The Teen Wolf Cast Gets Real About Inclusion and LGBT Representation

Updated on 7/27/2016 at 6:05 PM

This past weekend, Comic-Con blazed through San Diego, and MTV's Teen Wolf was among the countless TV shows and movies present. The show's accompanying panel and round-table interviews yielded quite a lot of overwhelming information. We got news that season six would be the show's last chapter, plus a bunch of emotional admissions about the experience from veteran cast members like Holland Roden and Tyler Posey. We also got to hear about one of the show's most heartening aspects — its continual inclusion of characters from the LGBT community. Find out what some of the show's biggest players had to say.

Creator Jeff Davis

On the importance of representing the LGBT community: "It's hugely important to me, as a gay man myself. I want to see representations on TV. I want to see, personally, I want to see relationships that are good. I also want to see — it's a little difficult for me, because I know there are certain sections of fandom that believe that . . . I know you want them to have a good death . . . but I don't believe LGBT characters are untouchable. We want the same dramatic things to happen to them. If we had good narrative reason to kill Mason, I would say, maybe . . . if it made a great story, you want to go where the great story takes you. But, I actually, I want to see gay relationships on TV so badly. I wish, you know, we had space to put other characters in that showed it . . . it's something that needs to be there."
On Khylin Rhambo, who plays Mason: "I have great respect and admiration for Khylin, because there are not many black, gay characters on television. It's a scary thing for a straight actor to play gay, because they believe they'll get typecast. So, he's been fearless about it, which is awesome."
On gay character deaths: "There's a bit too much focus on what you can do with those characters, what you can do with gay and lesbian characters. And eventually, hopefully, there'll be enough characters so that it won't feel like the trope, the 'kill your gays' trope. That a gay character can get killed off on a show, and it won't be a big deal because there are enough gay characters on television to make it not seem like it's an unusual thing."

Khylin Rhambo (Mason Hewitt)

On playing a gay character: "It's been great, man. It's so awesome how much support I get, all across the board. I'm just definitely honored to play this, because this is a very different character, and it's been such a joy to see him grow, and people really love him. I love that, because this was such a successful show. It's kinda like, you know how double dutch is, like, someone's already jumping in, and I actually made it. And people aren't like, 'Who is that guy?' They're actually excited to see Mason. So, it's just been an honor, a surreal moment, and I'm just very proud to play this guy. It's just great."
On fan reception: "It's mostly on social media. But that's enough for me. Because I know people, that's their way to kind of connect to people they look up to. Just seeing some of the tweets, and how I've had a positive impact on people just by doing what I love. It's a great experience, and I'm honored to do it."

Tyler Posey (Scott McCall)

On the inclusion of gay characters: "The cool thing about it all is that we do it effortlessly. It's all natural, you know? We don't try to, we're not like, 'Oh hey, we're putting the gay couple here' . . . it's not pandering, it's just natural for us, because we love that sh*t! It's who we are. We're advocates for the human race, no matter who you are. And I just really like that people actually acknowledge it, and take note of it from our show. And that's how it should be."
On identity as a prevalent theme: "We've dealt with struggling with identity since day one, with Scott McCall. And that relates to anybody growing up. Gay or not . . . No one's alone. You're not alone."