Armani Jackson was Nervous Filming With Sarah Michelle Gellar on ‘Wolf Pack’
Wolf Pack is one of the more exciting TV debuts this season. Thanks to the pedigree of the predecessor series Teen Wolf and a strong young cast led by Armani Jackson and Bella Shepard, there was strong momentum going into this week’s premiere. Oh, and it marks the return of one Sarah Michelle Gellar — yes, Buffy herself — to the young adult horror TV genre.
Gellar had previously stepped away from regular acting work to spend time with her young children. It’s a big deal to work with the TV veteran — and Jackson in particular was intimidated by the prospect.
Armani Jackson was nervous about working with this genre TV legend
Jackson impressed in Honor Society and Chad. He even has some network drama experience under his belt from a six-episode run on Grey’s Anatomy. That’s a good amount of experience for the 19-year-old actor. But he was still nervous about whether he could hold up next to a longtime pro like the Buffy the Vampire Slayer star.
He opened up on the transition from growing up a fan of Gellar’s to working with her at the Wolf Pack New York Comic Con panel.
“I was honestly a little nervous, to be totally honest,” Jackson said of filming his first scene opposite Gellar. “And I was just sitting there, in a room, in a big production set, with an actor as big as her! And it was surreal, honestly.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar is excited to be back on television and working with young actors
Working with the former Buffy and Scooby-Doo star is basically climbing to the top of the mountain of YA supernatural television. Armani decided to get over his nervousness and stand up to the task by just diving into it headfirst. For her part, Gellar is excited by the energy of her young cast — and contrasts the Wolf Pack set with her somewhat difficult Buffy experience.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, she describes making sure her young co-stars can enjoy creating a Buffy-like show without the toxicity endemic to that set.
“I hope that I’ve set up an infrastructure, a safety net for these actors that I didn’t have,” the 45-year-old actor said. “My generation just didn’t have that.”
She’s excited to see young actors like Jackson meet the demands of a major TV production. And she also goes out of her way to protect them from the uncomfortable issues that always come up on sets like this, even with the best intentions. If actors don’t get scripts early enough to provide feedback, she speaks up. If a crewmember makes an actor uncomfortable, the Cruel Intentions actor doesn’t spare a second before doing something about it.
The ‘Wolf Pack’ cast is stacked with promising new actors
Gellar is the veteran presence in a cast filled with young actors, thanks to the high school setting of the show. Her character, arson investigator Kristin Ramsey, follows leads on a massive wildfire that lead her to uncover the re-emergence of the supernatural.
Armani plays Everett Lane, an anxious teenager bitten by a werewolf. He finds his new direction in life alongside Harland Biggs, played by Tyler Lawrence Gray — leader of the titular wolf pack.
Shepard plays the other lead, Blake Navarro, another newly-turned werewolf like Everett. Unlike her introverted fellow neophyte, Blake is a strong-willed, independent type. Her place in the wolf pack is less about seeking acceptance — she’s there because she enjoys the excitement. That’s a description that matches the real-life motivations that led Gellar to re-enter the YA supernatural drama genre after years of avoiding it.
