This past weekend we attended the Days of the Wolf convention in L.A., where fans came together to celebrate Teen Wolf and interact with several actors from the show. We sat down with Arden Cho and she gave us some insight into the next season.
Teen Wolf season 5 isn’t too far away, but it’s far enough where we’re starting to get more and more thirsty for all things wolf-related. That’s why we attended Days of the Wolf — to finally quench our Teen Wolf thirst! The convention was two days of great fan/actor interaction, and in between all the craziness we managed to sit down with actress Arden Cho (Kira Yukimura) and she teased us about the next season of Teen Wolf.
How did you spend your break between seasons?
So it’s funny, I actually went to New York to film a movie called Stuck, and it’s a musical, so that was really cool. Giancarlo Esposito is in it, Ashanti the singer, Amy Madigan, Omar Chaparro, and Gerard Canonico, and so it’s a small ensemble cast and it was a lot of fun, very challenging with music, dancing, acting all at the same time. Really long takes with pages and pages of dialogue, so it was really cool — a really different experience. I loved it.
I also did some conventions and had some shows and spoke at some colleges, so it was really great. The reason I said it was funny is because in the show, and I don’t know if they did this because I went to New York, but in the show Kira went to New York for the summer. So I don’t know, I was like, “I should ask them,” but I think it’s because in the show last season I think they referenced that they used to live in New York. Coincidentally Kira and both Arden were in New York for the summer, but I’m glad to be back and to be filming again — I missed it. Even though we have really long hours and it’s really difficult, when I’m not working I still miss it.
The show just added a couple new faces to the writing team, so do you know if they’ve written anything particularly awesome for Kira?
I know that all the writers are definitely working together to develop all the characters this season. I definitely think there’s a lot more character development and relationships, just a lot more moments between characters and their friendships. Everybody kind of works collectively as a team, so it’s hard to know what specific exchange someone wrote exactly. Even if it’s, say Ian [Stokes]’s episode and he wrote it, everybody still wrote a part. It’s not like Ian writes the whole episode and that’s it — it’s a collaboration.
So yeah, I mean so far I love where this season is going for all the characters, not just mine. I think they’re definitely writing some cool stuff for us and I’m excited. Kira’s growing up, everyone’s growing up, and it’s nice seeing characters going through and experiencing challenges that we do as well.
Is Kira still struggling with her powers, or has she mostly gotten a hold of them at this point?
I think she’s definitely still struggling. There’s certain things that she’s gotten a little bit more confident with, but a lot of the supernatural aspects of it, as in the electricity and those sorts of things, she’s still trying to figure out.
And I think it’s a little more difficult because she’s the only kitsune. Scott’s obviously helping her, but he’s a werewolf, so it’s different, and I think her mother and father are still keeping a lot of secrets from her and a lot of that has to do with the fact that she’s still so young. I think toward the end of the season we’ll definitely dive more into that. We’ll see what happens.
How is the pack dynamic looking so far in season 5? Have the events of season 4 brought them closer together?
Definitely. I definitely feel like this season, really coming together as a pack, it fits. I feel like we’re all getting our groove, and I was just telling someone [that] for me this has been the most exciting season because I don’t feel like the new kid anymore, I feel like a part of the pack and the family.
And I love that dynamic. It’s so fun to see each character’s voice really be clear now. Malia’s getting her groove, Lydia is becoming stronger, Stiles is really manning up too — he might not have supernatural powers, but he’s really like a very logical voice in the team and obviously Scott is our alpha and he’s our leader, and even Liam is stepping up and Mason is getting involved too. It’s a lot of fun and there’s definitely fun dynamics at least with the young students in school. And also out of school life too, so that’s been a lot of fun. And I really like the new characters as well. I think they’re great and I think there’s going to be some really fun moments.
So it feels really great not being the newest kid anymore, yeah?
Ugh, I love it! I love not being the new kid and not being the one out of the loop. I feel like, yeah, it’s hard being the new step child and now I’m not. I’ve passed initiation and now I’m in.
Page 2: Arden talks Scott and Kira, the Yukimura family and more!
Is there an elephant in the room with Scott and Kira in regards to Allison? Is that still awkward between them?
Oh, I definitely think there’s still a lot of stuff that’s uncomfortable, but I think it’s more than just Allison. [The history with] Allison is such a big thing. That will always be there. Something like that doesn’t just go away, it was his first love and as such a young person to not just lose your first love but also physically lose your first love that’s like a whole other level. I mean think about it. Breakups alone are so difficult let alone actually losing that person, that’s so crazy and extreme. I love that the show does face that topic because it is really difficult.
One of my favorite [scenes] that Posey did was between him and Melissa when he’s crying at the kitchen table about that because it’s like what do you do? That’s real, people that we know have been through those moments whether it’s a loved one or family member or friend. And so I think that is still a difficulty between their relationship along with the fact that maybe they haven’t really talked about it along with the fact that Scott tried to stab Kira. Yeah, he was a berserker, but like that happened too! A lot of things have happened and they haven’t really had time to develop their relationship as a normal couple would because they’ve been fighting bad guys and all this crazy stuff has been happening.
I think season 5 will be interesting to see how that develops and what happens there. I definitely think there are a lot of things that are unsaid and that need to be figured out, a lot of awkwardness. Which [actually] I think people love about Scott and Kira, or at least I love it because I feel like it’s so realistic.
Will we be seeing more of Kira’s parents this season? Because they’re totally fan favorites.
Aw! Are they? That is so amazing. I’m so glad people love them. I’ll have to let them know. Tamlyn Tomita and Tom Choi are amazing. They’re not only great actors, but they’re just such fun people and I love them. I mean we’ve had a really fun episode when they both got to come back. I mean they have little bits separately too but there’s some fun scenes with like the whole family. It’s really fun, there’s a very fun dynamic and I love the characters and I love that my dad is so awkward and silly and goofy while my mom is like intelligent and smart. I mean they’re both intelligent, but I think there’s a lot of fun stuff that can come from that as well.
I mean obviously they’re holding secrets because my mom’s like 900 years old at least, and they’re definitely holding some stuff back. I do hope that they dig into that stuff this season and I know that they’re back. We’ve already filmed some stuff, so they’re definitely here, they’re not going anywhere. I can’t tell you exactly how much we’re going to be developing that story, but I do know that I’ve heard from the writers we’re going to have more family stuff too.
The characters have almost always been by each others side no matter what through the whole series. Can you say anything about any potential for them to really disagree or get torn apart as a family because of a major rift or fight?
I definitely think that this season there will be challenges where we really have to question our relationships and our friendships. I don’t know exactly what that’s going to be, but I know that there’s going to be some obstacles. And I know people have sort of talked about it and I think it’s because they really want to hit that because it’s realistic and it happens in real life.
So for fun: If you could come up with the craziest episode of ‘Teen Wolf,’ what would you want to do?
Okay, so this probably wouldn’t fit for Teen Wolf, but I think it would be really cool. If Kira just has something crazy supernatural happen with her power where, like, I don’t know, if she learns how to finally grasp it, if there was a twist with all the power like she actually became evil and then used her power for bad. And then maybe Scott would have to take her down, and it would be like crazy intense.
But I don’t think it would ever go that way because they really like where Scott and Kira are at, and I think they like where the pack is and obviously like a part of me likes that, but I don’t want to die off that way. If I had to go, that would be a way I would like to go, but I think that would be cool.