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August 2018 saw 'Shadowhunters' win big at the Teen Choice Awards, with the show being awarded the accolade of Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show.
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How ‘Shadowhunters’ ruled the Teen Choice Awards

Last summer Shadowhunters fans had a perplexing weekend. On the one hand, they received a piss poor press release from Constantin Film that covertly announced “it’s not possible for this version of Shadowhunters to continue” but that they’re currently “trying to figure out new ways and new incarnations in which to bring the Shadow World to fans worldwide.”

Suffice to say, the ShadowFam wasn’t exactly happy with the announcement. Particularly as Constantin Film’s casual announcement delivered a distinct disservice to the epic efforts of the #SaveShadowhunters campaign so far.

On the other hand, Shadowhunters won big at the 2018 Teen Choice Awards, with the show being awarded the accolade of Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Show (and beating shows like Stranger Things, The 100, and Supernatural to do so).

Meanwhile, Matthew Daddario beat stars like Finn Wolfhard, Gaten Matarazzo, and Joseph Morgan to win Choice Sci-Fi/Fantasy TV Actor.

Which highlights the conflicting (and frankly confounding) nature of Shadowhunters’s cancellation – it’s an award winning show arguably at its peak of popularity, so how can it still not be saved by anyone?

Though fans were celebrating the TCA wins on Twitter, they were also serving up some steaming hot tea regarding the contradictions surrounding Shadowhunters as a cancelled yet award winning TV show.

Twitter user IconicNephilim pointed out the satisfying yet strange fact that Shadowhunters performed better than any other (uncancelled) Freeform show at the TCA.

Others highlighted that although Shadowhunters won two awards, it was actually nominated for seven. Which is undeniably a baffling achievement for a show that has somehow been deemed not worthy of saving yet.

And multiple fans suggested Shadowhunters’s TCA achievements in the face of cancellation are bound to stir up some serious emotions in every network bigwig who has so far chosen to bypass the opportunity to save the show.

But all negativity aside, there are also plenty of positives to be taken from the TCA wins. Most notably, the TCA wins are another irrefutable piece of evidence that Shadowhunters is worth investing in.

As Twitter user GoldRunesMalec beautifully pointed out, that isn’t just because the show is popular and terrific enough to warrant it – it’s also because Shadowhunters comes with one of the most passionate and enthusiastic fan bases worth investing in.

It’s worth noting that the winners of the TCA’s are voted for by fans. (Although there have been countless conspiracy theories raised online over the years that the award show is “rigged” – a suggestion mostly made by fans of shows that don’t win.)

The fact that Shadowhunters has won an award in such a major category thus highlights the power of the show’s fandom on a mainstream platform

You know, if all the charity fundraising, billboard campaigns, and flying #SaveShadowhunters banners above Netflix HQ have somehow escaped your attention in the past couple of months.

In fact, the power of the Shadowhunters fandom is so mighty, one fan even joked that the TCA had been rigged in the show’s favor just to ride on the coattails of the ShadowFam’s Twitter prowess.

Which is hilarious but actually a fair point. Especially when you consider that every channel of the TCA’s online marketing was inundated by fans spreading the good gospel of the #SaveShadowhunters campaign during the live feed of the show.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember about the TCA is that though they reward excellence in young adult programming, they’re also an opportunity to reward the passion and enthusiasm of fandoms.

The Shadowhunters fandom is easily the strongest and most impressive in terms of community, organization, and their efforts to save and support a show that the original network and production company have apparently all but given up on.

Though they deserve to have Shadowhunters saved as a reward for all of their efforts and devotion, it’s at least heartwarming to see them rewarded with such a major win at the 2018 TCA. As Katherine McNamara suggested on Twitter, the magical evening was largely thanks to the fans.

Here’s hoping that someone, somewhere of great power and influence has been watching the #SaveShadowhunters campaign and the TCA with great interest and seen the value that Shadowhunters has to give.

If and when the show does get saved and whoever chooses to do so will undoubtedly be investing in a bonafide winner.

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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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