EW.COM – If you thought your life was complicated, you should really talk to Clary Fray. The protagonist of the upcoming series Shadowhunters, based on the Mortal Instruments books, discovers on her 18th birthday that not only is there a Shadow World full of supernatural beings, but she’s a half-angel, half-human who’s destined to protect the world from demons. Or at least, that’s where her journey begins.

For the rest of the story, we turned to Shadowhunters cast members Katherine McNamara (Clary Fray), Dominic Sherwood (Jace Wayland), Alberto Rosende (Simon Lewis), Emeraude Toubia (Isabelle Lightwood), Matthew Daddario (Alec Lightwood), Isaiah Mustafa (Luke Garroway), and Harry Shum Jr. (Magnus Bane), who attempted to describe the plot of their show in 30 seconds.

Shadowhunters premieres Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 9 p.m. ET on Freeform.

TVLINE.COM – Who’s ready for another vocabulary lesson? (Yes, we realize that Christmas is not a school day, but we think you’ll really like this one.)

Last week, TVLine presented you with four terms every Shadowhunters fan will need to know before the series’ Jan. 12 premiere (ABC Family/Freeform, 9/8c), and we’re back again — along with stars Katherine McNamara, Dominic Sherwood, Matthew Daddario, Alberto Rosende and author Cassandra Clare — for another exclusive behind-the-scenes vocab lesson.
In addition to explaining key terminology, the video also gives us a look at Jace and Alec — they’re “parabatai,” which you’ll understand after watching — in action, and it’s kind of epic.