Slayer hive rejoice, Sarah Michelle Gellar has returned to fantasy television. Sadly the Slayer-verse remains dormant but for those who have awaited her return to TV since short-lived sitcom The Crazy Ones have reason to be excited. Wolf Pack an eight-episode series from the created of Teen Wolf, Jeff Davis, is coming to Paramount+ on Friday 27th of January.
Originally positioned as a spin-off from the long-running fantasy-drama series, but now it's own thing, the series follows four teenagers: Everett Lang (Armani Jackson), a mixed-race student who suffers from extreme anxiety, Blake Navarro (Bella Shepard) a technophobe with an autistic brother and a chaotic homelife and twins Luna Briggs (Chloe Rose Robertson) and Harlan Briggs (Tyler Lawrence Gray) both of whom were adopted as children by park ranger Garrett (Rodrigo Santoro).
As wild fires break out in the surrounding area the teens are forced from their homes as animals flee the fire in panic. In the confusion Everett and Blake are attacked and bitten by what they believe at first to be a wolf but soon discover is in fact a werewolf. Blake's skin clears, and her ability to run increases, Everett's wounds heal and his strength multiplies and both find themselves seeking help from the twins. The twins have always been werewolves, and hope to rescue their adopted father from the burning forests before this other werewolf gets to him.
Where, you might ask, does Gellar factor in to all this? Well, Kristin Ramsey as played by Gellar is assigned to investigate the fires – she suspects arson. As Garrett traverses the burning terrain, Ramsey hunts the teens and the teens try to reckon with their new abilities things look like they're going to get dramatic.
Davis has gone on record saying he had no interest in doing another werewolf show after one hundred episodes and a tv movie, but in developing this opted to go in a darker, more mature direction. Where as Teen Wolf was more comic book inspired, filling it's sexy high school drama with a good dose of humour, Wolf Pack appears to be making use of it's streaming home and freedom from advertisers. There's going to be a little more nudity, and a lot more swearing.
Gellar doesn't just show up as an authority figure for the teens to fear, she executive produces the series. Her return to TV was not always going to be a fantasy high-school series, in her own words “I don't do werewolves” – we know, SMG, you do vampires preferably ones called Angel or Spike! But, she claims, she was enticed by the drama, and the mystery at the heart and the desire to sink her teeth into a story that is about more than just fangs and gangs but about social issues.
The first episode, it must be noted, makes quick work of setting up the characters. Very quickly we know the fire and the drama is going to be based on a very angsty world that many people who loved Teen Wolf will be able to enjoy. Gellar is a notable absence for most of the episode only offering two short scenes but even so she makes her presence known. Gellar is the elder stateswoman of fantasy series and her homecoming seems like a good place to start.
Those who don't enjoy the overly emo tones of CW-style shows might not enjoy the super serious nature with which these teenagers discuss werewolves, but this isn't a horror-series, at it's heart it's clearly a coming-of-age story using the wolf metaphor to explain puberty and explore those themes. It's not new, but it has a sense that walls close in around you now, and that the world has become a smaller, more threatening place. A metaphor made real by the flames that engulf the setting.
With only eight episodes it seems like a cautious launch for Paramount+, perhaps looking to see if there is an appetite for this sort of drama in the world and if they can turn this into a long running series like the one before it. But, the excitement to have Gellar back after such a long hiatus from leading a series, as well as her desire to create a work environment that is safe and collaborative for young performers seems to say that she is here to stay and that she isn't going away anytime soon.
If the apocalypse comes, beep her.
Wolf Pack is streaming on Paramount+ from January 27th
