Dylan Sprayberry’s ‘Liam’ in Teen Wolf has fast become a fan favorite among viewers of the popular MTV series. Up until the current season airing on Mondays at 10pm ET/PT, Liam’s had anger issues but with season five he’s showing a lighter side, something Sprayberry is really embracing in his character.
“It was a little hard at first just because I played the whole last season angry,” said Sprayberry during interviews at the 2015 San Diego Comic-Con. “It’s great. I talked about this with Jeff [Davis] when they asked the action they want for their characters, the real question is what’s going to challenge you as an actor and that definitely challenged me because I had not done that before, especially with this character. I’m loving it. I think it’s so much fun. I love all the writing they’re doing. They’re doing some really great stuff, so I respect that.”
Sprayberry says much of Liam’s anger is genetic and there’s nothing he can do about it. “But an attribute to it is the fact that he comes from a broken family. His dad wasn’t always around. He has a stepdad now, but he didn’t always have a stepdad there to kind of help him,” explained Sprayberry. “I think he probably wishes he had a prominent father figure in his life when he was younger when he was being raised. I think that’s a big reason why Scott’s such a great person for him is because he has someone to look up to like that.”
Speaking of Scott (played by Tyler Posey), when asked whose side Liam would choose if forced to pick between Scott and Stiles (played by Dylan O’Brien), Sprayberry replied, “As much as Liam and Stiles fight and bicker back and forth, they really respect each other. But I definitely still think that Scott and Liam [are] on a whole other level. They’re like brothers in the way that Scott had to invite Liam in. That was the only way that that was going to pan out. He really took him under his wing and was the only one who could do that in that situation. That’s who he goes to for advice. I definitely think that he would choose Scott, especially because he’s his alpha and he’s beta.”
But Scott and Stiles aren’t he only characters Liam is close to. He’s also buddies with Mason, played by Khylin Rhambo, even though he hid a key fact from him that could have changed that relationship. “I think it was really just because Liam was struggling with the fact that he could lose his best friend, his only and best friend,” said Sprayberry when asked why Liam didn’t initially tell Mason the truth. “Liam’s not the easiest person to get along with and the fact that he has someone who cares about him that much and can deal with him, he doesn’t want to ruin that relationship. That was really a big struggle for him. And also just insecurities about himself. He has issues and things that hold him back from letting everything go, from telling Mason everything. But it’s a big load off his shoulder now that he was forced to tell him.”
Characters have come and gone throughout Teen Wolf‘s five seasons, but if Sprayberry had the ability to bring back any of them, who would he choose? “I’d bring Mason Dye back…I’d bring Garrett back because Mason’s my best friend,” replied Sprayberry. “I miss him. I love to work with him. I only got to work one scene with him the whole time he was on and it made me so mad, because I love him and we didn’t get to work that whole time. So I wish he’d come back and be good. Last season, we didn’t know what was going to happen and I thought all those kids they brought on were all going to be like a big group of friends – younger friends. But they all died. I’m like, ‘No!’ But it worked out. The writing was good and the way that they wrote it was fine, but I wish, just for myself selfishly, I wish we could have had a bunch of us.”
– More on Teen Wolf Season Five: Tyler Posey / Cody Christian / Jeff Davis Interviews
Watch the full interview with Dylan Sprayberry on season 5 of Teen Wolf:
