This Show Was Supposed To Be A Gift: Teen Wolf + Race

Forty-one minutes and twelve episodes to be exact and, no, that’s not a lot of time. But Boyd’s character is aligned with Issac Lahey (Daniel Sharman) and Erica Reyes, who have been developed far more thoroughly. Issac and Erica are also characterized as white; slapping the last name Reyeson a character played by a non-PoC, blonde actress, Gage Golightly, when you choose to not acknowledge the show’s actual Mexican lead in the show’s canon does not absolve Davis of his issues with race.

Which makes it no surprise–but typical of my favorite supernatural shows–that Boyd would get the short end of the character-development stick. Viewers have learned key details about Erica and Issac’s pasts, and they’ve both had the opportunities to at least develop definable personality traits over the course of the season. They have their own storylines and their characters have their own arcs.

What do we know about Boyd? Well, he’s a loner who drives a zamboni at the ice rink, and he takes the bus to school. Compared to Erica’s backstory as an epileptic and Issac’s abusive history with his now-deceased father–not to mention their numerous interactions with other characters and the obvious evolutions in their personalities and actions–Boyd hasn’t been given much to work with. He may as well be a blank slate.

It may not be easy to ‘service every character’ equally, but Boyd follows an annoying, yet common, trend in characters of color and fans are right to question Davis on it. Especially since it wasn’t exactly a fluke; the character was slated as African-American from the beginning, as seen on the casting notice:

Davis goes onto suggest budgeting and scheduling issues also impact his ability to better develop Boyd’s character. This doesn’t erase the fact that Boyd is a sorely underdeveloped character in comparison to his contemporaries, but it could have been a more viable excuse had he just stopped there. But like many well-meaning white people who are in over their heads when discussing the topic of race and media, Davis kept going.

When we send out breakdowns for cast it always says “All ethnicities.” I’m quite proud of the fact that our lead actor is Latino. But I have also always said I will not make “Teen Wolf” an “issues” show. I think a series like “Glee” or even the humor of “Modern Family” are far more equipped to handle those subjects.

First, I question how proud you can be of having a Latino lead if it’s not acknowledged with so much as a hint in the show’s canon, thus allowing viewers to assume that he’s ‘All-American’ and white. You can also obviously see above that underdeveloped Boyd was never meant to be cast as anything other than Black–that much should be clear. Issac and Erica were technically open to all races, but ultimately both characters, who are written and developed more extensively into the action, were cast as white:

Opening a casting call to any ethnicity (which poses its own challenges and doesn’t guarantee a diverse media environment) doesn’t earn you brownie points any more than being sure to develop your Black characters will make you an “issues show.” To show care, fairness, and equality towards your PoC characters does not make you an “issues show”–it makes you, at worst, close to being considerate and, at best, a show that fans of more backgrounds can enjoy without complaint.

Bianca Lawson as Ms. Morrell.

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