Tyler Posey is a bona fide heartthrob. Catapulted into the spotlight by his iconic role as Scott McCall in the hit TV series, Teen Wolf – Posey comes back to bite with the show’s reboot Teen Wolf: The Movie. Having unleashed at the end of January, anticipation has been mounting – and now we’ve got the sweet release.
In this original film, we bear witness to a new wave of terror hitting the town of Beacon Hills. Once again, the wolves make their presence known – calling for the return of every other shapeshifter in the night. But only a werewolf like Scott McCall, who’s no longer a teenager but still an alpha, can gather new allies and reunite trusted friends to fight against the most powerful and deadliest enemy they’ve ever faced.
Wielding a star-studded cast, including the likes of Tyler Hoechlin, Orny Adams, Linden Ashby, and JR Bourne – Teen Wolf: The Movie has been making some series waves. Luckily for us, Tyler Posey spoke to us amid the furry frenzy. From the wolf-mania at Comic Con, and living up to the series’ expectations, to grieving his mother’s death during the original – we dug deep.
Watch the trailer for Teen Wolf: The Movie
Head below to read the interview…
Hi Tyler, how are you?
I’m good.
How was Comic Con?
I tend to like to give each fan that I meet like, hours of interaction. I want to make sure it’s a special moment for them. And that can be tiring, just because talking, it’s kind of like doing a series of interviews. By the end of the day, I’m like pretty brain dead. But I’m used to it for sure. That said, I love meeting them, I wouldn’t be where I am today without them.
How have you found the fans’ response to the movie?
Well, I mean, they’re all very excited. They’ve been waiting for this for a long time. When something’s that successful, there’s always a lot of hype around it.
Could you talk about the challenges that you felt doing something off the back of such a successful show?
I just have a lot riding on it. I was like, alright, it’s gonna be incredible, you know, everyone’s gonna, everyone’s going to approach this with the same attitude that you just said that, you know, we have a legendary thing that we’re sort of riding the coattails of, you know, so we have to bump up the legendary-ness and approach it with 100% of ourselves – or more. I feel like I’ve grown as an actor and Scott has grown. I’m really proud of the final product, and I think we did a good job at it.
How was it playing the same character, but out of high school?
I love that aspect. We made sure that it was super relatable, even though there were werewolves attacking windows, people eating each other, you know, so like, we did a really good job at making each character super relatable. And I was really excited to do that, again, for this movie, because our fans started watching the show when they were either, 12 years old to mid 20s. And they’ve all grown 10 plus years.
How did it change your approach to tackling the role?
My approach didn’t really change too much. I just implemented all the stuff that I’ve learned over the five, six years that has been since the show ended. You know, and I’ve changed a lot. And I’ve gone through a lot, and I really just used my own experiences, and which I always did with Scott.
Do you feel like Scott’s experiences kind of mirrored your experience growing up?
Oh, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I got bitten by a werewolf when I was like 15 also. But, I am struggling, obviously. No but, Scott went through some crazy stuff like, getting bitten by a werewolf – and his life changed. And then my life changed because the show got so successful. And then Scott had to deal with a lot of death in his life. And I did too. You know, my mom died early on in the show’s success. Scott didn’t really have time to grieve for Alison’s death and all the other deaths happening because he was so distracted with trying to save people’s lives. I was distracted by Teen Wolf filming stuff and doing press so I couldn’t properly grieve my mother’s death. After filming, I was able to finally grieve and realise how much it did affect me, and how I want to overcome that – and make my mom proud.
Is it an issue trying to detach from your roles and your personal life?
No, it’s not. Because I do think that at this point in my life I don’t want to run away from what happened. I want to embrace it. And it’s sort of therapeutic to be able to play it again. It’s a silver lining, because I enjoy it and it sort of immortalises it and turns it into this beautiful moment. But it can be really dark and triggering. That said, I don’t want to pretend that it didn’t happen.
How did it feel coming back to the story? Was that familiar?
It was weird. There were a couple of moments where I had to stop because it was really surreal. We filmed in the same exact places, with most of the same crew. The director was the same, the producers were the same, and the camera guys were the same. There was no preparation time on set, we arrived and immediately started acting.
Did you feel yourself slipping back into it immediately? Or did it take a bit of adjusting?
That was one of the little things that I was worried about. I was like, okay, I haven’t played Scott McAllen over five years. Do I still know how to? I was a little worried. But it came back to me immediately, I didn’t know that was going to happen.
How did you feel when you kind of got the initial call about the project? Was it a surprise? And were you daunted?
Um, no, I actually knew this day was coming. I didn’t know when or how or what. But I just I felt it in my bones that the team wasn’t over. Maybe it was because the fans have done such a good job to keep it going for so long, and it seems like the popularity has grown. I’m just so grateful for that, so it never died in my heart.
Teen Wolf has an insane fan base, the fans are so committed. Why do you think the show struck such a chord with fans?
I don’t, I don’t think there’s one particular reason. It’s impossible for me to speak for the fans too, because I’m not in their shoes. But from what I see, I think the writing is (or was) incredible. I think Jeff did a really good job at painting these characters in a certain light. And then also the actors with the writing was a perfect storm, like the way that we all interpreted how Jeff wrote our characters. It was this unique, magic potion that just made these characters really come to life in a really special way.
It’s a mixture of escapism, fantasy, but then you’re also seeing things played out that you would be experiencing yourself.
Right, exactly. The balance.
