'Teen Wolf' actor Colton Haynes lands on the CW's 'Arrow'

We all know season one of MTV’s Teen Wolf was much better than season two. Part of the problem was there seemed no clear direction for the characters anymore. All the best parts that made the show so much better in season one, the relationships between Scott and Stiles, Derek and Stiles, Stiles and his dad, Scott and Allison, Stiles and Lydia, Scott and his Mom were pushed to the side lines in favor of a muddle mythology that you knew how was going to end when former Battlestar Galactica actor Michael Hogan arrived in episode one. You knew from the start that he was a prick and unredeemable so it made his mustache twirling more annoying than you would expect. 

 

I also had issues with actress Eaddy Mays, who played Allison’s un-approving Mom. She was so cold, such a stereotype of a frigid woman –though Scott’s mom can be on the opposite end of that spectrum, I guess- that there was no emotional loss when she is bitten and has to kill herself before she turns in a werewolf.  By the end of the season, you were almost clapping with joy she was doomed. Now that the series has been picked up for a super third season of twenty-four episodes (versus the 12 for the first two), and is relocating to Los Angeles after spending two years filming in Georgia, it has lost a main character, as Colton Haynes has landed a recurring role on the CW’s Arrow as the leads side kick, Roy Harper. It had been known that Haynes, who’s past modeling expiernece (especially in a widely known gay-teen magazine that lead to some controversy when publicists threatened legal action to online sites that showed those pictures) helped the shows success, was not pleased with the direction of his character of Jackson took in the second season. The actor was sidelined it seemed for most of the season as he became, in Haynes words, a “jerk with a messed up emotional situation due to the fact that he is a lizard man.” 

While Haynes departure should not affect the series as whole (his arc gave him an out at the end of the season), he did spend a lot of time out of his clothes (along with Tyler Posey and Tyler Hoechlin), which pleased the fanbase of women and gay men. And that will be sadly missed. Still, I’m guessing Arrow will give him a chance to show off that genetically lottery winning body, while also giving him a chance to grow as an actor (and probably a pay bump as well). As for what I hope season three does is return to the best aspects the show had for season one, which were the inter-personal relationships between the characters. Sure, it’s not the smartest show on TV, but it seemed clear in season one that producers and writers were having much more fun with the archetypes, and then that was thrown out for season two. Like many fans, I would like to see the Stiles (Dylan O'Brien) and Derek relationship grow. The actors have such chemistry, and whether they do a straight bromance (or gay) storyline or not, the two work very well together and that should be exploited. If they want to make this a chessier version of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I'm fine with that, just utilize your talent better. The show is already an improvement over most of MTV's scripted shows, why not make the characters a little more three-dimensional?

For season three, the show will add Charlie and Max Carver in recurring roles as twins Ethan and Aidan, a pair of alpha wolves. The Carver brothers were last seen on the later seasons of Desperate Housewives when that show jumped five years into the future between season four and five. Soap actress Felisha Terrel will arrive to play the series’ first female alpha werewolf, while Australian actress Adelaide Kane will arrive in Beacon Hill to play a character connected to the pack with in the town. 

One final thought is will the production keep the continunity of the location when the series begins filming on season three here in Los Angeles. As noted, they filmed in Georgia (though the series is set in California) during the fall and winter, when there was a lot of cold weather and rain. That is something generally missing when filming here. The only way to maintain that, I guess, would to film up state, like in Santa Rosa which would resemble the same sort of terrain and weather of Georgia.