Maxim Roy, who plays Jocelyn on Shadwhunters, spoke with us about the pilot and what we can look forward to in the future.
Jocelyn is the mother of the lead character Clary in Freeform’s adaptation of The Mortal Instruments series. Jocelyn has kept many secrets from her daughter and in the pilot we see the consequences of those secrets.
When asked about fans finally getting to see Shadowhunters Roy said, “I am very relieved that everyone has seen the first episode. There is a lot of anticipation leading up to that first episode being released.” Roy certainly wasn’t wrong about the anticipation for the pilot episode — Shadowhunters debuted to 1.82 million viewers.
Roy wasn’t given a lot of time to adjust to the role of Jocelyn. She received the call on Monday that she had gotten the role and was on set Tuesday to begin read throughs. She didn’t get to read the books until filming had already begun. “At first I went only with the scripts given because I was called the day before we started filming,” she said. “On set I was like ‘can anyone get me a book please so I can read this?’ I have read the first one and I am waiting to read the rest to see if we get a second season or not. I am very superstitious and I don’t want to jinx it. I don’t want to get excited or know what is coming because I don’t want to be disappointed if it doesn’t happen.”
When asked about playing Jocelyn and her motivations for keeping secrets from Clary, Roy said, “I think it is pretty simply, it is just a mother’s instincts. She says pretty clearly I don’t want her to be a part of our world. I think it is a very complex world and she doesn’t want her to know about her father. Jocelyn really admires the mundane world and finds peace in that world and she wants peace for her daughter.”
Clary isn’t the only person Jocelyn has in her life. Luke, who is very much a part of Jocelyn’s past, also plays a role in her present and possibly her future. When asked about their relationship Roy said, “Jocelyn and Luke have a great bond that started off as friends and grew into something more, which is the best kind of relationship. It’s a complex relationship because he’s a wolf and she’s an angel, but in the end they fall for each other and they are very loyal to one and other. Their relationship is authentic and they have pure love that is against all odds.”
One of the best scenes in the pilot was when Jocelyn had to fight off the Circle members to protect her secrets. That scene was filmed early on and Roy didn’t have a lot of time to learn the stunt choreography. “I was looking at the schedule and there was a fight scene list and I was like when are we rehearsing this? I got to set that morning and I looked at the stunt people rehearsing while I was dinking my coffee shaking. I learned the stunts that morning and we filmed in the afternoon.” Roy was intent on filming the stunts herself. She wanted the scene to be believable and insisted on doing the scene herself. There was one bit she recognized that wasn’t her, but 90% of the scene is her doing the stunts. “It’s not something you get to do very often, especially for women, I loved it.”
When discussing her scenes with Clary and Luke, Roy says that the stele scene is one of her favorites. “I love the scene where Jocelyn gives the stele to Clary. It is full of things she can’t say but it is full of intentions. There isn’t a lot of dialogue but everything is said in the silence and with the looks. The scene with Luke in the kitchen was filled with despair and I got to play it not say it and I loved that. I’m more of a dramatic actress so I love doing those scenes.”
We tried to get the goods about Jocelyn and Valentine, but Roy was tight lipped on upcoming episodes and her role, however she did say there are flashbacks and we will get to see more of the Circle and where it started. This backstory will be particularly interesting given the currents state of the Circle and Valentine.
Lastly, Roy hinted at which episodes we should be keeping an eye out for. “Episode 10 is a fun episode for everyone and for Jocelyn. Isaiah described it well — it’s like taking the negative of a photo and you turn it around so the colors aren’t the same. Everyone is a different version of themselves. Everyone really enjoyed shooting that episode. Also episode 13 is another big episode for Jocelyn.”
Episode 10 is entitled “The World Inverted” and airs on March 15. Episode 13 is entitled “Morning Star” and is set to air on April 5.
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