Tessa Mossey breaks down Heidi’s return to Shadowhunters season 3
Tessa Mossey talks rediscovering Heidi in Shadowhunters season 3, explains why she’s desperate to find Simon, and opens up about Heidi’s ongoing struggles with mental health.
Last season on Shadowhunters, Simon decided to join Quinn for a guys night out at a bleeder den, where he met Heidi, a teenage mundane girl who seemed to be more comfortable with the idea of drinking blood than he was.
Though Heidi was murdered by Quinn in the same episode, we learned in season 3A that she was actually taken from her grave and turned by Raphael, who selfishly sought to use her as a Daylighter guinea pig. However, Heidi’s wild personality and defiant attitude are rooted in her desire to be respected and loved, something we’ll continue to see her seek out in upcoming episodes.
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Many fans didn’t expect to see Heidi return to the series, and for actress Tessa Mossey, the character’s resurrection was just as much of a surprise. We spoke with Mossey to learn more about Heidi’s troubled past, and to find out how we’ll see Heidi continue to make a killer impression throughout season 3.
“Last season I came on in a very small role, and I really had no expectation that it would go any further because in that episode I died,” Mossey said. “About half a year went by, and I’m in Montreal shooting a mini series and I get a call that they wanted to bring my character back.” She explained that they were able to work out a schedule where she could go back and forth between the two shoots, traveling to Toronto when she was needed for Shadowhunters.
“I really wanted to return to Shadowhunters because I knew they were thinking of something like Maureen Brown from the books for this Heidi character. I thought that was so cool, and I really wanted to play that role,” she said. “So it was a bit of a whirlwind, and it was super fun. I got to start creating this troubled, wild character. Everyone was so lovely, and I’ve gotten quite close with a lot of the cast and the crew.”
While Heidi is not a character from The Mortal Instruments series, her story in season 3 is based on the young Maureen Brown from the books. When Mossey first heard about the audition for the role last year, she explained that she had just a few days to learn as much about the Shadow World as possible. “When I came on last season, as it is with TV, a lot of times it’s very quick, like my audition was on Friday and I was working on Monday,” she said. “I was binge-watching as much of the show as I possibly could and reading about all these characters online, and buying e-books. I wanted to put as much information into my head as possible.”
When she found out that she would be coming back in a bigger way for Shadowhunters season 3, she dived into the entire series and fandom, rereading the books (and becoming a huge fan herself). “It’s like a bible; there’s so much information in there. It’s a beautiful story really about prejudice and about all different topics that are very relatable, not only in the Shadow World, but in our world.”
Continue through the slides to read more of our interview with Tessa Mossey: