SDCC 17: 'Teen Wolf' Star Colton Haynes Talks Jackson's Epic Beacon Hills Return, Classic Lines & The Teen Wolf Family
Nora Dominick ’17/ Emertainment Monthly Executive Editor
Did you really think Teen Wolf could do its final season without Colton Haynes? While there are a ton of returning cast members making appearances in Teen Wolf’s final ten episodes, we’re most excited for Haynes and his character, Jackson, to return to Beacon Hills. Since leaving the series in 2012, Haynes has still remained an important part of the Teen Wolf family. San Diego Comic Con 2017 served as a homecoming for Haynes as he discusses Jackson’s return, how Teen Wolf has impacted his life and that iconic “where are you getting your juice?” line!
Teen Wolf is very much about family, even when it meant returning home. Haynes discusses how returning to Teen Wolf for the final ten episodes came about. He says, “It was incredible. Before I came back, I was like ‘I’m only coming back if Hoechlin and Dylan [O’Brien] and the original crew comes back.'” In order to ensure that Haynes got to return with everyone that made his journey on Teen Wolf so special, he did was any normal person would do: have some wine and send some texts.
Laughing about it, he says, “I think I was at home, I had like two glasses of wine, I sent a text, an emotional text, like one of the ones where you wake up the next day, and you’re like ‘Why did I send that!’ It was so sad and like recounting our memories together and was like, ‘This is why you guys have to come back for the final season,’ and then they did.”
When Jackson returns to the halls of Beacon Hills, he’s not necessarily the Jackson that left in season two. In a preview clip shown to Hall H during Teen Wolf’s final panel, we see Jackson and Ethan enter Beacon Hills High School. Jackson gives a girl a sexy look, but fans also couldn’t help but notice that Jackson also gives that same sexy look to a guy.
Since departing Teen Wolf, Haynes has been on quite an emotional journey of self discovery himself. Recently, Haynes came out and is living a much happier lifestyle, alongside is fiancé Jeff Leatham. And, we couldn’t be happier for him. We asked Haynes if his own journey in real life will inform Jackson’s story at all. While he was tight lipped about it, he did say, “I can say that, I don’t know if Jeff wrote that in, I don’t know. I can say that Jackson took a bunch of time off, which is very helpful in life. And he’s come back, and I can say he’s still everybody’s type.”
Haynes elaborated on the scene shown in Hall H at SDCC saying, “He [Jackson] gave him a sexy look. I gave the girl a sexy look and then there’s the guy. I’m sure that could lead to a lot more awkward scenes coming up, a lot more awkward scenes. He’s spreading the love.”
One thing we had to talk about with Colton Haynes is all of Jackson’s iconic one liners. Especially, the gif famous “where are you getting your juice?” line! Haynes recalls, “That was part of the audition and then I messed up a record five times in my audition and I was like, ‘I’m not going to get this.’ I eventually got it, we had two takes to do it.” He even says he still sees all the gifs and memes related to this now iconic line. Haynes laughs saying, “There’s so many cool one-liners in the show.”
Looking at the upcoming final episodes, Colton Haynes says he shares a lot of scenes with Charlie Carver, who we also chatted with, but didn’t get to work with any of the newer cast members. “I’ve known Charlie [Carver] forever, so I got to work with Charlie a lot, and I got to work with just the original people.”
One scene in particular that Teen Wolf fans can look forward to is one with Jackson, Lydia and Stiles. Haynes spoke about the upcoming scene saying, “It’s so awkward. We’re all just awkward people in general, we laughed the whole time through that scene.” He elaborates more saying, “A lot is going on with ‘Stydia’ and that weird dynamic with the three of them and all these years have passed by. So now, that makes for a very, very fun scene and it’s going to be a very memorable one.”
While Jackson and Lydia dated in the early days of Teen Wolf, Haynes says that it’s not the entire focus of their reunion. He says, “That scene, it’s a really special scene, but you can tell they’ve all moved on and they’re all stronger. So, it touches a little bit on their relationship.”
Haynes also reflects on getting cast in Teen Wolf, especially after a crowded Hall H got to re-live most of the casts first auditions in a touching tribute video. He says, “Holland [Roden] and I were originally hired for just one episode of Teen Wolf. We were not hired to be regulars.” He actual says the “where are you getting your juice?” scene and a early scene Holland did got them the series regular jobs on Teen Wolf.
Haynes recalls, “They were like ‘You have to be part of this cast!’ So then they made us regulars, and I almost didn’t do the full season because I was doing another show, but that show got cancelled, so it all worked out together.”
Haynes recalls watching Dylan O”Brien and Tyler Posey growing up right before his eyes. He says, “We were so close and such a big part of each other’s lives, especially growing up. Even Dylan [O’Brien] and [Tyler] Posey, were 4 years young than us, they were teenagers.” He continues saying, “Going to their house and playing Halo and watching them grow up was just so much fun.”
The bond they shared in the early days of Teen Wolf remains to this day and helped inform Haynes’ decision to return for the final season. He says, “Coming back to this was so special for me because I get to see how everyone has grown. We just pick right up.”