Exclusive Interview: Melissa Ponzio Talks Teen Wolf: The Movie, Catching Lightning in a Bottle, and the Fandom

Melissa Ponzio is one of the industry’s most revered storytellers. She’s brought dynamic characters and narratives to life in projects including The Walking Dead, Chicago Fire, and Army Wives.

This January, she reprises her role as Mama McCall in Teen Wolf: The Movie. In Teen Wolf: The Movie, produced by MTV Entertainment Studios and MGM, a full moon rises in Beacon Hills, and with it, a terrifying evil has emerged. The wolves are howling once again, calling for the return of banshees, werecoyotes, hellhounds, kitsunes, and every other shapeshifter in the night. But only a werewolf like Scott McCall (Tyler Posey), no longer a teenager yet still an alpha, can both gather new allies and reunite trusted friends to fight back against what could be the most powerful and deadliest enemy they’ve ever faced.

Pop Culturalist was lucky enough to speak with Melissa about Teen Wolf: The Movie, the impact the franchise has had on her life, and the unwavering support from the fandom.

PC: You’ve said in previous interviews that your first memory that this could potentially be something that you do for a living was watching a movie being filmed in New York. When you look back at this journey and all the success that you’ve had, what would you tell that little girl now?
Melissa: Just wait because your life is going to unfold in unexpected ways and things that you see and feel now as a little girl will definitely come true if you work really hard at it. That’s the thing that I would tell my younger self. Continue with the work ethic that your parents put into you. It might not be immediate because it wasn’t, but wow, when you look back at it, it will be so satisfying.

PC: You’ve also talked about the vulnerability that you need for a career in this industry. Has that gotten easier over time given all the success that you’ve had?
Melissa: No. [laughs] That’s the short answer. Because you do have to balance a bit of vulnerability, right? I always like to say I don’t want to show somebody anything. I want them to see something. So that’s different. That creates a different vulnerability even talking about it, right? Because when you allow somebody to see you versus showing them, it creates a different emotion, not only within the person that’s doing it but also the person that’s watching it.

So to your point about vulnerability, we have to put ourselves a little bit on the line every single time. I feel like this also ties in with authenticity. It’s very important to be authentic when you audition. I feel like sometimes I’ve gotten into a trap where I feel like I need to present what I think they’re looking for when really they’re just looking for this. They’re looking for something that they can connect with, and that was an important lesson to learn in acting as well.

PC: You’ve played so many powerful female characters throughout your career. Who are the women in your own life who shaped the storyteller that you are today?
Melissa: There are so many. It’s not an exaggeration when I say that. I feel like we pull from everyone that is around us—male, female, and across all spectrums. I feel like you see somebody and you pull an emotion, or you see someone and you pull how to handle a situation. But there have been several females in my life that have come forward with their strength and continuity. They’ve been continuous in their support, understanding, and generosity. The women in my life have been very generous with their experience and their strengths. From me to anyone: be brave enough to put that into the work.

PC: One of the major themes of Teen Wolf is finding your pack, and that message about found family is driven home in the film as well. We’re living in a time where years after a show comes to an end, there’s information about how the cast didn’t get along and there were all these little tiffs. But that hasn’t been true about Teen Wolf. You can sense that camaraderie both in front of and behind the camera. What do you think has played the biggest part in bringing this cast together and this found family that you’ve all been able to establish over time?
Melissa: That starts with Tyler Posey, our number one, our captain. Talk about someone being genuine and authentic and bringing themselves every day. When we first started out, most of our cast was eighteen, early twenties. He took that responsibility head on. He was the first on set and the last one to leave as far as the cast. He showed up with a great attitude every day. In the beginning, we were shooting eighteen, twenty-hour days. We were shooting in Atlanta. The weather was an issue. It was cold. It was dark. We were out in the woods. We were at lacrosse games. He took it all in stride. When you have somebody that’s leading a show that sets the tone for everybody, you’re not going to sit around and complain. His spirit, joy, and love of his character filtered down to all of us. I feel like we all wanted to be there. It’s a tough show. We always joke that we were shooting a television show but it was like we were shooting an independent film every week. It was a tough show and the movie was equally challenging, but anyone who is on our set wants to be there. We all want to be working together. That brings you together.

PC: Something that Jeff Davis does so brilliantly with the series and the movie as well is that each character has their own arc. Having played Melissa for six seasons and now a movie, has anything surprised you about her journey?
Melissa: I think as an actor what was surprising was being able to come back to her five years down the road in real life and fifteen years into the future when the movie takes place and encompassing and embodying that character again. What a gift and what an experience. When you’re shooting a television show, you have an arc over an extended period of time. In this case, six years and six seasons. You have the start and finish over six years.

To have a break and then come back to it in a place where we’re a little bit ahead is an interesting experience. It was great to be back with everybody and see what everybody else was bringing to the table by way of their own experiences. I keep saying this but it was a real gift. The movie was a gift to all of us.

PC: Since the series wrapped, there has been speculation about it possibly being revived, possibly being made into a movie. What was your initial reaction when you got the call from Jeff that this was possibly happening? What was it like getting to step back into Melissa’s shoes?
Melissa: It was really euphoric to get the call from Jeff because he said, “We’re in talks. It’s not finalized yet. Can you keep a secret? Would you come back?” I’m sure a lot of people got that call. Jeff and the writers had to go through a hundred episodes to find out who would come back, why, and what that story would be. That was truly amazing to first get the news that we all wanted.

We’ve all wanted to come back in some shape or form. We would have been overjoyed to get a seventh season out of Teen Wolf at the time, so to have a movie, to have it in a different medium, to be able to come back with a little bit of time…it felt right. It felt good. It felt on time. It was a joy.

