The Werewolf Goes Mainstream: Five 2016 Releases, From Showtime to Virtual Reality

No tracks, no eyewitnesses, no casts. In 2016 the werewolf's footprint was a TV listing, a book jacket, a trailer and a game lobby.

Five releases show the range: a Victorian gothic series, a coming-of-age novel, a teen drama's last season, an action franchise's fifth film and a virtual-reality party game. None claims to be real. All of them borrow folklore.

Penny Dreadful, Season 3 (Showtime)

Showtime announced on January 12, 2016 that the third season of its Victorian-gothic series would premiere Sunday, May 1, 2016, at 10 p.m. ET/PT. Dread Central's report notes that the season was still in production and adds Patti LuPone as an American therapist, Dr. Seward, and Wes Studi as Kaetenay, a character with a "deep connection" to Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett).

Chandler is the show's werewolf. Deadline's recap of the June 19 finale, a double episode (spoilers), calls him the "sometimes werewolfish Chandler" and says the full moon brings out his "rather hairy and more vicious self" in a confrontation with Dracula, played by Christian Camargo. It adds that the finale "seemingly planted the seeds" for further adventures with Chandler and explorer Sir Malcolm Murray.

Mongrels, by Stephen Graham Jones (William Morrow)

The novel was published on May 10, 2016. Kirkus Reviews posted its review on February 17 and ran it in the March 1 issue. Kirkus sums it up as a boy raised by werewolves chronicling "the hurt and confusion of growing up strange," and compares the tone to a Holden Caulfield dropped into an old horror movie. The unnamed first-person narrator grows up among a traveling pack, cared for by an uncle and aunt after his grandfather dies in what the review calls a "grisly transformation." At about 12, he can tell he is changing, though not into what, and his family is sure he is only a late bloomer. The reviewer finds it a messy coming-of-age story, blending Southern gothic with the blood-and-guts of the genre, with "mixed results," and little plot beyond connected vignettes. One quoted line sets the premise: "We're werewolves. This is what we do, this is how we live."

Teen Wolf, the final season (MTV)

MTV announced on Wednesday, September 7, 2016 that the sixth and last season would premiere November 15 at 9/8c, with the line "The final season begins." UPI reported it on September 8, describing the series as loosely based on the 1985 film and following a high-schooler who is bitten and becomes a werewolf. UPI notes the announcement came nearly six months after star Dylan O'Brien was seriously injured on the set of another film, leaving his return uncertain, and says MTV confirmed it in July. It quotes showrunner Jeff Davis saying "a lot of this season's mystery revolves around" Stiles.

The premiere did air on Tuesday, November 15. TVLine's showtimes for that date list the "final season premiere," and its recap, posted at 10 p.m. EST that night, covers an episode in which a band of supernatural riders erase Stiles from everyone's memory but Lydia's, and a new teacher is, in the writer's guess, "in all likelihood, a Nazi werewolf" (spoilers).

Underworld: Blood Wars (Screen Gems)

The fifth film in the vampire-versus-Lycan series had its trailer reported twice in November. Digital Spy, on November 10, called it a "vampire vs werewolf riot" in which a new Lycan leader, Marius, has united his kind and needs the hybrid blood of Kate Beckinsale's Selene, and gave US and UK release dates of January 6 and January 13, 2017. UPI, on November 11, quotes the official synopsis: under Marius, "the Lycans have increased in numbers and strength and have decimated many of the vampire covens," and the vampire race is "on the brink of extinction." UPI credits director Anna Foerster and writer Cory Goodman.

The film reached some markets before the US. Russia's trade site Kinobusiness lists it as a new opener on November 24, in second place for the day, on 1,257 screens with 23,000,000 rubles. (The table is marked as updating as data arrived.) No post-release figures, reviews or US box office are given here; those came after this date.

Werewolves Within (Ubisoft)

Ubisoft's VR game launched on December 6, 2016. The company's December 8 post says it is out on Oculus Rift, PlayStation VR and HTC Vive, with cross-platform play; an earlier November 28 post had named December 6 as the date. Ubisoft describes "game night with friends" in VR: five to eight online players sit as villagers in the town of Gallowston, arguing and using special powers to work out who among them are werewolves in disguise, then vote someone out. The PlayStation Store text adds that players can be a villager one round and the werewolf the next, "lying and betraying friends to survive the vote."

What the five share

None of these is a sighting, and none claims one. Each uses a different stock piece of the legend: the full-moon change (Chandler), inherited packs (Mongrels), the bitten teenager (Teen Wolf), the species war (Lycans) and the village's hidden wolf (Gallowston). That makes them useful for one purpose on a werewolf map: showing what the creature meant in popular culture in 2016.

Bottom line

Five werewolf releases dated 2016 are covered here as media items: Penny Dreadful season 3, Mongrels, Teen Wolf's final season, Underworld: Blood Wars and Werewolves Within. Each is described as its publisher or press reported it, with no folklore claim or sighting attached.

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Attribution / source table

• Claim: Season 3 premiere May 1, 10 p.m.; cast additions
  Attribution: Dread Central, Jan 12, 2016
  Link: Dread Central
• Claim: Finale recap, Chandler, Dracula, "seeds"
  Attribution: Deadline, Jun 19, 2016
  Link: Deadline
• Claim: Mongrels summary, quotes, publication date May 10
  Attribution: Kirkus Reviews, review posted Feb 17, 2016
  Link: Kirkus
• Claim: Season 6 premiere announcement; Davis quote; O'Brien background
  Attribution: UPI, Sep 8, 2016
  Link: UPI
• Claim: Premiere listed for Nov 15
  Attribution: TVLine showtimes, Nov 15, 2016
  Link: TVLine
• Claim: Premiere recap (Nov 15, 10:00 p.m. EST)
  Attribution: TVLine (Andy Swift), Nov 15, 2016
  Link: TVLine
• Claim: Trailer; Marius; US/UK dates
  Attribution: Digital Spy (Hugh Armitage), Nov 10, 2016
  Link: Digital Spy
• Claim: Trailer; synopsis quote; director and writer; Jan 6, 2017
  Attribution: UPI (Wade Sheridan), Nov 11, 2016
  Link: UPI
• Claim: Russian opening: new, 1,257 screens, 23,000,000 rubles
  Attribution: Kinobusiness, Nov 25, 2016
  Link: Kinobusiness
• Claim: Launch, platforms, cross-play
  Attribution: Ubisoft, Dec 8, 2016 and Nov 28, 2016
  Link: Dec 8; Nov 28
• Claim: Game premise, "lying and betraying friends"
  Attribution: PlayStation Store listing (text confirmed through the search index)
  Link: PlayStation Store

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Legal / disclaimer footer

Entertainment and cryptid-news commentary only. All titles, characters and trademarks belong to their owners. Plot and release details are given as the cited outlets and publishers reported them. No creature claim or sighting is made or implied.