On the red carpet, Crystal Reed felt exactly the same way about the venue and the event. “I feel great. It’s interesting to be here, because I’ve heard so many great things about this theater. And, it’s surreal for me, to be on the second season of the show. To have all this press. It feels great.”
When it was time for the screening, the audience was ushered into the intimate theater, and before the lights were dimmed, the cast and mastermind creator and executive producer Jeff Davis were brought out to sit in the first row to take in the audience’s reactions.
Here, to avoid any spoilers, we will focus mainly on how this show is a chaste hybrid of various TV tropes and horror tones all of which, whether one likes to admit it or not, we’re still finding compelling.
There is a little bit of Twilight, a little bit of True Blood, even a little bit of Are You Afraid of The Dark. The only difference is that its focus is on a young man approaching adulthood. Indeed, the show is honest enough to show that a young man approaching adulthood is proportionately concerned with what the opposite sex is doing. This is true for the Season 2 premiere as well as true for Season 1, the entirety of which became available for DVD recently to coincide with the upcoming Season 2 premiere.
After the screening, the cast and Jeff Davis walked onstage to discuss the series. (The discussion was streamed on the Paley website.)
The panel opened up with Jeff Davis speaking about the over-arching theme to season two, because the first season’s theme was about adjustment to the werewolf life. “We had always talked about how Teen Wolf is sort of a Spider-Man story, a Peter Parker story. The idea was if Season One is about leaning to control the beast and learning to master its abilities, then Season Two is about what do you do with that power, now? So it’s very much about Scott being the hero.”
Tyler Posey found his second go at playing a werewolf much different. “He went through a lot of stuff in the first season, and that matures him. Like Jeff said, he tries to take on a hero role, because Scott has a very good heart.”
Probably because of his good heart, McCall finds himself getting pulled in many different directions. Not surprisingly, his ladylove does, too. Of her character’s multiple expectations to meet, Crystal Reed said, “Allison embraces the fact that she comes from a family of werewolf hunters, and, at heart, she’s a daddy girl, but I think its interesting that she thinks that Scott is the exception to the rule when it comes to werewolves. She knows that most werewolves are bad and evil, but she thinks Scott isn’t. So she sort of has to find a balance between being a good daughter and hunter and also being a good friend and girlfriend.”
The overall question, since day one of the show, has been whether Allison will finally choose between her worlds. Reed answered with, “Yeah, some major things happen [in Season Two], with her and her family. She completely changes, and I think people will start to wonder who she is, and they don’t recognize her anymore. Then she has to make a hard choice between doing what her family thinks is right and what she feels is right and also being in love.”
Davis chimed in. “They are definitely tested. I would say they go through many ups and down. It’s interesting to me because my brother is a therapist and he works with a lot of teenagers, actually. And I ask him, how do teenagers fall in love? Because it’s hard, as an adult now, to think about and remember those times. And he says, they fall in love and they think they’re going to be together forever. So. We may definitely feel like that. There’s a moment when she tells him, 'I want to be with you forever,' and we wonder if they actually can, with all these things pulling them apart. So part of their hope is if they can just get through high school, they’ll be together forever.”
With all the drama of what that entails, the show finds its comedic core in the friendship between Scott and Stiles. According to the actors who play them, it’s also the most real element in the show chemistry. Posey says, “A lot of people have this [type of] relationship with their best friends. It’s basically, very real. If we hated each other, we’d have a horrible time and the show would suck. But we like each other, and the show is pretty good!”
Another new thing that Season 2 is its focus on Derek (played by Tyler Hoechlin) and his character development, particularly in regards to becoming the Alpha. “It’ definitely something that he [wanted]. I think one of the first things I noticed for me in the first couple episodes is that we kind of see Derek have a little bit of fun this year. He’s got a little sense of humor this year. He’s got a little swagger. He’s totally confident. It was a far adjustment to make with the character. I think last year he was always very stoic, very reserved about not letting anyone see through the surface, and this year there’s a little more to him. He’s enjoying his newfound power that he has.”
When the panel wrapped, fans in the theater rushed the stage for autographs and pictures, and the cast happily obliged. Afterwards, on the rooftop of the Paley Center, where actors and producer mingled in celebration of a show on the upswing, newcomer Sinqua Walls, who plays Gage Golightly, shared that he is very happy to be a part of the cast. One couldn’t help but notice that all of the actors seemed to feel the same way about him and fellow newcomers, as well as about each other. And in Hollywood, there’s little more you could ask for.
Don’t forget to tune in this Sunday and Monday for the two-night Season 2 Premiere, after picking up and watching all of Season 1 on DVD now available.
