Sarah Michelle Gellar wants a safe set for her ‘Wolf Pack’ co-stars

The young cast of the new series Wolf Pack already feel a strong bond with each other, but co-stars Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Wars Rebels) and Rodrigo Santoro (Westworld) are still ready to protect them. In the show, the motives of their characters are unclear (especially Gellar’s) but in real life, the veteran actors want the world of the younger actors to be better. 

Based on books by Edo Van Belkom, Wolf Pack, which premiered on Paramount+ today, is the latest series from Teen Wolf creator Jeff Davis. The titular pack includes Armani Jackson (Everett), Bella Shepard (Blake), Chloe Rose Robertson (Luna), and Tyler Lawrence Gray (Harlan). Gellar plays Kristin Ramsey, and Santoro plays mentor figure, Garrett Briggs.

SYFY WIRE caught up with Gellar, Santoro, and the four actors of the pack as part of a digital junket. Above all, Gellar and Santoro wanted a safe environment for the four pack members to work in.

“Just like you do with your children, you want their world to be a better one than you had,” Gellar — who has spoken about working on toxic sets before — told SYFY WIRE. “You want to give them everything. And that goes for the children that are biologically yours and the children that you bring into your pack. And we jokingly refer to all them as our cubs and I think we feel that same desire to protect. And not just the actors, the PAs on the show… whoever it was. I think that's the world that was important off-camera for both Rodrigo and I to make sure existed.”

"It's an exchange. When you're being treated with respect and love, you are being protected. That's the way to protect," added Santoro. "I remember really learning with the younger actors. A lot of people ask us like, ‘Oh, how was working with younger actors and what could you teach them?’ And it was more about a true exchange in terms of what can we learn with them being younger and fresh and excited. And it was invigorating. It was a very good experience in that way. So it was very nurturing in and in that way, to be around them.”

While some of this protection may not be in the cards for Gellar’s character in Wolf Pack, we can safely say that Rodrigo’s Garrett is a protector in more ways than one. Both Gellar and Santoro praised the character, with Gellar adding stressing the importance of Garrett’s approach to the sexual identity of his young charges.

“There’s no difference in how he treats or parents his child based on their sexuality,” she said. “This is just the normalization of that world.”

Rodrigo agreed. “…it could play a really major role in terms of just changing the trajectory of youth…” he said, “…of having those conversations, normalizing conversations, like about anxiety for instance, that have been historically stigmatized for so long.”

RELATED: Sarah Michelle Gellar reveals how 'Wolf Pack' lured her back to TV

The efforts of Gellar and Santoro may have already had an effect on the four actors in the pack, because they've definitely bonded with each other. 

“The four of us became very close,” Shepard said. She used the word “inseparable” to describe the core four, both on screen and off. The four of them are even planning on getting matching tattoos, because as both Robertson and Gray said, "Friendship is real." 

“We are not part of that, nor will we condone or encourage,” Gellar said while Santoro laughed. Those choices aside, there's no doubt that Gellar and Santoro will be there for their young co-stars. When it comes to their characters, viewers will just have to wait and see. 

Wolf Pack is now streaming on Paramount+. Friendship is real.

Unleash your inner lupine by streaming Wolf Like Me and Wolfblood on Peacock.