The Mortal Instruments: Dream Cast | By: Kristine Le

Inspired by my current read, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare, I thought it would be a fun idea to create my dream cast for a book-movie/tv show adaptation. The book has already been created into two separate adaptations and for the most part I think the casting directors did a phenomenal job but, there are some characters that I believe they couldn’t have been more wrong about. I’ll be completely honest now and say that most of the “cast members” I’ve selected don’t necessarily match the book’s description but I’ve chose most them based off of who I thought could portray the character’s personality best.

CAST

Jace Wayland: Jamie Campbell Bower

Absolutely the perfect pick for Jace. Jamie captures Jace’s sarcastic, standoff (yet, caring) personality exactly as I imagined it in the books.  

Clary Fray: Lily Collins

I picked Lily Collins for Clary mostly because I love the chemistry between her and Jamie and feel that they would really be able to recreate Clary and Jace’s relationship accurately. I also picked Lily because she has the look and feel of an artist which goes hand in hand with Clary’s character.

Alec Lightwood: Matthew Daddario

Daddario’s not perfect but he does capture how I imagined Alec to look in the books.

Isabelle Lightwood: Mila Kunis

I saw Mila and it was like BAM! That’s Isabelle Lightwood. It wasn’t about the way Mila looks but she just gave me such an “Isabelle Lightwood” feeling that I had to pick her.

Simon Lewis: Alberto Rosende

Alberto is casted in the tv show for the Mortal Instruments and I couldn’t be more happy. He does such a good job at bringing to life Simon’s character and I just really appreciate the effort he puts into his work.

Magnus Bane: Harry Shum Jr

Just like with Daddario I don’t think Harry is the perfect fit for Magnus but he definitely fits the image I had forming in my head when I was reading.

Maia Roberts: Kat Graham

Kat fits both the description and personality of Maia. I feel like Kat would really be able to bring Maia to life fully with her amazing acting.

Luke Graymark: Aidan Turner

Turner has both the skill and face to be Luke Graymark. When I first watched the Mortal Instruments movie and saw that Turner was casted as Luke I was overjoyed. He did such a good job that I actually felt that I was watching Luke Graymark on screen.

Max Lightwood: Lewis MacDougall

I’ve heard great things about MacDougall’s acting and saw that he was a young actor and instantly thought of Max Lightwood. At first when I picked MacDougall I wasn’t checking to see if he matched Max’s description but, thinking about it, he actually does somewhat fill the description. BONUS!

Jocelyn Fairchild: Lena Headey

Just like with Turner, I though Headey did a wonderful job at playing Jocelyn in the movie that it was a no brainer that I would include her as a part of my dream cast.

Maryse Lightwood: Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie may be a bit of a stretch for Maryse but it’s Angelina Jolie… how could I not include her?

Hodge Starkweather: Robert Carlyle (younger)

Seeing Carlyle play the role of Rumplestiltskin on Once Upon A Time, I think he would make a perfect Hodge. Everything about him, the way he walks, talks, and presents himself gives me a Hodge vibe. The only thing I would wish to change is his age and make him younger.

Valentine Morgenstern: Ian Somerhalder

I’m still on the fence with casting Ian for the role of Valentine but I just feel that he would do justice to the role. I’ll have to overlook the fact that I’m making one of my favorite actors into a villain.

Sebastian Verlac: Alex Pettyfer or Colton Hayes or Jake Abel

So many choices for Sebastian, partly because his character is so complex it was hard to pick one person to capture it all. Right now I’m leaning toward Alex Pettyfer because I think his experience from Beastly would really help him become Sebastian.

Jordan Kyle: Colton Haynes

Jordan was really hard to decide. I ended up picking Haynes because I thought he could act as Jordan really well but I know there are better options out there to play Jordan.

Raphael:  David Castro

Castro is another member of the Mortal Instruments tv show cast and honestly I think he’s doing a great job at being Raphael and his performance is very satisfying, I wouldn’t say he’s the best Raphael, but he’s definitely an option everyone should consider when they make their own dream cast list.

Side Note:

If this adaption were to ever happen I’d love for MTV to pick it up because they really know how to transform fantasy from books to an on screen production without making it seem cheesy or cliche. For example, The Shannara Chronicles was made into a tv show by MTV and it was absolutely amazing and so well done. As for the soundtrack for the production, anything by M83 would go together with Cassandra Clare’s world so beautifully.

In all, this list was actually extremely difficult to make but also an interesting challenge. Seeing how others formed their own dream casts and how theirs differed so drastically from mine was pretty fascinating considering we were all thinking about the same characters but had such different interpretations.