Hypable spoke with Teen Wolf showrunner Jeff Davis following the premiere of season 5, discussing the events of episode 1 and beyond.
Not Another Teen Wolf Podcast hosts Karen and Natalie spoke with Davis about his inspirations for season 5, what he can tell us to expect this year, and his thoughts on some unanswered questions in the past. You can listen to the full interview here.
The Dread Doctors
We’ve heard Davis talk about them before, but what exactly inspired these new villains?
“I had a real fascination with this kind of steampunk aesthetic and I have a sort of fear of hospitals and doctors myself, having been to the hospital plenty of times, in the emergency room plenty of times, as a kid,” Davis tells us. “But I just liked the idea of combining science and the supernatural. When we’re doing a show like this, there’s always the fear that we’re going to get locked into a storyline where some werewolf is trapped in a cage and somebody is taking blood samples out of them, and I’ve always said I don’t want to get into test tubes and things like that with experiments on werewolves.”
“But then when we came up with the Dread Doctors,” he continues. “It was a way to do it that was still sort of within our same creepy supernatural ascetic. So masks, and strange, very tall powerful villains. I think it fits within our world, which has become quite expansive.”
Lydia’s new abilities
Fans are already excited to see Lydia in the middle of the action this season, and we just had to know what inspired that transition for the character:
“This was the season where we said, ‘Okay, I think it’s time for Lydia to start kicking some ass.’ We love the character, we love Holland [Roden] and how she plays it, and how the character has evolved. So we felt it was time to amp up those powers and amp up the tension with her. I think the details of it will probably not come out as quickly as you’d want, but that’s how we operate. Gotta make you wait! So one thing I can tell you, though: This is the season where Lydia decides that she needs to become a fighter. That she needs to learn how to protect herself.”
“I think it’s a great evolution for the character, too,” Davis continues. “One of the things we like to do at the start of every season is just list a bunch of ideas of what would we like to see. What are the scenes we want to see as writers? And I remember when we were sitting there thinking about it, saying to ourselves, ‘I wanna see the banshee power come out this time.’ We want to see Lydia kick ass. And Holland was so up for it. She was so excited to do it. She actually does a lot of that stuff herself. She’s got some good training.”
Davis also shares a moment from set: “When we shot it that night, we’re all looking at the monitors and we kind of all looked at each other and said, ‘More fighting for Lydia!'”
Oh, and don’t think we forgot to ask exactly how Lydia ended up in the insane asylum. Although Davis couldn’t share much, he did say, “She winds up in Eichen House for very difficult psychological reasons.”
That’s not ominous. No, not at all.
Mr. Yukimura
One of our favorite moments of the episode was when Kira whipped off her belt and transformed it into a sword. It was Davis’ idea, and he had actually been working on it since season 4. When prompted for some background on who would’ve made the belt, the EP had this to say:
“We have an actual very specific idea for this that we’ve been trying to fit into the episode, but I can tell you as a slight spoiler, Yukimura, her father, is a weapons maker. He’s the one that fashioned the obsidian into her tail. We’re trying to bring an element of that in this season.”
Color us intrigued.
Allison
If you’re anything like us, you probably cried a bucket of tears when you got to the end of the episode and watched as Scott wrote Allison’s initials next to his in the library.
“I have to say that there’s something for me personally as the writer who created that character, and then to acknowledge it, and to say in my own way — even to the fans — that I miss that character,” Davis explains, after being asked how important it is to keep past characters alive in memory. “But more importantly, I think it’s an homage to the character for the fans and to Crystal Reed, who did such a brilliant job of creating that character in a way that an actor brings life to a character and surprises you. I just loved the look on [Scott’s face]. Tyler Posey just killed that scene for me. I remember sitting in the first edit, seeing that scene and sitting up and saying, ‘Oh my god! It’s there! It’s all on his face! Look at his face!’ I think he really nails it. And people have told me they all burst into tears in that scene. So it’s very gratifying.”
Doctor Valack
Eichen House doesn’t have a large role in the premiere episode of Teen Wolf season 5, but its presence is certainly known. Davis confirms it’s Dr. Valack interrogating Lydia at the end of the episode. His explanation? “That’s a situation of the inmates taking over the asylum, so you’ll have to wait a little longer to see just how he’s managed to do that.”
We’re not exactly looking forward to that, considering how — in just a couple of episodes — he’s been portrayed as a manipulative and dangerous adversary. Davis offers us a nugget of information, though: “Well, if you want to know a little more about him, look up — he’s named specifically — but look up the demon Valac. We often choose our names carefully. With double meanings.”
Actors
Actors new and old are bringing their A-game to Teen Wolf season 5, and Davis only has wonderful things to say about them. Starting off with Linden Ashby as the sheriff, Davis says, “I can tell you Stilinski is caught. He’s caught between the world of the law and the supernatural. And he’s struggling with how to be a Sheriff and how to protect supernatural creatures as well and keep that side of everything going on in Beacon Hills secret. So he’s going to really struggle with that. Stiles is going to come to that struggle as well.”
He continues, “I gotta tell you that Scott and Stiles, Tyler Posey and Dylan O’Brien, they have some great scenes together this season. There is some really emotional stuff. We wanted to test their relationship and those two are so good together. I think they really enjoyed playing off each other.”
Luckily, the new actors fit in seamlessly as well. “I have to say that some of our new characters really surprised me,” the EP told us. “I think Cody Christian is going to surprise a lot of people. Some of his stuff is just fantastic and we’re so happy to have him. It was really quite a pleasant surprise to see just how much [and] just how well he came into the cast and the show and fit with everyone. And the cast loves him, too. So I think we’re going to have a lot of fun with him.”
“We gave Khylin [Rhambo] a much bigger part this season, too,” Davis says of the Mason actor. “We wanted to bring up Liam and Mason’s friendship as well. We sort of consider them Scott and Stiles 2.0. It’s a little different because they each have traits that are similar to Scott and Stiles but the opposites as well. Scott is becoming more zen this season and very in control of himself. While Liam still struggles with anger and all of the rage inside of him that makes becoming a werewolf very difficult. Mason is kinda like Stiles in that he’s completely supportive of his best friend and excited by things and incredibly smart. But whereas Stiles is kind of a cynical pessimist, Mason is always optimistic. Mason is always on the bright side.”
Coming up
And what else can we expect this season?
“I will say that all of the relationships go through some rough times,” Davis says. “Including — well, you already see it in 5×01 — Stilinski and Melissa. They butt heads on something in particular. I’ll say I’m very excited for some of our guest actors, like Kelsey Chow, Michael Johnston, and others who bring a really cool dynamic to the show. And a lot of threat as well.”