Paramount+’s two werewolf projects – Wolf Pack and Teen Wolf: The Movie – hosted back-to-back panels at the 2022 New York Comic Con. Both supernatural projects will debut on Paramount+ on January 26, 2023, but only one features the Chosen One herself, Sarah Michelle Gellar.
The Buffy the Vampire Slayer star joined her fellow Wolf Pack series co-stars Rodrigo Santoro, Armani Jackson, Bella Shepard, Chloe Rose Robertson, and Tyler Lawrence Gray, as well as Teen Wolf creator and Wolf Pack writer/executive producer Jeff Davis, for a lively half-hour discussion at NYCC.
“I was pretty amazed, actually, because I said to them, ‘We’re not going to get Sarah Michelle Gellar. She’s not even going to read it,’” recalled Davis. Fortunately for Davis, Gellar not only read it but signed on to play the key role of Kristin Ramsey in the series.
“It had to be something that really resonated because I owe it to all of you guys and to myself,” explained Gellar. “But there are so many more stories to tell and utilizing the supernatural is how we explain the things that we can’t really understand and the stories that we can’t really grasp or the ones that would be too depressing in real life or too upsetting. And so, we use those to scare ourselves into understanding.
And Jeff’s right. I didn’t really intend to read it when they sent it to me initially. […] But just the issues that he wanted to deal with. First of all, discussing the fires. Having lived in LA, I was evacuated in the last big fire for almost a week. We didn’t know if our house was going to burn down, understanding all the emotions that come with that. But more importantly, the idea of mental health and the idea of we live in a society that is so digitally connected, but at the same time, ultimately, we’re becoming more and more disconnected as humans.”
Gellar continued: “We feel extremely isolated and we don’t have the support of our pack. And what does that look like for young kids today trying to find their pack? And for adults, too, who feel like we don’t fit in anywhere. It’s really scary to feel like you don’t fit in. We’ve all been through the last three years of isolation and all of those topics spoke to me. And it’s really f’ing scary!”
Gellar called Wolf Pack extremely cinematic, and she was impressed by what they managed to do in a relatively short time.
“We spent a lot of time talking about the vision of the show and what it would look like. The very first goal was to make it look as cinematic as possible. Also to make it look like a streaming show. We want to set ourselves apart. This is a different show, this isn’t something you would find on the networks,” said Davis. “I told the directors and our DPs right off the bat I said, ‘Have fun with this. Make it interesting, make it weird, make it cool. Everybody online talks about how dark all TV shows are. Let’s give them something to watch. Let’s give them color and brightness and incredible angles.’”
Davis added: “I love the way this show is shot. And it’s also different from Teen Wolf, and that was one of the things we wanted to do was something different from Teen Wolf. We didn’t want to just do a carbon copy. So, this is new.”
Rodrigo Santoro (Westworld) stars as Garrett Briggs, a character he described as a man who’s constantly in conflict with the responsibilities of fatherhood. “He’s the father of two kids that actually have a very special connection to nature. He will do anything to protect his kids from outsiders but especially from themselves. He’s a man of very strong values. He’s a park ranger. I love the character, by the way,” said Santoro. “But he holds very important secrets that will be revealed throughout our story.”
Armani Jackson said we’ll meet his character, Everett, during a very difficult time in his life. “He’s a very anxious kid yet he’s very smart. He’s a dreamer. And after being bitten by a supernatural creature in the middle of a wildfire…as if things couldn’t get worse for this kid…he starts to realize that maybe this is something that he can focus on. Maybe this is actually how he finds his true pack and his true family.”
Chloe Rose Robertson described Luna as a girl who’s been lonely her entire life and searching for her pack/friends. “Her only real relationship is with her brother and her father, even less so with her brother as you guys will see. Luna knows what’s up. She knows what’s happening and she wants this pack to work. She really wants this family. And I think that’s really cool because Sarah said before it’s definitely a representation of how we’re all searching for our pack and our people, especially in today’s world with technology and such.”
Robertson continued: “There’s definitely a disconnect with me and my brother being a certain way, connected with nature as Rodrigo said, and Rodrigo not being that way. I think he’s been an amazing father to us. At the very beginning I’m…I love my father and whatever, but I think as she moves through the season, she kind of goes into a little bit of a darker place.”
Tyler Lawrence Gray’s Harlan is more of a lone wolf and an outsider. “I think that this sense of dysfunctionality that we get through this family dynamic is because even though he tries to put on this front of like he has this swagger, it seems like he’s always having a good time, deep down he’s not really a happy kid. There’s a big part of him missing, and you guys are going to find out what that is in the show. But he continues to just search for it. He tends to keep pushing that down and distracts himself. When all of this stuff sort of happens, he’s definitely the last to really to agree and be on board with everyone else.”
Bella Shepard revealed that her character, Blake, likes to pretend that she’s in denial. She knows all of this stuff is going on around her, but she doesn’t want to accept it all. “I think once she does finally accept that she is part of the pack and it’s beneficial to her and people she cares about, then it’s worth it. She finds this new sense of family.”
Tyler Lawrence Gray summed up the show. “It’s dark and it’s violent, and there’s a lot of romance as well. You guys are going to be able to see everything. Personally, Harlan is gay. There are straight characters, there’s everything. I think it’s really going to show everyone that that’s only a part of someone and really the broader scheme is that deep down everyone is really human and wants to just be happy.”
* * * * * * * * *
Based on the book series by Edo Van Belkom, Wolf Pack follows a teenage boy and girl whose lives are changed forever when a California wildfire awakens a terrifying supernatural creature and drives it to attack a highway traffic jam beneath the burning hills. Wounded in the chaos, the boy and girl are inexplicably drawn to each other and to two other teenagers who were adopted sixteen years earlier by a park ranger after another mysterious wildfire.
As the full moon rises, all four teens come together to unravel the secret that connects them – the bite and blood of a werewolf.
The cast also includes Bailey Stender, Chase Liefeld, Hollie Bahar, Lanny Joon, Rio Mangini, Stella Smith, Zack Nelson, and James Martinez in recurring roles. Amy Pietz, Bria Brimmer, John L. Adams, and Sean Philip Glasgow are also featured in season one.
