''Teen Wolf'' is an American

supernatural Supernatural phenomena or entities are those beyond the Scientific law, laws of nature. The term is derived from Medieval Latin , from Latin 'above, beyond, outside of' + 'nature'. Although the corollary term "nature" has had multiple meanin ...

teen drama In film and television show, television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or docudrama, semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humour, humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional te ...

television series developed by Jeff Davis for

MTV MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...

. Serving as a

reimagining A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

of the 1985 film of the same name, the series is the fourth installment overall in the titular franchise.

Tyler Posey Tyler Garcia-Posey (born October 18, 1991) is an American actor and musician. He began his career as a child actor and received recognition for his role as Raul Garcia in ''Doc (2001 TV series), Doc'' (2001–2004) and Ty Ventura in ''Maid in Man ...

portrays a young

werewolf In folklore, a werewolf (), or occasionally lycanthrope (from Ancient Greek ), is an individual who can shapeshifting, shapeshift into a wolf, or especially in modern film, a Shapeshifting, therianthropic Hybrid beasts in folklore, hybrid wol ...

who defends his

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

town from supernatural creatures and other threats. The series premiered on June 5, 2011, and concluded on September 24, 2017, after six seasons. It received generally positive reviews from critics and won three

Saturn Awards The Saturn Awards are American awards presented annually by the Academy of Science Fiction, Fantasy and Horror Films. The awards were created to honor science fiction, fantasy, and horror in film, but have since grown to reward other films bel ...

for Best Youth-Oriented Television Series. The series also received thirteen

Teen Choice Awards The Teen Choice Awards were an annual awards show that aired on the Fox television network between 1999 and 2019. The awards, based on a popularity vote that could be overridden by the producerswho reserved the right to choose the winnerscovered ...

, nine for the performances of Posey, Dylan O'Brien, Tyler Hoechlin,

Holland Roden Holland Roden (born October 7, 1986) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Lydia Martin in MTV's teen drama series ''Teen Wolf (2011 TV series), Teen Wolf'', Zoe Woods in Syfy's horror anthology series ''Channel Zero (TV series), ...

and Shelley Hennig, and four for Choice Summer TV Series. A film continuation, '' Teen Wolf: The Movie'', was released on

Paramount+ Paramount+ (formerly known as CBS All Access in the United States and 10 All Access in Australia) is an American Video on demand#Subscription models, subscription video on-demand Over-the-top media service, over-the-top Streaming media, stream ...

on January 26, 2023.

Synopsis

''Teen Wolf'' revolves around

Scott McCall ''Teen Wolf (2011 TV series), Teen Wolf'' is an American television series that aired on MTV. The series premiered on Sunday, June 5, 2011, following the 2011 MTV Movie Awards. ''Teen Wolf'' is a supernatural drama series that follows Scott McCa ...

, a high school student living in the fictional

town of Beacon Hills. Scott becomes the eponymous teenage

of the series after he is bitten by an

alpha Alpha (uppercase , lowercase ) is the first letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals, it has a value of one. Alpha is derived from the Phoenician letter ''aleph'' , whose name comes from the West Semitic word for ' ...

werewolf the night before his second year of high school, drastically changing his once-ordinary life. The bite forces him to balance his new identity with day-to-day teenage life and eventually help protect his hometown, which he learns is a beacon for supernatural activity. Scott begins the series as a relatively unpopular and unathletic student who lives with his divorced mother Melissa, a nurse at Beacon Hills Memorial Hospital. As a werewolf, he develops heightened physical abilities and senses well beyond those of an ordinary human, but he also must control animalistic instincts that are amplified by feelings of aggression and full moons. Further complicating matters, Scott develops romantic feelings for new classmate Allison Argent, who comes from a family of werewolf hunters that includes her father Chris Argent. Helping Scott manage his new life are his best friend Stiles Stilinski, the son of Beacon Hills Sheriff Stilinski, and the natural-born werewolf Derek Hale. The supernatural events surrounding Beacon Hills also end up affecting Lydia Martin, a popular and intelligent student who discovers that she is a

banshee A banshee ( ; Irish language, Modern Irish , from , "woman of the Tumulus#Ireland, fairy mound" or "fairy woman") is a female spirit in Irish folklore who heralds the death of a family member, usually by screaming, wailing, shrieking, or kee ...

, and Jackson Whittemore, the captain of the school's

lacrosse Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game w ...

team who resents Scott's newfound attention. As new and familiar threats emerge, Scott is joined by werecoyote Malia Tate,

kitsune The , in popular Japanese tradition, are foxes or fox spirits that possess supernatural abilities such as shapeshifting, and capable of bewitching people. General overview , though literally a 'fox', becomes in folklore a ' fox spirit', o ...

Kira Yukimura, and Scott's first beta werewolf Liam Dunbar in keeping his family, friends, and the rest of the town safe.

Cast and characters

as Scott McCall: Scott is turned into a werewolf in the series premiere. Together with his friend Stiles, they begin to uncover the complicated supernatural world of Beacon Hills, California. * Crystal Reed (seasons 1–3; guest season 5) as Allison Argent: Scott's first love interest, Allison descends from a long line of werewolf hunters. Her formidable prowess with a bow and arrow is an asset to the team in encounters with the shapeshifters and monsters that roam Beacon Hills. Reed also portrays Allison's ancestor Marie-Jeanne Valet in the fifth season. * Dylan O'Brien as Stiles Stilinski: Stiles is Scott's childhood best friend, with a talent for solving mysteries and a fierce loyalty to those closest to him. As a young child, Stiles is portrayed by Anthony Lapenna. O'Brien also portrays the Nogitsune, a demon who possesses Stiles. * Tyler Hoechlin (seasons 1–4; guest season 6) as Derek Hale: An older werewolf from a prominent werewolf family in Beacon Hills, Derek starts off with a hostile relationship towards Scott and his "pack" of friends, but comes to be a valuable ally. Ian Nelson portrays the teenage Derek. *

as Lydia Martin: A popular girl at Beacon Hills High and a close friend of Allison's. Lydia initially tries to play down her formidable intelligence, but she is a genius. After an encounter with Derek's villainous uncle Peter Hale in season one, her own supernatural abilities—those of a

—begin to manifest. *

Colton Haynes Colton Lee Haynes (born July 13, 1988) is an American actor and model. He is known for his starring role as Jackson Whittemore in the MTV supernatural drama series ''Teen Wolf (2011 TV series), Teen Wolf'' and as Roy Harper (Arrowverse), Roy Har ...

(seasons 1–2; guest season 6) as Jackson Whittemore: Lydia's shallow boyfriend. Jackson antagonizes Scott and Stiles relentlessly but suffers from inner self-hatred. This causes his encounter with a werewolf's bite to turn him into another sort of creature: the deadly reptilian kanima. Jackson abruptly leaves Beacon Hills in the gap between seasons two and three, but returns for a guest stint at the end of season six, having come out and entered a relationship with another werewolf, Ethan. * Shelley Hennig (seasons 4–6; recurring season 3) as Malia Tate: The daughter of Peter Hale and a werecoyote assassin, Malia was adopted into a local Beacon Hills family for her own safety. After her new family is killed, she spends her formative years as a fully transformed feral

coyote The coyote (''Canis latrans''), also known as the American jackal, prairie wolf, or brush wolf, is a species of canis, canine native to North America. It is smaller than its close relative, the Wolf, gray wolf, and slightly smaller than the c ...

. After rejoining the human social world, she develops a blunt, no-nonsense personality, while adjusting to teenage life as a

fish out of water Fish out of water is an idiom used to refer to a person who is in unfamiliar, and often uncomfortable, surroundings. Fish out of water may also refer to: Film and television * ''Fish Out of Water'' (1993 film), a Danish film * ''Fish Out of ...

. * Arden Cho (seasons 4–5; recurring season 3) as Kira Yukimura: Kira moves to Beacon Hills as monsters from

Japanese mythology Japanese mythology is a collection of traditional stories, folktales, and beliefs that emerged in the islands of the Japanese archipelago. Shinto traditions are the cornerstones of Japanese mythology. The history of thousands of years of contac ...

are beginning to plague the lives of her new classmates; she herself discovers that she is a thunder

with profound swordsmanship skills and electrical powers. Cho also portrays Kira's mother Noshiko as a young woman. *

Dylan Sprayberry Dylan Muse Sprayberry (born July 7, 1998) is an American actor known for portraying the young Clark Kent in the 2013 film ''Man of Steel (film), Man of Steel'' and Liam Dunbar on the MTV series ''Teen Wolf (2011 TV series), Teen Wolf'' from 2014 ...

(seasons 5–6; recurring season 4) as Liam Dunbar: Liam is a younger rival of Scott's with anger issues. Scott is forced to transform him into a werewolf in order to save his life. Liam's anger gives him an uncommon degree of strength for a young werewolf, and he comes to develop a real respect for his mentor, Scott. *

Linden Ashby Clarence Linden Garnett Ashby III (born May 23, 1960) is an American actor. On television, he portrayed Brett Cooper on the final two seasons of the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox soap opera ''Melrose Place'' (1997–1999) and Sheriff Noah Stilin ...

(season 6; recurring seasons 1–5) as Sheriff Noah Stilinski: Noah is initially reluctant to help his son and Scott with their escapades but is later brought into their supernatural secret. From then on, he assists his son by deploying the resources of the police department to help when he can. *

Melissa Ponzio Melissa Ponzio is an American actress, best known for her roles as Melissa McCall on '' Teen Wolf'' and Karen on '' The Walking Dead''. Ponzio has also starred in '' Chicago Fire'' as Donna Robbins-Boden. Life and career As of the late 1990s, ...

(season 6; recurring seasons 1–5) as Melissa McCall: Scott's mother, a local nurse, becomes an invaluable ally of the gang once brought in on their secret, concealing unexplained supernatural occurrences and saving the lives of Scott and his pack members many times over. *

JR Bourne David Bourne (born April 8, 1970), known professionally as JR Bourne, is a Canadian actor. After appearing in many films and television series, Bourne's first major breakthrough was the Showtime series ''Stargate SG-1'' (1998–2000). He achieve ...

(season 6; recurring seasons 1–5) as Chris Argent: Allison's father is a born and raised werewolf hunter who is highly effective at what he does. He later comes around to see Scott as a vital protector of Beacon Hills and dedicates himself to supporting his cause. Max Lloyd Jones portrays the young Argent.

Episodes

''Teen Wolf'' premiered on June 5, 2011, following the 2011 MTV Movie Awards. The second season premiered on June 3, 2012, after the 2012 MTV Movie Awards. On July 12, 2012, ''Teen Wolf'' was renewed for a third season, which includes 24 episodes and the production location was moved to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

. The third season premiered on June 3, 2013, at 10 pm, giving the series a new high on ratings. A fourth season premiered on June 23, 2014. On July 24, 2014, MTV renewed ''Teen Wolf'' for a fifth season of 20 episodes, which was split into two parts, and premiered June 29, 2015. On July 9, 2015, ''Teen Wolf'' was renewed for a sixth season of 20 episodes. Showrunner Jeff Davis confirmed that

, Dylan O'Brien,

, Shelley Hennig and

would be reprising their roles as Scott McCall, Stiles Stilinski, Lydia Martin, Malia Tate and Liam Dunbar respectively.

Development and production

In June 2009, MTV announced that they would be adapting the 1985 film ''

Teen Wolf ''Teen Wolf'' is a 1985 American coming-of-age comedy film directed by Rod Daniel and written by Jeph Loeb and Matthew Weisman. Michael J. Fox stars as the title character, a high school student whose ordinary life is changed when he discover ...

'' into a new television series "with a greater emphasis on romance, horror and werewolf mythology". The film had been previously adapted for television as an

animated series An animated series, or a cartoon series, is a set of Animation, animated films with a common title, usually related to one another. These episodes typically share the same main heroes, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series ...

that aired on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS (an abbreviation of its original name, Columbia Broadcasting System), is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainme ...

in 1986–87. For the MTV series, creator and executive producer, Jeff Davis, aimed to develop a darker, sexier and edgier version than the 1985 film. Davis' desire was to make a thriller with comedic overtones but in a tone more similar to that of the 1987 vampire film '' The Lost Boys''. According to Davis, it all started with an idea to do a homage to '' Stand by Me'', where in the beginning, the kids go out and search for a body in the woods and it's not quite what they expect. The look of the show was inspired in part by

Guillermo del Toro Guillermo del Toro Gómez (; born 9 October 1964) is a Mexican filmmaker, author, and artist. His work has been characterized by a strong connection to fairy tales, Gothic fiction, gothicism and horror fiction, horror often blending the genres ...

's creatures in '' Pan's Labyrinth''; the producers described the werewolves as beautiful, elegant and scary, at the same time. Once the show was a go, Davis lined up Australian director

Russell Mulcahy Russell Mulcahy ( ; born 23 June 1953) is an Australian director of film, television, and music videos. He began his career directing music videos for artists like Elton John and Duran Duran, before making his feature directorial debut with the ...

, who added the horror to the project. Mulcahy directed the

pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...

presentation and serves as executive producer and in-house director. Teen Wolf 2011 Title card

Casting announcements were all announced in December 2010, with the main cast being,

, Crystal Reed, Tyler Hoechlin, Dylan O'Brien,

, and

. Posey was cast as lead Scott McCall, a dorky high-school student who after being bitten by a werewolf, starts to notice changes in himself. Reed was cast as Allison Argent, a sweet new girl at school who is immediately attracted to Scott; Hoechlin as Derek Hale, a handsome local boy who in fact is a vicious and predatory werewolf; O'Brien as Stiles, Scott's best friend; Roden as Lydia Martin, Jackson Whittemore's popular and controlling girlfriend; and Haynes as Jackson Whittemore, Scott's lacrosse teammate and rival. Production on twelve episodes began in October 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia. MTV released a sneak peek of the first eight minutes of the pilot on their website, on May 31, 2011. ''Teen Wolf'' episodes are composed by music composer Dino Meneghin. As of Season 2, the opening credits of the show changed dramatically to a longer format featuring the main characters appearing whilst performing an action (such as Colton Haynes performing a lacrosse throw), along with the respective names of the actors. The new opening credits also feature the show's new theme song. In June 2012, the series received conditional approval for a California film and TV tax credit. At Comic-Con 2012, the cast confirmed that the show had been renewed for a longer third season, comprising twenty-four episodes. In June 2013, the series was selected again for a California tax credit. On September 24, 2021,

ordered a reunion film for the series, entitled '' Teen Wolf: The Movie'', with most of the cast expected to return, with the exception of Dylan O'Brien, Arden Cho and Cody Christian.

Differences and similarities from films

''Teen Wolf'' shares no continuity with the 1985 film ''

'' or its sequel, '' Teen Wolf Too'', but does contain allusions to the film which inspired its premise. The original film is about a typical awkward basketball-playing teenager named Scott dealing with high school and life as a

. In both the film and show, Scott reaps the benefits of werewolf stardom, achieving confidence and acceptance from his peers with his newly-discovered powers, and has a close friend named Stiles. In the 1985 movie, Scott played basketball, whereas in the series, he plays

; Stiles wears retro British T-shirts in the TV series rather than the offensive T-shirts of the film; and Scott is transformed into a werewolf by bite in the series, whereas in the film he inherits the trait from his father. While the ''Teen Wolf'' films are comedies, the MTV series is a drama that contains comedic elements as well as dark themes, violence, and gore. The writers decided early on to exclude vampires from their in-show mythology.

Reception

Critical response

The first season of the series generated a generally positive response from professional critics, with some praising it as better quality when compared to other shows by

. According to

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the show holds an average score of 61 out of 100, which indicates "Generally favorable reviews", based on fourteen reviews. Metacritic also lists the show as the second-highest rated

series by professional critics behind '' Awkward''. Review aggregator

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

reports that 68% of 25 critics have given the first season a positive review. The site's consensus is: "Thanks to a charismatic lead in Tyler Posey and some dark, biting humor, Teen Wolf is a pleasant summer surprise, even if it does tread familiar ground." Linda Stasi, a writer from the ''

New York Post The ''New York Post'' (''NY Post'') is an American Conservatism in the United States, conservative daily Tabloid (newspaper format), tabloid newspaper published in New York City. The ''Post'' also operates three online sites: NYPost. ...

'', awarded the series' premiere a perfect score, stating, "Not only is it really well thought out, but the good-looking kids in the show can actually act." Verne Gay from ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' also reserved high praise for the show, calling it a "winner and best of all, fun". David Hinckley of New York ''Daily News'' commented favorably on the series, ending his review with "Werewolves, pretty girls, dumb bullies and lacrosse. What more, really, could you ask of high school?" Film critic

Rex Reed Rex Taylor Reed (born October 2, 1938) is an American film critic, journalist, and media personality. Raised throughout the southern United States and educated at Louisiana State University, Reed moved to New York City in the early 1960s to begi ...

is a fan of the series, calling it "the sexiest show on television today." Some critics had a less positive reaction toward the first episode. Troy Patterson from ''

Slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous, metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade, regional metamorphism. It is the finest-grained foliated metamorphic ro ...

'' gave it a mixed review, referring to it as "light and passably witty supernatural drama". James Poniewozik from ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' magazine also had mixed feelings towards the show, saying, "The pilot isn't bad, exactly—it's well-paced if a little dour in spots and there's some decent CW-esque banter—but it's pretty much entirely what I would have expected from any supernatural teen drama". Following the first-season finale in August 2011, Ian Grey of IndieWire gave the series a positive review and Angel Cohn of Television Without Pity named it the third best new show of the summer.

BuddyTV BuddyTV is an entertainment-based website, which generates content about television programs and sporting events. The website publishes information about celebrity and related entertainment news through a series of articles, entertainment profile ...

ranked ''Teen Wolf'' #4 on its list of 2011's best new TV shows. The second season of the show received even more positive reviews than the first, with Rotten Tomatoes reporting a 90% approval rating based on 10 critical reviews. The third season also received positive reviews, earning an approval rating of 88% based on 17 reviews. Despite its generally positive reception, the show struggled with its representation of

LGBTQ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, Gay men, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning (sexuality and gender), questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, Asexuality, asexual, ...

characters and issues and was critiqued for

queerbaiting Queerbaiting is a marketing technique for fiction and entertainment in which creators hint at, but do not depict, same-sex romance or other LGBTQ+ representation. The purpose of this method is to attract (" bait") a queer or straight ally audien ...

Ratings

The series premiere attracted a total of 2.17million viewers. After airing its third episode, ''Teen Wolf'' was reported to be heading into its fourth week with tremendous momentum following a 23 percent increase among persons 12–34, with a 1.6 in the demo. With double digit percentage gains among total viewers and key demos, ''Teen Wolf'' was the #1 show in its timeslot with women 12–34. The first-season finale attained a series high in persons 12–34 (1.9) and 2.1million viewers overall, as well as being first in its timeslot among teens and females 12–34. The show's creator, Jeff Davis, confirmed that the show benefits from a very significant online viewership, with up to eight million streams per episode on MTV's online platforms alone. Davis cited this as a significant contributing factor to MTV renewing the show for a sixth season.

Other media

Book

* 2012, Nancy Holder, ''On Fire: A Teen Wolf Novel'',

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

, In June 2012, MTV Books released the book ''On Fire'', by Nancy Holder. The cover art features

with glowing yellow eyes, with a fire red background. The book tells the story of

and the first season of ''

''.

Comic

A comic themed upon the show was released in June 2011 by

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

Accolades

Broadcast

Canada's

MuchMusic Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in what was o ...

aired the series until 2014, when it was moved to the domestic version of

. The United Kingdom's

BSkyB Sky UK Limited (formerly British Sky Broadcasting Limited (BSkyB)), trading as Sky, is a British broadcaster and telecommunications company that provides television, broadband internet, fixed line and mobile telephone services to consumers ...

aired the first two seasons on

pay television Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...

channel

Sky Living Sky Living was a British pay television television channel, channel owned and operated by Sky Limited, Sky. The channel's programming was aimed mainly at women and young adults. It originally launched as UK Living yet became Sky Living by 2011. H ...

. BSkyB stopped broadcasting ''Teen Wolf'' after the second-season finale.

Bibliography

* * *

References

External links

* * {{Authority control 2011 American television series debuts 2017 American television series endings 2010s American drama television series 2010s American high school television series 2010s American horror television series 2010s American LGBTQ-related drama television series 2010s American supernatural television series 2010s American teen drama television series American action television series American English-language television shows American television series about teenagers Gay-related television shows LGBTQ speculative fiction television series Lacrosse mass media MTV original programming Saturn Award–winning television series Serial drama television series Live action television shows based on films Television series by MGM Television Television shows filmed in Atlanta Television shows set in California Television series about werewolves Television shows filmed in Los Angeles