Interview: Shelley Hennig & Holland Roden on Teen Wolf: The Movie

“In the Paramount+ film, a full moon rises in Beacon Hills, and with it, a terrifying evil has emerged,” reads the synopsis. “The wolves are howling once again, calling for the return of Banshees, Werecoyotes, Hellhounds, Kitsunes, and every other shapeshifter in the night. But only a Werewolf like Scott McCall, no longer a teenager yet still an Alpha, can gather both new allies and reunite trusted friends to fight back against what could be the most powerful and deadliest enemy they’ve ever faced.”

Tyler Treese: Shelly, one of the interesting things about Teen Wolf: The Movie is that there has been a time jump. What was most interesting about returning as an older version of Malia?

Shelley Hennig: Ooh, well, it gave me an opportunity to show a different side of her. It gave all of us that opportunity and I wasn’t sure what that would be. Then, reading the script, I just felt a vulnerability and I personally felt a vulnerability. So it was fun to incorporate that and to see Malia squirm a little. She’s not so on top of things. I think she’s trying, but she’s a little squirmy. She’s a little squirmy. She’s a little butthurt that everybody left her in Beacon Hills. There was just a lot to play. It just felt really alive and I was pleased.

Holland, it has to be special that so much of the cast came back for this movie, both creatively and for the stars. How great was it, being right back there with so many familiar faces?

Holland Roden: Just surreal. I equate it to coming back for the holidays when you’ve had like nine siblings growing up. Literally, it feels like you’re walking back in the front door and Papa Jeff [Davis, creator of the Teen Wolf television series] is baking cookies!

Jeff wrote the script and Russell [Mulcahy, director of the movie] had directed 40 episodes of the TV show. I’m sure having those key creatives involved had to totally close the door on any issues of whether it would be true to the series because they are the leads. How special was it knowing that this movie was really going to build off the series and it wasn’t going to be a shell of itself?

Shelley Hennig: Well, first of all, that is the exact safety that made it so easy for us to say yes to doing the movie. It’s with everyone we know and love and we’ve already created a series and now, doing the movie off of it, it was a safe space. But also the reason I was so lucky to join the show was because I got to kind of test run it for like a week. I was very naive to the success of the show.

So for me, it was about the people, to stay and to be so privileged to be a part of this cast. So when you say people like Jeff and Russell, I’m like, “Yeah, that’s why I was there.” Then I learned how amazing the show was. We’re really proud. We are genuinely really proud to be a part of the show. I started Season 3. Here’s an OG. I can’t imagine what it feels like for you. I got to reap the benefits of these lovely people and I’m just here along for the ride.