How Wolf Like Me Season 2 Takes Inspiration from This Iconic Werewolf Story

In the Season 1 finale of Peacock's rom-com/horror series Wolf Like Me, Mary's (Isla Fisher) literal inner wolf came out to chomp on some threatening humans to protect her pack — boyfriend Gary (Josh Gad) and his daughter Emma (Ariel Donoghue) — so the proverbial "cat" is now out of the bag as Season 2 debuts on October 19 on Peacock. 

Executive producer Jodi Matterson told SYFY WIRE that having finally revealed what Mary looks like in full wolf form opened the series up to reveal a lot more of her moon-sensitive self, while exploring the repercussions of such a life-changing revelation on Gary and Emma. As she described it, the set up is out of the way after initially providing audiences with a grounded, relationship-focused drama.

RELATED: Wolf Like Me Season 2 Trailer Reveals Supernatural Concerns & Surprise Laughs

"We focused on the thing we think is a universal fear that people have, which is can I reveal my true self to people and will they still love me if I let all my demons out and all my skeletons out of the closet?" she said. "Because the wolf is a device [representing] the worst skeleton, and in that instance, could someone still say, 'I don't care. I just want to be with you. I just want to love you.'"

Wolf Like Me Season 2 Dives into Living with the Wolf

Mary (Isla Fisher) stands in Wolf Like Me Season 2 Photo: Peacock

Turns out Gary and Emma said yes, and Season 2 presents them as a family, unit with a new baby/pup on the way. "Now we can have some fun with it," Matterson said. "And we can really make it funnier and we can make it more gory and fun."

Part of that is embracing Mary's wolf side, and showing Gary, Emma and the audience what it looks like for Mary to transform into a very protective — and pregnant — wolf mama. Citing her and creator Abe Forsythe's mutual love of John Landis' An American Werewolf in London (1981) as a major inspiration for the series, she shared how the two of them found it screening at a lone, suburban Sydney, Australia, drive-in right before Wolf Like Me was green-lit to series. "Abe and I said, 'This is a sign!'" she said, laughing. "So, we drove out to this drive-in in the middle of nowhere and watched An American Werewolf in London."

When it came time to make their own prosthetic and animatronic wolf, Matterson said they went to Odd Studio in Australia for their powerful reveal in the Season 1 finale. And that moment has given them carte blanche to push their wolf even more this season. 

"For us, that moment was always going to provide really exciting opportunities of what can we do [next] with this wolf?" she said. "With this season, it really was exciting that we would have the opportunity to do things like a transformation sequence, which is so incredible," she teased. "For our collaborators at Odd Studio, it was so exciting for them and such an amazing challenge. Abe is a filmmaker who, if you can do something in camera, that is something that will really, really excite him."

Matterson said they asked Odd Studio if they could do their own knockout, An American Werewolf in London transformation for Mary, and they made it happen. "They did an incredible job," she said. "There are many transformation points this season, but the one I'm talking about is a real highlight for all of us."

Catch up on Season 1 of Wolf Like Me on Peacock now. All seven episodes of Wolf Like Me Season 2 debut on October 19.