A 'Buffy' Reboot, GOT Cosplay & 'Supernatural' Sadness: 'The Music' Does Oz Comic-Con

Oz Comic-Con exudes glamour, with its many superstar guests from the worlds of genre film and television ('genre' meaning horror, sci-fi, supernatural, fantasy and superhero). This year, the Melbourne edition of the pop expo – which encompasses movies, TV, comics, anime, manga and gaming – lined up primarily small screen icons, mirroring a swing away from cinematic experiences. However, conventions are as much a celebration of fandom, geekery and community. The cosplay is a spectacle in itself, with Game Of Thrones strongly represented, regardless of any supposed fallout from the final season's narratives. Multiple Daenerys Targaryens queue for selfies of themselves on Foxtel's shiny replica Iron Throne – one complete with a Drogon constructed artfully out of (flammable af) cardboard. Whatever Khaleesi's transgressions in Westeros, Throners still deem her as revivable, replicable and redeemable. Yet the Dany cosplayers do blank the Sansa Starks.

The Friday before Oz Comic-Con is media day. The easygoing stars from Freeform's supernatural urban-fantasy series Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments, the English Dominic Sherwood and Floridian Alberto Rosende, decide to team up for interviews. They're curious about the weekend's panels as Oz Comic-Con is the first event they've attended since the show's special extended finale in May. Pointedly, Sherwood notes, they have no future arcs to tease.

Adapted from Cassandra Clare's saga The Mortal Instruments, Shadowhunters is about Clary Fray (Katherine McNamara), who, on coming of age, learns that she is a Shadowhunter – a human/angel whose mission it is to protect mortals (called Mundanes or 'Mundies') from the demonic. Sherwood – his breakout role that of Christian Ozera in the underrated flick Vampire Academy – plays a tormented Shadowhunter, Jace Herondale, while Rosende is Clary's (sometime) human BFF, Simon Lewis.

Shockingly, in mid-2018, Shadowhunters was cancelled – despite being a hit with viewers and critically lauded for its LGBTQIA+ rep. Fans orchestrated a high profile campaign, #SaveShadowhunters. Finales can be controversial – just probe a GoT cast member. But Sherwood is relieved that, in the case of Shadowhunters, he's encountered minimal negativity, "other than people being pissed that it actually came to an end". The Shadowhunters fandom is largely toxicity-free. Sherwood commends showrunners Todd Slavkin and Darren Swimmer for their efforts in tying up everything. "It's a hell of a feat to put together three-and-a-half years' worth of work into two hours and finish everyone's story off," he says. Shadowhunters' conclusion, although open-ended, was meant to inspire "hope" for the characters' futures, rather than be a twist or cliffhanger. After Clary loses her abilities, and her memories, she returns to the Mundane realm. But, when the young painter observes Jace at her exhibition, there's cognition – reigniting the 'Clace' ship.

A contemplative Rosende holds that Simon consistently epitomised that optimism. "He always talks about this idea of hope that he has; that you can never lose hope. And what we get at the end of our finale is that hope that, 'Oh, maybe that world will continue.' We go back to being Mundanes as fans, not really knowing what that world is about, but that world continues on and we hope that direction keeps moving." 

Sherwood responds, "I think what they've done so well with the ending is it was left ambiguous, but not necessarily from a sense of like, 'Maybe the show's gonna come back.' It was more, It's up to you guys to finish the story in your heads, which ever way you would like to. If you want to continue the story being very happy and positive, then great; where, if you want to continue the way the writers probably would have written it, then someone probably dies and then we bring them back and whatever… But it was left ambiguous because then it's sort of left again to this community to talk about it and to explore what you think was gonna happen; what the ideas were for the future." 

Rosende adds, "I liked [how] they kinda touched on what everyone was doing at the end because, in a way, it's like you can create your own ideas based on it." And, yes, he envisages the romance between Simon and Isabelle "Izzy" Lightwood (Emeraude Toubia) sizzling up.

Of course, The Mortal Instruments was originally abridged for a 2013 film, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, with Jamie Campbell Bower as Jace and Robert Sheehan as Simon. And Sherwood has met his 'alter ego', thanks to some eagle-eyed fans. "I bumped into Jamie – weirdly. I didn't really know what was going on. I was pretty hungover. I was with a friend of mine at a Starbucks and there was a group of girls, who were obviously fans, but they were freaking out to an extent that I'd never seen before. I was like, 'What is going on here? This is next level.' Then I look over and Jamie is in the queue at Starbucks as well and [the fans] were freaking out that both of the Jaces were in the same place at the same time. So I went over and said, 'Hello,' and he was like, 'Oh, Dom, hey. Yeah, I've heard obviously a lot about you,' and blah, blah, blah. So we met. He's very, very sweet and, yeah, [I have] nothing but nice things to say about him." Sherwood and Rosende are each pursuing different projects. Sherwood, the extrovert, is on standby to announce a new gig (the Brit later divulges that he's binge-watched three seasons of the program, stressing, "My next job is very different.")

Clare Kramer is legendary for depicting the wicked god Glorificus (or Glory) in Joss Whedon's '90s supernatural drama, Buffy The Vampire Slayer. But, these days, she is an in-demand host of panels at cons. "People have been asking like, 'Why, why?'" she says. "I'm like, 'I'm just as passionate about film and television as you are,' but they love it." Kramer is known to be thoroughly prepared – in contrast to the occasional journalist. "It was surprising to me over the years being interviewed and having people be, like, 'Um, ok, wait, what show were you on? Oh, um, you played a vampire!' And I'd be like, 'No – it's very little research to find out that I wasn't a vampire, I was a god!'… I really like to learn about, not just the main shows someone is starring in at the moment, but their background and history, so that I can connect with them as an artist and not just as someone sitting in a chair trying to elicit answers from them." Kramer cites Gwendoline Christie, aka GoT's Brienne of Tarth, as a favourite conversational subject, recalling a panel where audience questions were prohibited due to an HBO embargo. 

Unlike rival expos, Oz Comic-Con presents dual panels with its celebrity guests over the weekend so punters don't need to spend hours queuing – or miss anything because of clashes. The first major draw on Saturday is the Shadowhunters panel mid-morning on Stage One with Kramer as moderator – and it's packed. Sherwood reveals that his mum is in the audience and she disapproves of him swearing.

The Melbourne Oz Comic-Con has much to offer devotees of The CW's long-running US goth drama Supernatural, which trails the Winchester brothers Dean (Jensen Ackles) and Sam (Jared Padalecki) across the US as they hunt paranormal entities. A gleaming black Chevrolet Impala is on display in the exhibition hall, the trunk contents strewn beside. The Supernatural panel is timely given that, sadly, the show will end with a 15th season. Nonetheless, Osric Chau, cast as the beloved prophet Kevin Tran, and Alexander Calvert, who is Lucifer's son, Jack Kline, bring the comedy. Though the Canadians have never shared screentime, they've become friends on the con circuit. Intriguingly, Chau talks about his own cosplaying. The Sunday slot is especially hilarious as the pair speculate whether Supernatural's fandom is a cult. As for how Supernatural might finish? Calvert emphasises that it's ultimately about the Winchesters, so he hopes that they "find some kind of peace". An audience member asks him about a fan theory that Jack, currently languishing in The Empty after God killed him, could be "the new God". Initially dubious, Calvert jokes, "Let's throw some gasoline on the fire!"

The weekend's most revelatory panelist is Rick Cosnett, who migrated to Australia from Zimbabwe, on the hall's intimate Stage Three. The playful Cosnett is nothing like the sinister Dr Wesley "Wes" Maxfield he rendered in The Vampire Diaries (TVD): "Everyone hated me!" he remembers. The actor details the emotional rollercoaster of the audition process, disclosing that, pre-TVD, he tested for its spin-off The Originals – specifically the role that became Charles Michael Davis' Marcel Gerard (also a contender was Pedro Pascal, now known as GoT's Oberyn Martell). A week after Maxfield's inevitable demise on TVD, Cosnett was granted the part of the tragi-hero Detective Eddie Thawne on The Flash, linked to Arrow. Alas, he hasn't followed the latter's storyline since his 'death'. "I'm not up to date. Sometimes I feel sad that I'm not on it anymore." 

Strangely, several television franchises are coming to a close – another being Arrow, Stephen Amell portraying the titular DC Comics superhero. At Oz Comic-Con, the show is discussed by Colton Haynes, in a bright red and ornately patterned shirt, and late con addition Willa Holland – who play Arrow's protege Roy Harper/Arsenal and Arrow's half-sister Thea Queen/Speedy, respectively. Addressing Sunday's gathering, Haynes is unsure if he'll be back for Arrow because the storylines have diverged (Holland is comparatively furtive). Holland, who launched her acting career with The OC, expresses her "disappointment" in the GoT finale, sagely suggesting the problem was how creators David Benioff and DB Weiss handled it. "They're not directors." She'd have preferred the Emmy-winning David Nutter, who coincidentally guided Arrow's pilot. The dry Haynes admits he is no Throner but watched the ending out of interest, quipping of Dany's exit, "Bye, there she goes!" Haynes is also widely recognised as the jock Jackson Whittemore in Teen Wolf and he alludes to the staggering afterlife of the MTV smash. "The fandom is still so alive!"

The key trend in genre television is reboots, with '90s classics, such as Charmed and Roswell, contemporised. Since Buffy's 20th anniversary in 2017, there's been speculation about an imminent spin-off – this time with a more inclusive cast. And, returning to the media hub, Kramer is supportive. "I feel like, if done correctly with Joss [Whedon] and, to some extent, Sarah [Michelle Gellar, aka Buffy], in whatever capacity, that it could be a really good thing – because the story to me, even as someone who was on the show, was very powerful. A young girl, she had a lot of problems, she also had this other life, this supernatural life thing, going on, but she was extremely relatable. It was the first time I feel like there was something on television that made young women, and even men, look at themselves and think, 'I'm different; I'm odd – you know what? That's ok. I still belong somewhere and I still am powerful.' The messaging was really important. So, if we can keep that messaging and keep that tonality of the show and do it with Joss to some extent, Sarah to some extent, why not? Why wouldn't we wanna share that with another generation?"