Episode #160 - Tyler Lawrence Gray, Wolf Pack's Lone Wolf

Wolf Pack star Tyler Lawrence Gray, who plays Harlan Briggs, joins the hosts of Not Another Teen Wolf Podcast to preview the new series. Tyler has plenty to say about his first impressions of the project and of the role, working with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Rodrigo Santoro, the different levels of acting experience between the four main teen stars and how they supported one another, and of course, all about his character Harlan Briggs - his super hearing power, his independent nature, his sexuality, and the impact of all the unanswered questions in Harlan's past. We also manage to get one or two teasers about when viewers can expect the big picture to come into focus. We hope you enjoy our exclusive interview with Tyler Lawrence Gray for Not Another Teen Wolf Podcast's coverage of Wolf Pack - not a Teen Wolf spin-off! We're delighted to be joined by one of the stars of Wolf Pack, Tyler Lawrence Gray! You can find him on instagram at TylerLawrenceGray and Twitter at @TylerLawrenceG. Tyler plays one of Wolf Pack's "core four," Harlan Briggs - born werewolf and brother of Luna, adopted by Garrett. The role is Tyler's first major project, but he also auditioned for the Teen Wolf movie! “Not only one project from Jeff Davis but two and one of them's a whole new universe? I was freaking out.” Tyler holds a life-long attraction to genre fiction, especially creature films and CGI-heavy properties. “Whatever could create a non-realistic world compared to this one just piqued my interest.”  He believes that supernatural or genre fiction presents a unique opportunity to tell certain stories. “You can tell stories through romance, you can tell stories through comedy, you could tell stories through horror and they can all be the same story just in different ways but I think the supernatural [genre] especially is great because the metaphor is always there.” Superhero movies were nd fed his desire to create an impact, but perhaps not in the way you might expect. “I know that's very common and cliche but I sort of started to challenge that thought, like why do these superheroes make me want to be great, and I think it's because they they possess this power that is stronger than the average person and I sort of resonate with that, in a sense of like, you can have a power like that if you decide to just have impact on people. I've realized that in a world like this where we're all the same, the real power is that positive energy.” Tyler recounts diving into the scripts in the early stages of Wolf Pack and getting stuck on Harlan’s level of resistance, suspecting it may turn sinister.  “I actually remember asking Jeff before we started shooting, I was like ‘Is Harlan a villainous character?’" Davis’s response? “No. He’s just hurt.” “I realized almost immediately honestly after reading the pilot, all right here's someone who has sort of a dysfunctional relationship with his immediate family that he's living with right now because there's this underlying problem that is unanswered, and he's unable to accept what he has in front of him because of that unanswered question.” Sarah Michelle Gellar is one of Wolf Pack's adult stars, and Tyler talks about her role on set as a mentor and as the show's executive producer. "She genuinely cares about teaching us stuff. She really stressed to us, “stay humble, keep your head on straight, this industry can take you down roads that you don't want to go down. Remember why you're here, you're here because you were that actor that was struggling at one point looking for work, and you would have done anything. But now you're here so take advantage of that opportunity and really make an impact on people, and stay humble.” And we all did. I think we all just listened to her, we were like 'Yes.' Her being a good role model like that really set the tone for the way we would like to go into work." Harlan and Luna's relationship with their adopted father Garrett is a crucial part of Wolf Pack, and actor Rodrigo Santoro really helped Tyler and Chloe Rose Robertson to develop details of the imagined backstory for the Briggs family, strengthening the relationship dynamic between them. "Talk about someone who literally just dives into their craft and doesn't want to come out. just wants to stay in there forever. He is one of the most passionate actors I've ever seen. I'll never forget the first time I ever met Rodrigo. He came up to me and Chloe and he had a gift for us, he got us flip-flops that he brought all the way from Brazil. So already off the bat I was like 'Oh Rodrigo you've already sold me, man, like you've already bought my approval.'" Tyler takes us through his experiences at New York Comic-Con - a first for him - and at the show's red carpet premiere in Los Angeles. "Honestly I wasn't even worried if people were gonna like it or hate it because I was proud of what I did and I was proud of all the other actors and the entire crew. I know how much time we all spent some days where we're just exhausted, it's like three in the morning and we're all on our third cup of coffee, waiting to just wrap. But we know that we have to do it because there are people out there that will appreciate it. That’s the beautiful thing about acting and art, with film, is that regardless of how the outcome is, you will find a group of people that genuinely enjoy it." On creating the first impression of Harlan in his first scene, Tyler knew he needed to give off the energy of the coolest character, the one with the swagger and sex appeal, and complete comfort about the fact that he's gay. "Not your typical swagger like the high school quarterback or someone like that. Someone who's in this underground rave culture, he's just dancing and he's doing his own thing and he's maybe not even supposed to be there because of his age, but he is, because he's little defiant and I know that people love that rebellious defiant vibe. I know that Jeff really wanted to make this kind of character as cool and as tough as possible [...] I actually asked Jeff at first I was like "So is this [his sexuality] sort of his underlying thing that he's struggling with? And he's like 'Oh no, he is out and proud.'" From the first few episodes, it seems like Harlan is chasing guys for hook-ups and preferring this kind of connection and intimacy to family or friends. Is he a romantic? Will there be a proper love story on the horizon for him?  "He clearly doesn't have a boyfriend or a significant other. So he's sort of trying to just figure his stuff out with that as well." Getting into the details of the episodes, we have a great chat with Tyler about Harlan's special super power, hearing, and how that's demonstrated to us through his introduction at a rave and his recognition of the mixing of EDM tracks. Tyler also teases the importance of the different werewolf strengths, and he has a theory about why Jeff Davis chose to give this particular power to his character. "I have a feeling it's because Harlan is confident and he's almost a little cocky, and with the hearing, it's kind of like 'I can hear everything by the way. You're not smarter than me, you can't get anything by me because I'm literally hearing everything at all times whenever I want to.'" We had to ask Tyler why Harlan seems so sure that the monster out there is their real father (as opposed to their mother.) "Honestly I just think that ties into Harlan's psychology about why he can't accept his stepdad." We also got into the fact that we were really surprised that there were more a bunch kids, beyond Everett and Blake, who seem to have a role to play in the monster's story! Here, Tyler had a bit of a concrete answer for us about what to expect. "I know a lot of people are gonna be like "What? How many people did this thing bite? But it will all make sense in episode 5." Check out the full episode for lots more from Tyler Lawrence Gray as he takes us through his experience filming Wolf Pack and gives us a few more teasers for the upcoming season! This episode’s hosts are: Karen Rought and Natalie Fisher. Not Another Teen Wolf Podcast was the first-ever Teen Wolf podcast in existence, offering its listeners an in-depth analysis of the hit MTV show. From 2012 to 2017, the Not Another Teen Wolf Podcast team brought you episode recaps, convention coverage and exclusive interviews, plus in-depth discussion of all aspects of Teen Wolf, from mythology to cast side projects. Now we're back to cover the Teen Wolf movie on Paramount Plus, as well as the new Jeff Davis werewolf show Wolf Pack! Paramount+ has provided a special offer for our listeners: if you don't already have the service, new subscribers can use the code THEPACKISBACK to get a free 30-day trial to check out Paramount+ and stream Wolf Pack and Teen Wolf: The Movie! Please note, this offer is only valid until 3/31/23. Terms and conditions: New subscribers get 1-month free Paramount+ subscription (while supplies last). Offer expires 3/31/23. 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