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Pay Gap? Multiple ‘Teen Wolf’ Cast Members Speak Out After Reportedly Being Paid Less on the MTV Show
Speaking their truth. Following ongoing rumors about unequal pay on the Teen Wolf set, both Arden Cho and Colton Haynes have spoken out.
In September 2021, it was announced that the MTV series — which ran on the network from 2011 to 2017 — would return to Paramount+ for an upcoming original movie. Fans were quick to notice that Arden, 36, who played Kira Yukimura, was not listed as one of the returning cast members. At the time Deadline reported that her absence came after being offered “half the per-episode salary” compared to the other stars.
“I think I was actually offered even less,” the actress told The Cut during an interview, released on Monday, May 30, noting that she’s not sure who leaked the story. “I probably would’ve never shared it.”
Before Teen Wolf: The Movie was on the table, Arden left the show between seasons five and six. However, it wasn’t on her own accord. “I was in shock. I couldn’t believe it,” the Chicago Med star recalled when talking about being cut from the series. “There wasn’t room for Kira.”
Further discussing the pay issue, Arden told The Cut that she could “probably, off the top of my head, think of over ten Asian American actors I know who were paid significantly less than their counterparts.” But that’s not the reason she turned down the Teen Wolf movie.
“I wasn’t saying ‘no’ necessarily for me or because I was angry. I was saying ‘no’ because I hope that there will be more equality in the future,” she explained. Per the publication, the actress didn’t reveal how she was alerted to the pay inequalities, but did say that she “appreciate artists who are a little bit more transparent because they realize that we’re all important.”
Similarly, Colton, 33, who played Jackson Whitmore during the first two seasons, also spoke about being paid less during his stint on the series. This ultimately led to his departure from the show.
“The real truth was that they didn’t want to pay me the same amount as everyone else,” the actor wrote in his Miss Memory Lane memoir, per E! News. “Which wasn’t a lot to begin with by Hollywood standards, even though my working quote — the fee I would be paid to appear on anyone else’s show — was higher than most of the cast’s.”
Colton claimed, “It didn’t help that I was represented by a team of people who made the Teen Wolf production’s life a living hell. So, in order to get back at my team, the production refused to pay me the standard salary.”
However, the Arrow star will reprise his role for the upcoming Teen Wolf movie. While he and Arden have since had issues in the past, it seems they’re both moving forward.
“I want to focus on the good,” Arden, for her part, told The Cut. “When I meet fellow friends who enjoyed my time on the show and they enjoyed Kira, I’m happy because something good came out of it.”
MTV did not immediately respond to Life & Style‘s request for comment.
