It was quite the Teen Wolf cast reunion at the 2022 New York Comic Con on October 7th. Series creator Jeff Davis joined his returning Teen Wolf stars Tyler Posey, Crystal Reed, Holland Roden, Colton Haynes, Shelley Hennig, Dylan Sprayberry, and Khylin Rhambo for a packed Teen Wolf: The Movie panel at Javits Center. Teen Wolf newcomers Vince Mattis and Amy Workman also took the stage for the half-hour panel.
Writer/executive producer Jeff Davis kicked off the panel discussing the inspiration for Teen Wolf: The Movie. “One thought was could we bring Crystal Reed back? I always said if we were going to do a movie, we would have to bring Crystal Reed back. And so the idea started percolating and I said to Crystal over text – actually on Instagram it was – and I said, ‘Are you ready to pick up the bow and arrow again?’ And we talked and there was magic still there. So, I was excited to get back, and we’re still working on it,” said Davis.
The film will find Scott McCall in a very different place in his life than where we left him at the end of Teen Wolf.
“It’s crazy. It’s 15 years later and we meet Scott in his early 30s. Scott McCall is not a teen wolf anymore; he’s a 30-year-old wolf. And, when we last left Beacon Hills, all that crazy sh*t, like Beacon Hills carries a lot of weight for Scott – emotionally, physically. He’s constantly on edge trying to save the world, trying to be the true Alpha. So being an adult, he wanted to get away. He wanted to get away from Beacon Hills and start a new life, see what’s out there,” said Tyler Posey. “Put down the hero role for a while, you know? And that’s all Scott ever knew because he’s the true Alpha. He became the true Alpha because he is innately a hero. And putting down that role, he’s lost himself a little bit.
The first time we Scott is the first time we see him do stuff normal – as a normal person – ever since the pilot. It’s the first time we’ve seen Scott kind of with human emotions…not that he didn’t have any human emotions before. But he’s doing stuff a normal person would do. It’s pretty intense to see Scott doing a mundane, normal life. And he’s also lonely because he’s missing something in his life. He’s missing the hero role. He’s missing friends. He’s missing Beacon Hills. He’s missing family. And so we see Scott as a sort of troubled adult. Depressed. Kind of dealing with loneliness for the first time.”
Posey added: “It’s really special and powerful and impactful, and I think a lot of us can relate because last time the show was out everyone grew up with it. And now we’re all adults…like legitimately adults. There are some people that I met that look like they’re my age and they’re like, ‘I’ve been watching you since I was like six years old.’ I’m like, ‘How the hell? How old are you?!’
And so everyone who grew up with the show is now an adult who’s dealing with depression, dealing with loneliness, and anxiety. That’s kind of how we pick up Scott McCall. So, it’s the first time we’ve seen him dealing with depression, anxiety, and loneliness as an adult. And I thank you Jeff for writing that because it was fun to play that side of Scott.”
Crystal Reed didn’t join her cast mates at the San Diego Comic-Con so the enthusiastic, positive reaction to her presence at NYCC left her feeling humble. “I approach her from such an honest place, and I know that I’m bringing a lot of myself to it, so every time I hear [the love for Allison] it makes me so grateful to be an actor and to know that I’m doing my job and I’m telling a story that affects people. I’m so grateful that I have the ability to bring Jeff’s character to life. I just want to say thank you, thank you, thank you.”
Jeff Davis refused to allow any spoilers but did say there was a particular scene between Reed and Holland Roden that affected him so much he had to text Reed and show it to her. And that was all he’d reveal. Such a tease!
“I will say that one thing I think you guys are really going to love that I personally loved – and hopefully it translates – is just that reunion onscreen is real. And feeling those characters come back together… You know, I hadn’t seen Posey in a while and so when you see Lydia and Scott onscreen, hopefully, that feeling is what you feel too that we felt filming it,” said Holland Roden.
Asked how it feels to finally be able to answer the question, “Where’s Jackson?” Colton Haynes replied, “It’s wild to think that it’s been, what, 12 years since we did this. And I’m so happy that I got to come back. Posey and I were talking about how we’ve known each other for so long but when I came back as Jackson…you know, Jackson’s kind of annoying and a little bit of a prick. I have this monologue and he kept laughing in my takes. I was like, ‘We’re never going to get this done.’
We’re all so close that we’re all just excited to be here.”
Shelley Henning’s Malia will have an interesting arc in Teen Wolf: The Movie. “I was really pleased and excited to hear that Jeff wanted me back. And I loved his pitch and where he thought Malia would be. Shelley was having her own arc this year and so I brought that into Malia.
I play Malia a lot more vulnerable – or at least that’s what I thought I was bringing to it. I don’t know. I haven’t seen it. I haven’t gotten text messages of scenes. No, I trust Jeff with my life and these people right here. It was just amazing. And to what Holland said, it was a real feeling of being reunited. And I got to know them even more. I mean, Crystal and I never really filmed together. Holland and I got to spend a lot more girl time together,” said Henning.
She added: “Malia has her own little journey but it’s still about the pack.”
Dylan Sprayberry said being back with the Teen Wolf gang has been amazing. “It’s funny. When I came onto the show I was the youngest wolf and now we have a new young wolf so I’m not that character anymore. So, it was really cool to pass that off and take more of a mature approach to Liam. And I have a new love interest as well – Amy. She’s an amazing scene partner and an amazing actress. We kick a lot of ass together. It was really great to come back and do something in a refreshing way.”
Khylin Rhambo agreed with everything Sprayberry said. “Honestly, we’ve said this before but Teen Wolf was kind of like my college. I didn’t go to college. The time that I was supposed to be in college I was filming Teen Wolf. We were filming in high school. So I got to kind of imagine what that experience would be like. But it became like a really deep learning experience. And then it ended and life happened. It was crazy to see. I mean, I changed as a person but the essence was still there and I saw that the same thing was with every single person that was a part of the cast originally.
It was a surreal Twilight Zone experience. It’s like imagine going back to high school with all of your original friends but you guys have evolved and you’re back in this space where you weren’t. It felt like a dream, honestly,” said Rhambo.
Teen Wolf: The Movie will premiere on Paramount+ on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2023.
The Plot: In Teen Wolf: The Movie, produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and MGM, a full moon rises in Beacon Hills and with it a terrifying evil has emerged. The wolves are howling once again, calling for the return of banshees, werecoyotes, hellhounds, kitsunes and every other shapeshifter in the night. But only a werewolf like Scott McCall (Posey), no longer a teenager yet still an alpha, can both gather new allies and reunite trusted friends to fight back against what could be the most powerful and deadliest enemy they’ve ever faced.
The film also stars Tyler Hoechlin, Orny Adams, Linden Ashby, JR Bourne, Seth Gilliam, Ryan Kelley, Melissa Ponzio, Ian Bohen, and Nobi Nakanishi.
