SDCC 2017: Teen Wolf Says Goodbye

Teen Wolf said goodbye to its fans by returning for a seventh and final appearance at San Diego Comic-Con. With a panel in SDCC’s prestigious Hall H – including surprise guests – and an award at MTV’s annual Fandom Fest – held in nearby Petco Park – Teen Wolf was given one last hurrah.

Teen Wolf has a fairly checkered history with certain portions of its fanbase, as The Geekiary has reported on multiple times. Naturally, their last SDCC appearance would be one more notch in that column. First, there was being gifted a spot in the coveted Hall H, a room that seats 6500, which some may claim was undeserved considering last year’s panel failed to fill the smaller Ballroom 20. Then, there was the “Fandom Icon” award at Fandom Fest, which seems to have been manufactured solely to give them something, as I don’t remember seeing voting posted anywhere. (Last year, you couldn’t escape it.) Depending on which part of the fandom you find yourself in, you may feel that award was undeserved as well. It’s safe to say that Teen Wolf is never without controversy. Of course, for me, all of this was eclipsed by the behavior of executive producer Jeff Davis at this year’s press room; but Farid has already spoken about that, and that isn’t what this article is about.

Because of a press conflict, I was unable to make the final panel. Even though I haven’t watched the show since season 4 ended, I was actually looking forward to the panel itself; with so many returning characters, I knew there would be some surprise guests who weren’t listed in the press release. And there were! Dylan O’Brien returned for the final sendoff. Tyler Hoechlin and Ian Bohen – also returning for season 6B – weren’t present but had pre-filmed a video introducing a clip that showed how Derek comes back to the show. They also debuted a new trailer, and no matter how I may feel about the show, they do put out a good trailer.

It’s only because I couldn’t make the panel that I applied for the press room at all – I was hoping that the surprise guests would also be doing press. Sadly, Dylan, who I was most looking forward to seeing, did not participate in the press room, and time constraints made it impossible for me to interview Colton Haynes as well. Still, it was lovely to talk to Melissa Ponzio and Charlie Carver, as I’ve never gotten the chance to interview them before.

And then there was Jeff. Yeah.

The press room seemed more subdued than in past years, notably Tyler Posey, who is normally a ball of energy during these things. The mood was definitely somber as cast members spoke about the final ten episodes, which will air this Sunday, July 30th.

It’s clear that MTV wanted to send its arguably most popular scripted show off with a bang. The news that it was canceled came during last year’s panel, and it kind of put a damper on what should have been the show’s big sendoff. Some might even argue that the reason the airing of 6B was so delayed (it was filmed months ago – Melissa claimed that she wouldn’t be able to answer questions because she couldn’t remember anything) was so that they could bring it to SDCC one more time, even after declaring that last year would be their last Comic-Con.

Regardless of how I feel about the show now, it does still have a very passionate and loyal fanbase, and I know that there are shows that I would hope would get a decent chance to say goodbye. So for them, we say goodbye, Teen Wolf.

Author: Jamie Sugah

Jamie has a BA in English with a focus in creative writing from The Ohio State University. She self-published her first novel, The Perils of Long Hair on a Windy Day, which is available through Amazon. She is currently an archivist and lives in New York City with her demon ninja vampire cat. She covers television, books, movies, anime, and conventions in the NYC area.

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