It’s been a while since Teen Wolf debuted on MTV but the series was a big hit for the network for many years. Since the show ended, MTV hasn’t been able to reproduce another scripted series with the same impact on pop culture. The show was loosely based on the old movie of the same name but added in plenty of horrors to create something brand new.
It followed the journey of Scott McCall after he was bitten by a werewolf and his journey to becoming one himself along with fighting evil with his friends. But there were several hidden details in the show you may have missed.
Kali’s killer feet
We all know that Kali was one of the most intriguing new Alpha villains on the show in the third season. As the only female in the Alpha pack and the one werewolf with a truly significant connection to the other antagonist, Jennifer Blake, many fans were interested in learning more about her.
Did you know that her character was somewhat inspired by James Bond villains? Jeff Davis, the show’s creator, wanted to find an interesting way for her to attack people. That’s why Kali had such gnarly feet. They wanted to give her a unique ability and came up with it based on the Bond universe and their unique weaponry.
Acting for two
Did you know that several of the show’s main actors pulled double duty during their time on the series? Arden Cho, who played Kira Yukimura, also portrayed her mother in a flashback episode. Then there’s Dylan O’Brien, who portrayed fan-favorite character, Stiles Stilinski.
In the third season, O’Brien had one of his most daunting tasks yet as he had to portray one of the primary antagonists, the terrifying Nogitsune. Many fans were impressed by his acting in this role in particular. Finally, Crystal Reed, who portrayed Allison Argent for the show’s first three seasons, returned in season five to play an Argent ancestor in an epic flashback.
The real reason Allison died
Many fans were shocked when Allison Argent died tragically at the end of the third season. As one of the main characters on the show and the primary love interest for Scott McCall, most were devastated. Turns out, there was a behind-the-scenes reason Allison died. She and Scott were actually planned to be an endgame romance before Crystal Reed made the decision to leave the series.
The primary reason for her departure was her age. Reed was almost thirty and still playing a teenager. She felt like it was time for her to move on to explore other television and film roles. But there wasn’t any bad blood between Reed and the series, she did return for a flashback episode in season five.
Why the fight scenes are so intense
One of the big factors of Teen Wolf is the many fight scenes. You’re watching a show about werewolves and a whole plethora of supernatural creatures, obviously, there are going to be plenty of fight scenes. The fights are often super intense and there is a reason for that.
Did you know the cast typically only learned their fight choreography right before shooting the scenes? Such a short rehearsal time certainly helps make those moments look all the more realistic. It must be difficult to be told exactly how to fight with the other actors only minutes before having to jump in front of the camera to film.
Dylan O’Brien was the perfect Stiles
Have you heard the stories about Dylan O’Brien’s iconic audition for Stiles? Basically, he showed up with a blank piece of paper and a few links to his YouTube videos. Before Teen Wolf, O’Brien had a fairly popular YouTube channel.
Now that he has become so popular, fans have dug up many of his old videos including a particularly hilarious one of him signing to Spice Girls. O’Brien’s goofy nature and the fact he was pretty much totally unprepared during his audition wound up working in his favor. He already had the essence of Stiles down pat. Who knew not being ready could be the best thing for you?
Scott’s tattoo
Remember the tattoo Scott got? Well, the real reason the tattoo was written on to the show is that Tyler Posey has that very same marking in real life and the make-up department got sick of covering it up in every episode. It wound up fitting pretty well on the show due to its tribal meaning.
They were able to tie it into Scott’s werewolf heritage and even came up with some mythology about how they could get a tattoo without it healing too fast. It makes sense when you think about how long they spent turning Posey into a werewolf, they didn’t want to spend even more time in the make-up chair if they didn’t need to.
Dylan O’Brien loves the Mets
If you’re a Teen Wolf fan or just a Dylan O’Brien fan, you probably know how much the actor loves baseball. His favorite team is the Mets. He even got to throw out a pitch at one of their games.
O’Brien made sure to get his love for the Mets into the show during the season five episode where the characters sign their initials on the library bookshelf as a reminder to the school they were there. He wrote “METS!” on the shelf and you might be able to see it for the briefest of seconds during the scene if you look carefully.
The werewolf roar
How do they get the creepy and realistic wolf growling noises? Well, you would assume they might use the sound effects real wolves make but that is not the case. Surprisingly, what you’re hearing are gorilla noises! The sounds made by pretty much all the werewolves on the show are gorilla grunts and growls instead of wolf growls.
Since the actors can’t make those guttural noises themselves, the roars had to be computer-generated. Typically gorilla roars were used but they could also edit in other animal sounds to create an unnatural and otherworldly growl that would be specific and unique to werewolves.
Lydia was always special
It isn’t revealed officially until season three that there may be more to Lydia than meets the eye but eagle-eyed viewers may have caught on to there being something amiss in the Martin family background all the way back in season one. During the parent-teacher conference in the first season, Lydia’s father asks about how Lydia is doing in school.
He specifically wonders if she has been exhibiting strange or erratic behavior. At the time, we might not have paid much attention to that comment but then fast-forward a few years and we learn the truth about Lydia’s grandmother and the fact she is a banshee.
Early foreshadowing of Kate Argent’s return
While it’s unclear if it was always planned to bring Kate Argent back later on in the show after her death, it is interesting that the series executed some pretty perfect foreshadowing. If you recall back in season one, there is a point where Jackson is sporting some significant scarring on the back of his neck after being attacked by Derek.
Kate notices the marks and asks Chris if it is possible for someone to be turned into a werewolf through a claw mark and he says it could be. Fast-forward a few seasons and that is indeed how Kate Argent returns from the dead! She was turned by Peter Hale’s claws.
