Third party joins the pack

Third party joins the pack

Korean-American actress Arden Cho has good reason to be nervous about being the new girl on hit television series Teen Wolf: Her character has a budding romance with the show's lead, Scott, who, for a long time, was paired with someone named Allison.

Getting involved with Scott on a show with such a massive fan base such as this would be akin to breaking up golden couple Bella and Edward of the Twilight movies (2008-2012).

Cho, 28, who plays new character Kira on the show, tells Life! over the telephone: "I was definitely very worried in the beginning. As a fan of the show, I love the relationship between Allison and Scott, and obviously I love Crystal Reed (who plays Allison).

"But I'm thankful that the love from viewers has been overwhelming and the response has been good so far. Scott and Kira are taking it really slow and I think that gives fans time to grow with their relationship."

Her character, Kira Yukimura, is a supernatural being known as a kitsune that has the ability to absorb a large amount of electricity into the body as well as run extremely fast.

She was introduced midway through Season 3, but will have a much larger role in the fourth and latest season, which airs on beTV (StarHub TV Channel 525) on Saturdays at 10.40pm.

"You can definitely expect Kira to be more of the pack," says Cho, referring to the show's werewolf pack, or group, that some of the students with supernatural abilities travel and socialise in.

"And her relationship with the girls and Scott is growing. In the last season, Scott and Kira left things off in an awkward place - you know how high school is, things are always awkward and you're wondering, 'Does he like me, does he not like me?'

"There're a lot of questions but it'll be fun for the fans to see where this all goes. Hopefully Scott and Kira get to go on a real date soon," she adds in between girlish giggles.

Teen Wolf, which debuted in 2011, is a drama about a high school in the town of Beacon Hills, where several students are secretly supernatural beings. Scott (played by Tyler Posey) is a werewolf, for example, while his former love Allison comes from a family of werewolf hunters.

The series has a massive teenage fan base, winning a string of Teen Choice and Young Hollywood awards over the years. It was named Choice Summer TV Show at the Teen Choice Awards in 2012, while Posey nabbed the award for Choice Summer TV Star (Male) in the last two years.

Surely, the show's immense popularity has something to do with Cho putting off her music plans for awhile.

The actress, who is also a YouTube star (ardenBcho) with more than 201,700 subscribers and videos amassing more than 19 million views, had originally planned to put acting behind her to pursue singing and songwriting full time.

Shortly after making that decision, however, the actress who previously guested on TV series such as Pretty Little Liars (2011) and Rizzoli & Isles (2011) was offered the role of Kira on Teen Wolf.

She says: "I feel like life is very ironic. For so long, all I wanted to be was a series regular. The moment I decided that music's more fun and that I would go to Asia and visit countries I haven't been to and perform music, this happens. I had to cancel a lot of shows and pretty much jump into filming.

"Of course, it's been amazing to be part of the show. Looking back now, I couldn't be happier. I love playing Kira - she's strong, confident, determined and a total bada**."

Having said that, she has not completely neglected her musical aspirations.

Cho, who has mini-album My True Happy (2013) to her name, says: "I would love to make an official studio album soon. The minialbum was a passion project and it was a lot of fun, but I would still love to do a full album.

"Unfortunately, right now with the filming, it's just been so busy, but once I have downtime, I'll be doing more music, putting it on YouTube and seeing where it goes from there."

yipwy@sph.com.sg


This article was first published on July 02, 2014.
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