Shadowhunters hasn’t even premiered yet and fans already know the actors and the characters. During the Shadowhunters‘ New York Comic Con panel, fans were treated with the first six minutes of the series. Every time a character was introduced, the crowd screamed.

If you are a fan of the books, the producers have tried their best to do them justice and so far fans seem to be happy.

“We really wanted to honor the fan base by creating characters and having actors that could shoulder the responsibilities and could deliver for you guys week in and week out. Hopefully we’ve done you proud. And away we go,” executive producer McG said.

The cast the producers have assembled are very passionate about this project.

Dominic Sherwood (Jace) and Katherine McNamara (Clary) said that everyone on the cast and crew was very dedicated in putting this show together. Katherine said she believes it will show on screen.

McG said they really wanted to get the show right and they had to get the right Clary, Jace, Simon and so on.

“I love Clary. She has this blend of strength and vulnerability and she has a huge journey that only barely begins in the first season and I’m really excited to share it with all of you,” Katherine said.

“The biggest thing that we brought to Jace is his arrogance, his contempt for his own mortality. He’s very devil may care. We go into Jace’s history. We find out that Jace can, in fact, be a little vulnerable at times, but that’s a little later on in the season, so you have to watch,” Dominic said.

Emeraude Toubia plays Izzy and she’s so happy that ABC Family and McG gave her this opportunity. She’s happy to be a Latina and able to play such a strong role and hopes it will open doors for more girls like her.

“I love Izzy. She’s so passionate, she loves as passionately as she fights,” Emeraude said.

Matthew Daddario would give very little away about his character, Alec, so if you don’t know the books, you’ll have to wait for the show. All he would say is that he’s very conflicted and “if you’re a fan of Alec, you might be happy. We’ll have to see.”

Isaiah Mustafa will be playing Luke. Isaiah said he’s a fun guy to play because he’s sort of the step father figure to Clary. He said it’s a lot of responsibility being the oldest on the cast and watching over everyone making sure they do the right thing.

Alberto Rosende plays Clary’s best friend, Simon. He gets dragged into this world because he doesn’t “want to leave Clary alone. He doesn’t want her to ever be in need of someone, so he always wants to make sure he’s her right hand man.”

Harry Shum Jr. is very excited about his character, Magnus Bane. He read the Bane Chronicles and said that’s when you start to understand this guy. You have no idea how old he is because he lies about his age. He could be 300, 400 or even 500 years old.

“What I love about him is on the outside he’s got all of this makeup, glitter and nails painted and inside there’s part of him that’s very compassionate and wants to help even though he does need some form of payment and that’s up to him at the moment whatever he feels,” Harry said.

Part of really committing to the characters was working out and getting into shape.

McG said, “If you’re going to do this, you have to go all the way and you got to be believable and you have to make it happen for all these passionate fans.”

McG said they all did a great job getting into shape to handle the physical demands of their roles.

Another part of creating this world for fans was the runes.

“One things I love about the runes is how they evolve and they change. When we first get them they’re very painful looking, almost like a cut or a burn., so it starts as a prosthetic and as time goes on it heals, so the color changes and it evolves. I had a lot of that because Clary’s runes are new this season,” Kat said.

The runes are also sometimes mixed with CGI. The runes are activated by the steles, which are also used as weapons. Apparently Dom had a lot of trouble with this prop.

“He’s always fiddling with a stele and that’s something I took from the books firstly because Jace is so confident and I think it’s so strange that he has a slight nervous tick,” Dom said.

“And Dom feels like he’s Jace and, in a lot of ways, he is, but he’s not quite as coordinated. So how many did you break?” Matthew asked Dom.

Dominic came back with telling the crowd that the steles are very fragile. He thinks he broke 12 of them.

Katherine also said they’re heavy and oddly balanced.

“Despite the broken steles, I think Dom learned the most tricks with the Seraph blades,” Kat said.

McG said: “I asked him to go home and play with this sword and he certainly obliged us all.”

The cast is also very dedicated to their fan base. They invited two fans on to the stage and when they weren’t allowed to bring any more on stage, Dom went down to the fan that asked for a hug.

To learn more about the making of the Shadowhunters, check out the special episode on December 6 at 9:30/8:30c pm on ABC Family. The show will premiere on January 12, 2016, following Pretty Little Liars.