“Can’t Catch Us”

Maybe you remember the 1985 comedy Teen Wolf where Michael J. Fox inherits a bizarre gene from his father and becomes a werewolf. Or, more likely, maybe your parents remember it.

Writer and TV producer Jeff Davis decided to take this silly story and make it into something more. Through the television network MTV, Davis created the series Teen Wolf where he took the original tale and made it darker, edgier, and more romantic. After approval, Davis teamed up with an Australian director named Russell Mulcahy. The two were going to take this story to another level, adding a dose of mythology and a dash of horror, creating a show that had virtually everything.

Auditions were held in late 2010 where the now beloved actors got their roles. Child actor Tyler Posey was cast as Scott McCall, the awkward high school sophomore whose life gets flipped upside down when he gets bitten by a werewolf. Crystal Reed got the role of Allison Argent, the new girl at school who surprisingly falls in love with Scott but her family’s secrets get in the way.. New to the acting business, Dylan O’Brien was cast as Scott’s best friend and sidekick Stiles Stilinski whose wit and sarcasm helps his friend to cope with being a werewolf. Tyler Hoechlin got the role of Derek Hale, a handsome but sketchy man in town who happens to be a werewolf too. Colton Haynes was cast as stereotypical jock Jackson Whittemore who will do anything to stop Scott from stealing his reputation on the lacrosse team. After originally auditioning for the role of Allison, Holland Roden was cast as Lydia Martin, the popular girl at school who happens to be extremely intelligent and that Stiles is hopelessly in love with.

After the first season premiered on June 5, 2011, they received good ratings from both critics and audiences getting renewed for a second season. A year later, season two began with a bang and got high appraisal. The actors were becoming loved by all of the viewers, especially O’Brien. While he did play such a admirable character, fans fell in love with the actor himself. His humor and charm is what everyone adores about him. In 2012, O’Brien starred in The First Time that was selected to be shown at the Sundance Film Festival.

After season two of Teen Wolf, which was mostly centered on his character, Haynes left the show and joined the cast of Arrow, a popular superhero show on The CW.

Season three has easily been declared Teen Wolf at it’s best receiving a 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The storyline was unique, dark, comical, and heartbreaking all at the same time. Teen Wolf is known for having ridiculously attractive stars, so adding Daniel Sharman to the cast in season two made season three even better. He played Isaac Lahey, a normal teenager who was abused by his father but decided to defend himself when he is offered the werewolf bite by another character (you’ll have to watch to find out who).

The first half of the 24 episode two-part season three was centered around Scott, but the second half’s story came with a new character named Kira Yukimura played by Arden Cho. The problems she brings throws Stiles for a whirlwind giving O’Brien an incredible amount of praise for his performance. His loveable character becomes possessed by a sly, cocky, and manipulative spirit. O’Brien received a Teen Choice Award for Choice TV Villain for his role as “Void Stiles” in season 3B. There was also a push from critics for him to be nominated for an Emmy for showing his incredible range as an actor.

While audiences were loving this twist, Reed left the show and it was decided to kill off her character Allison at the end of the season. After this, fans were absolutely devastated. Only adding to the pain, beloved characters like Isaac and the twins played by Charlie and Max Carver also exited the show. Despite this, the show still had so much more to offer and was renewed for a fourth season but they lost a lot of fans and many decided to not tune in.  

At this point, O’Brien’s career began to soar as he starred in the book to movie adaption of James Dashner’s The Maze Runner. The last of this three-movie franchise, Maze Runner: The Death Cure is going to be released on January 12, 2018. Since getting his start on Teen Wolf, O’Brien has also acted alongside Vince Vaughn and Owen Wilson in The Internship, Mark Wahlberg in Deepwater Horizon, and Michael Keaton in American Assassin which is set to premiere on September 15, 2017.

While O’Brien’s career is completely taking off, Teen Wolf whipped out a 12 episode season four, 20 episode season five, and a two-part final season six. While beloved characters made exits, new ones came in to replace the void. Hoechlin departed (but was not killed off) at the end of season four and now has the role of Clark Kent on The CW’s Supergirl. Cho left after Kira’s storyline ended in season five and is now modeling and writing music. Shelley Hennig was cast as Malia Tate, a werecoyote that must learn to be human. Dylan Sprayberry (who happened to play young Clark Kent in Man of Steel) joined the cast as Liam Dunbar, a new werewolf that Scott is quite protective of. Pretty Little Liar’s Cody Christian got the role of Theo Raeken who breaks apart Scott’s pack in season five.

The second half of the final season of Teen Wolf is set to premiere in summer 2017, but there has not been an official date announced yet. A sneak peek for the new season was released on the MTV website featuring three of the show’s main characters distressed in the woods, running from someone. This final season seems to tie back to the first, where werewolf hunters are Scott’s biggest problem. This brings things full circle, and Teen Wolf  is known for this. They enjoy pulling fans’ heart strings with tones from season one where it all started.

With the show ending, fans are sad but have their trust in the writers and producers that they will end Teen Wolf with both class and closure.