Exclusive Interview with Teen Wolf’s Meagan Tandy
In the supernatural town of Beacon Hills, the line between good and evil is constantly being compromised. When we were first introduced to Braeden in season 3, she was a mercenary that played an important role on both sides and established herself as the all-around queen of badass entrances. Braeden is played by Meagan Tandy, a pageant queen turned actress that is taking Hollywood by storm. I had the incredible opportunity to talk with Meagan about Tuesday’s Teen Wolf finale, her upcoming roles on Survivor’s Remorse and UnREAL, and most importantly, her fans.
Congratulations on getting cast on UnREAL!
“I’m seriously so excited! I leave today actually! I had to finish shooting on a show called Survivor’s Remorse. We just wrapped this weekend. And now I’m flying directly to Vancouver. I’ll be there for the next four to five months shooting UnREAL. I can’t wait.”
It sounds like you have a very busy schedule.
“(Laughs). We wrapped Teen Wolf in December for the season that is airing now, and then like I said we just finished Survivor’s Remorse and now I have UnREAL! I don’t know how it all worked out, but it’s nothing short of a blessing. It’s a very stressful business, but everything has been coming together for me these last couple of years, so it’s been good.”
You have a great relationship with your fans and always interact with them! How important is it that you stay connected with them?
“Honestly it is so important for me to stay connected with them because I see so much of myself in them. They all just seem so genuine and so honest in their love for the show and their love for the character. I’ve seen how Braeden has effected people and so with that, you have to stay in touch with them. I don’t want them to feel like they are not important. A lot of the fans will say things to me like, ‘people from other shows never interact with us, we feel invisible.’ I don’t want them to feel invisible. I want them to know that they matter, that I love them, and I really genuinely enjoy interacting with them. It’s honestly so much fun!”
Are there any fan experiences that stand out to you?
“Definitely! BiteCon comes to mind. I got to do my very first Meet and Greet. I was sitting there with these girls and honestly started crying. (Laughs). I was crying at the Meet and Greet because I don’t take any of this stuff for granted. I’m so thankful to be in this position as an actress. It was incredible to sit with those girls and to hear their stories, one was sharing a very personal and very intimate story with me of how Braeden helped save her life, and I’m like, ‘WHAT! I’m just an actress!’ Just hearing stories like that, it really impacted me and the other girls were saying the same thing, so BiteCon was definitely my most memorable experience with the fans because it just really touched me. We were all crying!”
Were you involved in creating Braeden’s backstory?
“I didn’t personally have anything to do with what Braeden ended up being, that was all Jeff Davis. My initial character was the girl in 3A, and I was supposed to be done after that episode. Braeden the mercenary, being Derek’s love interest, all of that evolved when I was not even there. She evolved when they were writing during 3A. Then they asked me to come back for 3B and I did. I worked on TW for the rest of the season, while they were writing and trying to figure her out. I came back in Season 4, and they let me know what Braeden would become. So I didn’t have any say. (Laughs). I didn’t say, ‘I would be great doing this or Braeden should be that’, it all just fell into my lap, literally.”
Did you think that your character was gone forever or did you always know deep down that you would come back?
“After filming the 3A episode I had a great feeling. I was connecting with everybody, and Jeff Davis literally told them to not shoot my death scene. (Laughs). I was like, ‘alright I must be coming back or something because they didn’t film it even though it was in the script.’ Braeden wasn’t even Braeden at the time, she was supposed to be slashed and killed, a terrible death, and they completely took it out. They just showed him whacking my face and that was it. So from that, I had a great feeling. I just kept hoping they’d ask me back.”
I’m glad that they kept her! The pack has really needed her this season.
“I know! They really needed Braeden to start kicking the Desert Wolf’s butt (laughs).”
Are there any characteristics that Braeden has that you wish you had yourself? (@huntermellas)
“Oh definitely! I’m young, we can all get a little insecure here and there and constantly put ourselves down. Braeden and I are both strong women, but Braeden is strong and there’s nothing that phases her. There’s nothing that gets her down, she’s not going to get insecure about anything. She’s strong in what she does and she goes out and does it completely unaffected. I can be strong and go out there, but sometimes I get affected because I care so much. I wish I had that quality that Braeden does. I wish I didn’t care as much. I think if I didn’t give things so much weight they wouldn’t affect me so much.”
I can definitely relate, sometimes I feel like I care too much about the wrong things.
“It’s just life. Honestly, I was trying to figure out why I’m affected by some things, not everything since I’m a very strong person, but it’s just that sometimes I care way too much about things that I just shouldn’t care about. I need to just let things go, and that’s what Braeden does, she goes in, she does the job, and then moves on to the next one. She’s confident and knows that she can do it. I do the same thing, but I hold on to the past and I overthink things and get weird about it.”
Especially on social media, it’s so easy to get sucked into all of the negativity.
“That affected me for a while. Social media was definitely harsh, especially towards me in the beginning. It bothered me. But I can honestly tell you now with confidence that it doesn’t bother me anymore. Even after this past episode, people were coming after me and saying things, and it doesn’t bother me anymore. It is what it is and I’m just doing my job.”
Yeah, I know that Cody Christian encounters the same problem when fans tweet him hate about Theo.
“I know it’s crazy! That is why I actually tried to shout out a tweet in support of Cody so that people can understand that the reason they are hating Theo so much is because Cody is portraying him so well.”
Was it challenging to learn how to handle a gun? (@Bellinakaka1)
“In Season 4 they gave me a little bit of training on how to hold the gun, how to reload it and all that stuff. But honestly, it is not challenging at all. I love being Braeden so much. I love being that confident, badass woman every single time I step out on set. It’s an adventure.”
You’ve had a lot of scenes with Tyler Hoechlin in the past, and now you mostly work with Shelley and Marisol, how is that?
“Working with Hoechlin was difficult because he’s just such a charming individual and I had to remember to just be Braeden in scenes and not Meagan. That was by far the most challenging thing I had to deal with (Laughs). I loved working with Shelley. I’d love to work with her again. We have so many mutual friends and I’ve known her for years. Marisol is a unique actress, she knows what she’s doing. She’s been in the game for awhile so it’s been great to work with her.”
Is there an actor on Teen Wolf that you’d like to work with more in the future?
“I love working with Tyler Posey! Posey is my favorite, I think because we are so similar. I would love to definitely work with him again.”
What is more challenging: competing in pageants or auditioning for shows and movies? (@amehmancini)
“Well I say this with a humbled spirit, but acting is more challenging because you just never know when it’s going to go your way and it’s a lot harder as a job. I’m not saying that pageants aren’t hard, it’s just with acting you never know which way it’s going to go and you have to work 10 times harder to get the role. You never know what you’re going to have to do on set, whether it’s a stunt or just come and do some dialogue.”
Would you ever consider participating in pageants again in the future?
“I loved it. Pageants served me for the time that it was, but that part of me is done. I wouldn’t go back to it.”
You can catch the season finale of Teen Wolf this Tuesday at 9/8c on MTV.