadowhunters campaign has now even entered space as a galaxy has been dedicated to the show and everyone who works on it.

Last weekend demonstrated just how widespread the support for 'Shadowhunters' is. London became host to Pandemonium Con and the Shadowfam came in droves.

So err, yeah. That happened. Your move Freeform!  

Now that the ShadowFam members basically own a damn galaxy, we’re sure they can wish upon a few thousand stars to get this show saved now. Or maybe there are a few extraterrestrial TV fans with great influence who can help make this shit right.

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Amy Roberts is a freelance writer who occasionally moonlights as a hapless punk musician. She’s written about pop culture for websites like Bustle, i-D, and The Mary Sue, and is the co-creator of Clarissa Explains F*ck All. She likes watching horror movies with her cat and eating too much sugar.

amy@filmdaily.co

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