Teen Wolf creator Jeff Davis has opened up about why he agreed to helm yet another show about teenage werewolves in the form of the upcoming Paramount+ original series Wolf Pack.
During an interview with SFX Magazine, Davis confessed that when Paramount+ approached him about serving as showrunner on Wolf Pack, it took some convincing before he said yes. "What drew me in, eventually, was the ties to environmentalism, the whole idea of placing it against the backdrop of a California wildfire and the struggles that teens are dealing with today -- and people in their twenties --- with anxiety, depression and lack of connection because of social media and technology," Davis said.
"Those were themes that really interested me," he continued. "I always gravitate towards genre in order to tell these deeper, more meaningful stories... Not just scare you, but cut in the psychology behind the fears." Regarding the premise of Wolf Pack itself, Davis added, "There is a group of four teenagers, who are bound together. Two are bitten and two are born. The way they navigate, realizing they are now a pack that has to work together, is much of what the first season encapsulates. I think there’s a foundation of mystery. There is the mystery of who set the fire. There is the mystery of what creature turned these kids and what creature is still out there hunting people."
Don't Turn Your Back on the Wolf Pack
Wolf Pack is based on the novel of the same name by Edo van Belkom. The series follows Everett (Armani Jackson) and Blake (Bella Shepard), two teenagers who are bitten by a supernatural creature amid the chaos of the aforementioned California wildfire. Evertt and Blake soon find themselves drawn to Luna (Chloe Rose Robertson) and Harlan (Tyler Lawrence Gray), two siblings who have themselves been cursed with lycanthropy. Wolf Pack also stars none other than Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum Sarah Michelle Gellar, who makes her long-awaited return to genre television as arson investigator Kristin Ramsey.
Despite their similar premises and his own involvement, Davis has stressed that Wolf Pack is not a spinoff of Teen Wolf, though he understands why there might be some confusion. "I know that everybody gets confused by it, but I always say, 'Nobody thinks Twilight is in the same universe as Interview With The Vampire,'" he said. "There can be two werewolf shows that exist in separate spaces. It's funny because one of the things we did was consciously try and do things differently with Wolf Pack."
Davis previously served as developer and showrunner of Teen Wolf, itself based on the 1985 Michael J. Fox movie of the same name, which aired on MTV for six seasons from 2011 to 2017. Davis also wrote the screenplay for a revival film, simply titled Teen Wolf: The Movie, which is slated to premiere on Paramount+ on Thursday, Jan. 26 -- the very same day as Wolf Pack.
Wolf Pack premieres Jan. 26 on Paramount+.
Source: SFX Magazine