Hello there.
I’m Paul Rea from the official Teen Wolf Wiki.
I’m also Paul Rea from the Official Wolf Pack TV Show Wiki.
I am just one guy, but these are two, very different and distinct, werewolf-themed universes,
despite what you might have been led to believe during this week’s Paramount Plus media blitz.
I sound like this because I can’t use my real voice currently. It’s
a whole big thing. Details are in the description.
Today I’m trying to explain how the new Wolf Pack show is nothing to do with Teen Wolf,
and how the pervasive belief that the two, are, somehow connected, has spread so quickly.
It all started Tuesday February 15 during the big Q-4 earnings presentation from Viacom C B S.
The entire Paramount Plus investor event lasted more than 2 hours and I
sat through the whole bloody thing, for you guys.
Just to give you some idea of what my sacrifice entailed, here’s a sampling of
the opening sequence, which saw two, old, rich, white folks, riding in Bumblebee,
and making dad jokes, while being chased by Decepticons.
Bob Bakish: We've got company.
Shari Redstone: Let's show them we mean business.
Bakish: I feel the need, the need for speed.
Redstone: You go Maverick!
Most of that bloated action sequence is actually from a movie, but even using existing footage,
that little skit, filming Shari Redstone and Bob Backish against a green screen for
all that nonsense, cost more money than most of us made during all of last year.
In other words, I need you to truly appreciate how much annoying cringe I had to go through to bring
you the news. I’ll link you to the whole thing in the description so, you too, can suffer like me.
Anyway, this was a 2 hour event in which Paramount Plus explained how well they’re
doing in gaining new subscribers and spreading their brands worldwide.
They also unveiled some plans for what’s coming up on their various platforms.
In all this, Teen Wolf got a five-second mention with a line about Wolf Pack tacked onto the end.
Executive: And the return of MTV's Teen Wolf
with a new movie featuring the original cast
that will set up a new werewolf series called Wolf Pack.
based on the acclaimed books by Edo Van Belkom.
That phrasing has caused quite a bit of misunderstanding within the Teen Wolf fandom.
When most folks hear that the Teen Wolf movie, will, “set up”, a new werewolf series, what they
immediately think is, well, this new series is spinning off from the Teen Wolf Universe. The way
the "WandaVision", "What IF?", and "Loki" shows, set up "No Way Home", and "Multiverse of Madness".
That is not what is happening here. There is no shared universe between Teen Wolf and Wolf Pack.
And while it is to their benefit for Paramount Plus to conflate some connection between the two,
I don’t think they’re being purposefully deceptive.
Executive: And the return of MTV's Teen Wolf
with a new movie featuring the original cast
that will set up a new werewolf series called Wolf Pack.
based on the acclaimed books by Edo Van Belkom.
You need to keep in mind that this was an event for stockholders. When they use the phrase,
“sets up”, they’re thinking in terms of programming.
They’re saying, here we have this werewolf thing that everybody enjoyed, and we’re
going to give you more of that thing people like.
But from a programming standpoint, we’re going to use the popular thing
to promote a new and different thing that the same audience might enjoy.
So, if it’s not a Teen Wolf spin off, what is the Wolf Pack TV show?
It’s a whole new werewolf mythology based on novels
written by Canadian author Edo van Belkom.
I’ve got some stuff about the novels up at the Wolf Pack TV Show Wiki,
that should be linked here and in the description.
The 2005, award-winning, Wolf Pack novel starts with a forest
ranger finding a group of orphaned wolf cubs in the aftermath of a wildfire.
He took the pups home to his wife. Then,
to everyone's suprise, the pups all turned into human babies.
Now they’re four teenagers going to high school and struggling
with teenage problems while also being werewolves.
So, Paramount Plus is giving us more. but different,
teenage werewolves within a brand new supernatural universe,
and they’re just using Teen Wolf to hype it in advance of the series premiere later this year.
I hope that makes sense because it sounds kind of messy when it's read out loud like that.
Then, I hear you asking,why not just do a spin off of Teen Wolf
instead of creating a whole show in an entirely different universe?
The answer is simple, Paramount Plus doesn’t own Teen Wolf,
so they can’t really exploit the IP with any new shows set inside that universe.
The Teen Wolf IP is licensed from M G M for a limited time,
and just, to make the upcoming movie and it's two possible sequel films.
Ownership of Teen Wolf is split between Paramount and M G M, neither one can
make anything new in the Jeff Davis universe without an agreement with the other side.
This already fraught arrangement is further complicated by the
fact that MGM is being bought by a direct streaming competitor, Amazon Prime Video.
Bottom line in all this ownership crap is that neither of these companies is
likely to give the other full control of the IP,
which means, we likely will never get, the expanded Teen Wolf Universe of my dreams.
Bob Bakish: And, as we look ahead, powered by our phenomenal Paramount content engine,
we see a huge, global opportunity in streaming.
One thing that was repeated over and over again in that 2 hour investor
presentation was how much Paramount plus plans to exploit their existing IP.
In addition to the half dozen Star Trek shows they’re doing,
they’ve ordered 3 spinoffs from western drama Yellowstone, a couple of Sonic the Hedgehog
properties, and many, many other reboots, spinoffs, sequels, prequels and requels.
If it weren’t for the complicated ownership thing – Teen Wolf would
indeed be in the cue for much the same treatment.
But, because Teen Wolf does not belong to Paramount Plus, they decided to go out and
buy some similar intellectual property, that they, will, be able to exploit.
They even hired the same guy to develop the new show in hopes of recapturing the Teen Wolf magic.
If it works, we actually could someday see a new, expanded, Jeff Davis supernatural
universe, but that new thing would be completely untethered from the Teen Wolf name and history.
I’m sure Wolf Pack will be a fun and interesting new thing. I mean, Jeff Davis
created the current number one streaming crime procedural and the biggest drama ever on MTV.
Wolf Pack will definitely be good, but it won’t be Teen Wolf.
And I can’t help but be a little disappointed, because Jeff already
poured so much good mythology, and lore, into Teen Wolf. Stuff like the Hale family,
and the history of the Beast, and all that Kit sue nay lore,
will probably never be exploited the way I think it could be, and, that is a major sad for me.
I’ll see you next time we go back to Beacon Hills.