PC: When you’re playing the same character and there is that fifteen-year jump and you’re changing mediums, did you feel that shift? How did those experiences differ?
Melissa: People will understand this. Sure, I’ve changed over five years, but who has really changed over five years are the younger cast. Because five years, we’re talking late twenties into early 30s. That is a significant timeframe in anybody’s life. It was very interesting to meet them where they are now and then to perform with them where they are now and also to perform fifteen years into the future of the show. The mother and son relationship on this television show has now grown and blossomed into a beautiful, supportive relationship. That was something wonderful to see. Not that the torch is passed. I don’t want to say that because I’m the kind of person who has always relied on their parents for experience, strength, guidance, hope, and all those things. I feel like Tyler and I were able to do this with the new relationship that you’re seeing in the movie.

PC: Jeff also found a way to really incorporate everything that we love about Teen Wolf into this movie while bringing some new dynamics. Something that’s stayed consistent is Mama McCall’s relationship with Scott. I love how he found a way for them to share this private moment in the film. What was it like getting to re-explore this relationship in a new capacity and to work with Tyler five years later?
Melissa: It was really wonderful. I can say that I trust Jeff is going to put heart into our scripts and dialogue. He often pulls from conversations that he’s had with his own mother. He’s a twin himself. He draws from conversations that he’s had with his brother. So I was hoping there would be that moment. Everybody wants to have that one little moment for themselves in the film.

I was grateful that we were able to do that. Even in the dialogue, I feel it was more. I don’t want to see peers talking, but we originally started as a young mom and a young son in the beginning. It was really beautiful to see this relationship evolve. When you’re a young parent, you’re lucky because you will have an adulthood with your child as well. That relationship is long and hopefully lustrous. I feel like we were able to capture that a bit with this movie. Even that dialogue felt a lot more mature and from a different space. It was really wonderful to experience.

PC: Jeff has put Melissa through the wringer. As an actress, how do you create the space for yourself to dive into those more emotional moments and scenes?
Melissa: That’s a really great question. Everybody has a different way of processing emotional scenes. It’s a strange thing, but I think of other people’s pain, people whom I love, and pain that I have experienced because you hope that with your own pain and trauma, you have some understanding, reasoning, or processing. It’s somebody else’s pain that you have to hold in your hand and really be with. That’s where I come from, and that’s what I’ve been able to put into the work.

PC: The beautiful thing about art is its ability to connect with audiences, which this franchise undoubtedly does. Has being a part of this project changed the way that you look at future projects?
Melissa: Only in that I know Teen Wolf quite possibly was lightning in a bottle. The fandom that we have and the friends that we’ve made on the show are things that I hold in the highest regard because I know that not every show has this much continuous love and support, even when we’re not on the air.

It has taught me to be more grateful and more present in the moment and to understand that no matter where I travel in the world for the rest of my life, I will always somehow come in contact with somebody that has either seen the show or been impacted by the show. It’s such a gift. It’s that word again. If I was sitting here with little five-year-old Melissa, I wouldn’t even be able to articulate that to her because I didn’t even know that was a possibility. That is one of the most special things that Teen Wolf has ever given to my life. It’s the reach and connection worldwide with people that have been impacted by what we, hundreds of people, have created.

PC: Without giving any spoilers, in true Jeff Davis fashion, the film concludes pretty open-endedly and there’s a possibility for maybe a revival, maybe another film. Have there been any early conversations about that?
Melissa: It would be a dream come true to have one. It would be a double scoop of ice cream sundae if we had two or more. That’s going to depend on our fandom. We’re on Paramount Plus now. We’re streaming worldwide on January 26th. We’re hoping that everybody tunes in. If everybody tunes in and likes what we’ve done, we would be honored to do more.

PC: If this is the last (hopefully not though) that we see of Melissa McCall, what has she taught you? What parting words would you share with her?
Melissa: Someone asked me this on Twitter the other day. If there was one word to describe Melissa McCall, what would it be? I feel like that word would be wholehearted. But I think the word would also be steadfast. That’s one of the things that Jeff and I talked about with this character. Because there was one time where in a particular scene I thought that I could maybe come off a little bit harder at Scott for something that he’s done. Jeff was like, “Nope. You’re unconditional love. You’re 100% support.” For me, what I take away from her are those two things. Being a consistent presence in someone’s life, being an anchor, being somebody that they can always count on. I feel like her character has always been somebody not only her son but her whole wider circle can count on.

PC: Outside of Teen Wolf, Season 2 of Bridgewater is now airing. For fans who may not be familiar with the podcast, can you tell us a bit about it and what it’s like working in that medium as well?
Melissa: It was my first shot as this type of podcast narrative. It was really wonderful. We started working during the pandemic, so we would do all our scenes over Zoom, but we were all in different strange locations. I was doing mine in my guest room. Misha [Collins] was in somebody’s closet. Someone might have had a VO booth. It was really interesting to see all the different environments that we were in. We were thrilled to be asked back for a second season. It’s streaming now. It’s up for listening. Bridgewater is a sci-fi story that tells of the mysterious happenings at the Bridgewater Triangle, which is an actual real place. It’s fascinating how they’ve made that story.

PC: You’re such a dynamic storyteller, and you’ve done so much already in your career. What’s left on your bucket list?
Melissa: Oh honey, I’m allergic to responsibility. That’s what I like to say. I’m really happy being an actor and telling the stories that are presented to me that I’m lucky enough to be a part of. I hope I’m able to continue to do that forever. And I never miss an estate sale, so that’s something that I do personally. I love vintage jewelry, purses, clothing, and barware. So if I’m not acting, I’m buying all your old stuff. That’s basically where I live.

To keep up with Melissa, follow her on Twitter and Instagram. Watch Teen Wolf: The Movie on Paramount Plus today.

Photo Credit: David Rams