A movie revival of Teen Wolf is coming, only four years after it went to air. But in the age of full reboots and remakes, there’s no point in these one-off stunts
Over the weekend, Teen Wolf was picked up for a movie revival thanks to a deal with creator Jeff Davis and Paramount+, Variety reports.
In the multi-year deal with MTV Entertainment Studios, Davis will write and executive produce the film, as well as develop a new series based on Edo Van Belkom’s Wolf Pack books. The live-action reboot of Aeon Flux originally intended for MTV has shifted into the deal with Paramount+ as well.
Tyler Posey, who originally starred as the lead character Scott McCall, is pretty much locked to return to the role after confirming the film’s news on his Instagram page.
Talks are currently underway to bring the rest or the show’s cast back, including Dylan O’Brien, Crystal Reed, Tyler Hoechlin, Holland Roden, Colton Haynes, and Arden Cho.
In the age of so many show reboots, remakes and revivals, is this really something fans were calling out for? Or is it just another cash grab to capitalise off of something that was big back in 2013?
As television watchers, we’re no stranger to finding out the usual trope of a beloved series is coming back, and if it’s not remade with a new cast but the original storyline, then it’s generally the same old favourites coming back doing the same old thing except looking 10-20 years older.
But Teen Wolf ended in 2017, it’s only four years ago that we said goodbye to these people and now the, “wolves are howling once again”. Please.
If shows are going to come back, then they need to come back as a full-on series that actually attempts to get some longevity with their fans, old and new.
Take Fuller House for example, Netflix’s reboot to the 1980s sitcom hit of Full House. What were once a best friend and brother-in-law helping to raise Danny Tanner’s three girls turned into a best friend and sister helping to raise DJ Tanner’s three boys.
That’s a show which became its own. Sure, frequent guest appearances of John Stamos and Bob Saget reminded us of the old days, but for the most part, seeing Candice Cameron Bure and Jodie Sweetin as talented adult actors with small remnants of their stardom as little girls made for a great new series, which ran for five seasons.
While some might have been in it for the money to pay for their child’s high-end college entry, at least the show tried to come into its own.
But limited series and one-off movies for shows that ended not nearly as long as those like Full House just feels like Hollywood has well and truly run out of ideas and revives whatever show plucked out of a bag to generate some extra cash.
Shows such as Dexter and Sex and the City have both confirmed a 10-episode limited series revival which look at some of the original characters and where they are now.
I mean Criminal Minds (also created by Davis) ended a 15-year run in 2020, only to get its own 10-episode series confirmed in February of this year for crying out loud. The show was barely done for a year, nobody’s realistically that quick to want these characters back so bad.
While fans might bounce and rejoice that their #BringBackInsertShowThatProbablyShouldHaveEnded may have worked, is it really for them when all the original cast and crew can muster up is a limited series, or worse, a two-hour movie?
It doesn’t look like the age of reboots is going away anytime soon, nostalgia is hard to avoid and it’s working for so many other shows right now. So we should expect almost every buried series to show up again in some light.
But when making these revivals, if you’re just going to dip your toes in the water, the product is probably not really that worth it at all.
The Teen Wolf revival film is set to stream on Paramount+ in the US, although there’s no word as to whether the Australian counterpart will pick it up as well.
