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Shadowhunters: Dominic Sherwood Is "Incredibly Proud" of Sarah Hyland's Guest Role

He's also 100% sure Sebastian is a psycho

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Lindsay MacDonald

It's not like most Shadowhunters get an easy life considering they're chasing demons all day, but we'd argue that Jace Wayland (Dominic Sherwood) -- err... Herondale, has had it worse than most.

After finding out that he's not a Wayland, he's a Morgenstern, Jace found out that whoops, he's actually a Harondale. Not only that, but he's desperately in love with a girl who's not his sister after all, while she's happily dating her vampire best friend. And then there's that whole angelic blood wild card he's still trying to figure out.

Basically, Jace has it rough, and he deserves a break. If that break so happens to be living happily ever after with Clary Fray (Katherine McNamara), you won't hear us complaining. So far, Jace has been very respectful of Clary and Simon's (Alberto Rosende) relationship, bowing out like a true gentleman, but according to Dominic Sherwood, recent developments might have changed all that.

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After that kiss in the Seelie Court, will Jace see that as an opening, since it proved Clary still has feelings for him?

Dominic Sherwood: This transgression is definitely a step in a different direction for all of them, and it's something that of course Jace wants to explore. He's been in love with Clary since the moment they met in the alleyway way back in Episode 1 of Season 1. He's loved her since then, and whether or not he's willing to admit it, that's something that he's absolutely intensely passionate to explore.

Are we going to see more hookups between him and Maia, or was that like a one and done?

Sherwood: It was kind of more of a one and done kind of thing. It was just this kind of very raw, explorative passion between the two of them. And she even says in the scene, "This doesn't mean anything, like this is just about you and me and the passion and just following our biology."

Jace also now knows his real identity -- we hope at least.

Sherwood: Yeah, like let's not, right? We don't need to revisit that any more. If in the next episode, they say, "Actually, you're not a Herondale," it's like, "Come on, guys! Enough is enough!"

Are we going to explore more of his Herondale roots and his past?

Sherwood: We're going to do little bits with his Herondale roots, but more and more over the next six or seven episodes we're going to explore a little bit deeper into Valentine (Alan Van Sprang) and Jace's old relationship and introduce these new textures to that relationship. There are still things about Jace's past that he doesn't know. That no one knows. No one except for Valentine, so there are still things happening there.

Valentine is evil as all hell, but he's a genius. The plans he's set forth have been in motion for a little over a decade. He's been putting this all in place for a long time, so we get to explore a little more of that, and that all kind of comes to a head with Jace, Clary, Valentine and a couple of other characters. We explore them a little more.

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Dominic Sherwood, Shadowhunters

Dominic Sherwood, Shadowhunters

John Medland, Freeform


I loved that scene with the piano. It was sad, but it was such a good window into the Jace/Valentine relationship.

Sherwood: I actually loved that scene because it's as you say, playing this beautiful piece, and playing piano for him is so cathartic. It's just a way of letting his emotions go, especially because they're trained to keep them all inside for so long. It's kind of another avenue other than crying on Alec's (Matthew Daddario) shoulder physically and emotionally. This is another avenue to getting his emotions out.

Then obviously we explore it, and he says, "Valentine taught me and every time I went wrong he would break my fingers and make me start again." It's this beautiful horror. It's very Greek tragedy. It is lovely and a nice shade to add to Jace, but it's brutal.

Switching gears to the Sebastian issue, how sure should we be that this guy is a straight up psychopath?

Sherwood: He 100% is a psychopath. I can tell you that because we just had that scene at the end of [Episode 14].

We've been doing interviews for the past two or three months, and I'll I've wanted to say is, "No! Don't trust him because he's a total dick!" But you can't say that yet because he's super charming and lovely on screen. But now, I can be like, "See? See, I told you! He's a nightmare. He's got another person all bloody and chained up in his closet! That's crazy!"

And he burns his hands for fun because why not?

Sherwood: Actually that's interesting because that ends up, that very brief moment -- the writing is very clever, especially this season and especially with Sebastien -- that will come to fruition later on. It's actually very important in Sebastian and Jace's relationship later on down the line. We're going to figure out why. It's not just for fun. He's -- without trying to give too much away -- he's testing himself. He's training himself.

Will we see more of the Seelie Queen and her court this season?

Sherwood: Yeah, we're not done with her. She was really fantastic. If you liked that... you're going to really enjoy when we see her next, I promise you.

Let's also check in on this angel blood situation with Jace and Clary. We've only scratched the surface there, so what can you say about those powers and that plotline?

Sherwood: Jace and Clary are still discovering what those abilities are and how to use them and what they can physically do with themselves and with each other. It's a bit of an explorative process that leads them into some pretty trepidatious situations a couple of times.

They haven't told me yet, but I feel like specifically for Jace -- this is just my brain getting away from me -- I feel like his pure angelic blood will lead to a big story point in Season 3. But I also don't know if that's actually true. They haven't told me.

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Jace and Alec have had some great moments so far, is there anything coming up for those two?

Sherwood: Jace and Alec, in my opinion, have one of the best relationships on the show because it is a bond that is beyond love or physical attraction or friendship or whatever. It's kind of a soul bond.

When we were exploring these characters, I looked into the origin of what a soulmate was and where that pretense came from... It came from an old Greek proverb where human beings were created with two heads, four arms, and four legs, and the gods, fearing their power, split them all in two and sent them to different corners of the earth. So those two people had the same soul but in two different bodies, and that's where soulmates came from.

That's kind of what Matt and I have tried to put into Jace and Alec's relationship. They don't necessarily have to say anything, they feel it through each other, and that can be hugely positive, but it can also be heartbreaking at times. You'll see it later on. That relationship and that bond ends up being wonderful and hugely negative at the same time.

What can you say about Sarah Hyland's guest role this season?

Sherwood: Very little. I can tell you she was a real pleasure and asset to have on set. The cast, the crew, everyone just fell in love with her not only from her performance but also her attitude and her soul and how caring she is. It was a real pleasure to have her on set.

All I can say is one, she does an amazing job and I'm very excited for everyone to see her, and two, I'm incredibly proud of her.

Shadowhunters airs Mondays at 8/7c on Freeform.

Dominic Sherwood, Shadowhunters​

Dominic Sherwood, Shadowhunters

John Medland, Freeform