We discuss Teen Wolf season 5 with newly appointed staff writer Will Wallace, who gives us some hints at what’s coming for our heroes.
Having written Teen Wolf season 5, episode 13, “Codominance,” Wallace can give us a unique look into the process behind creating such an episode and preview the consequences of the events that went down. For the entire audio interview, visit Not Another Teen Wolf Podcast.
One of the most exciting aspects of “Codominance” was the introduction of the Skinwalkers, which come from Navajo legend. Wallace shares that the idea of the Skinwalkers had been around for several seasons, but the creative team behind the show never quite found the right place for them within the series.
When Kira left Beacon Hills at the end of season 5A, the initial idea was to send her to Japan to learn about the problems she’s been facing with control over her fox spirit. For logistical reasons, the writers decided to keep Kira within the United States, which meant they had finally found room to include Skinwalkers in their narrative.
Working with Pamela Peters as a consultant, they conceptualized the look and purpose of the Skinwalkers for the show. “It was really finding a balance of both to meet somewhere in the middle,” Wallace says of the struggle to stay true to legend as well as put their own spin on the mythology. “You want to honor and respect what came before you, but at the same time you’re telling this new story, so you want bring your own ideas and content to the mix. It was really just taking all these pictures with her, Jeff [Davis, creator], and Barbara [Vazquez, costumer designer], and finding this wonderful middle ground that ended up becoming the basis for what the Skinwalkers look like. The paint they wear on their faces is modeled on real face paint from Navajo warriors and Navajo myths. It was a lot of fun.”
He later continues, “They don’t look anything like any other characters on Teen Wolf. They were a brand new mythology, so that means a brand new look. It was wonderful seeing them realized.”
Explaining Kira’s current struggle, Wallace says, “The fox spirit inside of Kira passed the test and Kira didn’t pass the test. There’s this line, I believe from Dark Sky the Skinwalker, who says, ‘You wield the sword, but the fox wields you.’ That’s very important. Kira and the fox spirit have a very symbiotic relationship. Kira isn’t the fox and the fox isn’t Kira; they are two beings that live and cohabitate in her body. When [the Skinwalker] says the fox is wielding Kira, that’s kind of not supposed to happen.”
“The balance between Kira and the fox is becoming a little bit more lopsided toward the fox, and that’s not good,” he explains. “It’s always supposed to be an even balance with a little bit more so [toward] Kira, [who] should be wielding the fox. The fox is the power and Kira is the vessel for the power. The power is beginning to take control, and that’s not good. Some very bad things could come of that.”
So what is the purpose of the Skinwalkers after all? Wallace wouldn’t say much, but he did explain their ambiguity in the world of Teen Wolf: “Skinwalkers aren’t good or evil. They’re very much like Kitsunes, where Kitsunes are a little more amoral. A Kitsune won’t do something because it’s good or evil; it’ll do something because it just wants to see what’ll happen. The Skinwalkers are not exactly like that, but they exist, for us at least and for me, [beyond] good and evil, where it’s just ‘We’re here for a purpose.’ Kira belives that purpose is terrible, but from what her mom was saying, it doesn’t actually sound that bad because it seems more like protection. They’re beyond good and evil. They’re something else.”
The Skinwalkers are meant to expand the universe. According to Wallace, “We definitely wanted the Skinwalkers to feel like the tip of an iceberg, where we’re just touching this other mythology. We’re only giving you a glimpse of what else is in the world of Teen Wolf.”
“Each season is another step for Scott into a bigger world, and for the characters as a whole, and that to me is always very interesting,” he continues. “Just meeting the Skinwalkers is like, ‘What the hell is going on with them? Who are they? Are there others? What are they doing out there?’ It’s just this wonderful little bit on the side that’s like, ‘Oh! And look, if you were just to pan the camera to the left a little bit you would see this whole other world.'”
The Skinwalkers were a small part of Kira’s journey in this episode, but they certainly left an impression. “We might be seeing some Skinwalkers down the line,” Wallace teases. “Anything is possible. We’ll just see what happens.”
What about other aspects of Kira’s life, like her relationship with Scott? “They will continue to grow and that is going to be a lot of fun to see,” Wallace says. “And exploring that relationship between Scott and Kira has always been a lot of fun to talk about in the [writer’s] room. Scott and Allison were very hot and heavy because that first season was very much Romeo and Juliet and this illicit love affair. With Scott and Kira, we definitely wanted to go in a different direction. Kira is very different from Allison. Of course, that creates a new relationship for Scott and Kira to be in. It’s just the way they are together. Her leaving was a great blow to Scott, and now having her back is wonderful, and we’re just going to have to see what that means for them and see exactly what’s going to happen moving forward.”
The end of “Codominance” left us on a high note between Scott and Kira, who had no trouble falling back into their previous relationship. That does not mean, however, that all is well with Kira. “She’s coming back with the knowledge that she’s still, for lack of a better word, broken,” Wallace explains. “She went away to fix a problem, but she couldn’t find the solution to that problem. She’s coming back the same person, but there’s still a shadow over them, cast by the fox spirit, and that’s definitely going to be something to contend with as things go on. Scott’s by her side and she’s by Scott’s side, but things could get rough moving forward because he’s got to rebuild the pack. Stiles is back. And now Kira’s back. But they’re just the tip of iceberg for the pack.”
This, of course, ties into Kira’s test provided by the Skinwalkers that pitted her against an oni. “The oni are very much a fear that Kira has because if you look back at season 3B, the oni were there to fix a problem. If Kira’s scared of the oni, it must be because she believes she’s a problem.”
“This is very much a journey season for Kira,” he continues. “Season 5 is very much about — while it’s not at the forefront — it’s very much about her and having to deal with these big profound issues of what it actually means to be a Kitsune and what exactly goes along with that.”
Moving on to the season as a whole, Wallace says, “As each new member hopefully comes back to the fold, there’s gonna be drama coming with each of them. There’s good stuff coming later. I can’t wait for y’all to see it.”
Speaking of what’s coming next, Wallace had a few teases for us as we move into Teen Wolf season 5, episode 14, “The Sword and the Spirit,” written by Angela Harvey. “Shit’s going down in this next episode,” he says, looking over the script. “There’s a ton going on in this episode.”
Quietly murmuring to himself, “Oh, that’s right. That’s terrible,” we can’t help but be wary about what’s next for Scott and his friends as he tries to rebuild his pack. “This next episode is going to be intense,” Wallace says definitively. “Theo does terrible things, as he does in every episode. He’s just terrible. He’s just the worst character possible. It’s going to be a tough episode, but it’s going to be good. This is a great lead-in to episodes 15 and 16, which are a great two-parter. [Episode] 14 has a great central story with Malia. It’s this very Malia-centric episode, and there’s just a lot of good stuff coming.”
As a final thought on “The Sword and the Spirit,” Wallace says, “Now that Kira’s back, we are just really putting the pedal to the metal with getting the band back together as fast as we can because the pack’s got stuff to do.”
Like take care of that pesky Beast that’s been running around Beacon Hills the last couple of days.
Teen Wolf season 5 airs on Tuesdays at 9:00 p.m. on MTV.