I spoke with Greyston Holt about Bitten. Greyston has been delighting fans with his portrayal of Clayton Danvers in the Syfy series that will be ending its three-season run on Monday with a series finale that’s not to be missed. Greyston was so polite and absolutely wonderful to speak with. Hopefully, we will be hearing his new music soon. He’s also part owner of a boutique with his mom called She’s Some Kind of Wonderful. Make sure you check it out in person or online. The series finale of Bitten will be airing on Monday night at 11/10c on Syfy.
Lena: The penultimate episode of Bitten was so intense. It’s not fair that there is only one episode left.
Greyston Holt: I know. It goes by so fast. It’s hard for me to believe that, so I’ve been reflecting a lot. It’s a little over three years ago that we started filming the first season, and it’s just been a crazy three years. It’s been so much fun and watching the last episode, it was just so hard to believe what has happened over the last three years. It’s been incredible.
Lena: Elena’s (Laura Vandervoort) speech on being a family was beautiful. How do you think that would have worked out?
Greyston Holt: I think it would have been great. It needed to happen a long time ago. I thought it was such a beautiful way to write in a new Alpha—to have this female perspective and this new inclusive approach. I think there’s a lot to be learned about how we wrote her in becoming Alpha and the type of change that she wanted. I thought it was a beautiful thing. Something needed to change because obviously things weren’t working the old way—Jeremy’s (Greg Bryk) way. The death and bloodshed, and having one person with ultimate power just wasn’t working.
It would have been interesting to see where the storylines would go. For dramatic purposes, the old way definitely works well. It definitely makes for compelling TV. I don’t know, maybe going forward we could have done the fourth season as more of a rom com type of thing—werewolves in the world having fun and they are all happy. [Laughs]
Lena: Can you talk about the scene, in the second-to-last episode, where Clay comes for Elena? Just the way she looked at him, it was such a beautiful moment.
Greyston Holt: That was our last scene of the series that we shot. It was a very emotional scene. I remember watching that back and I was holding back tears because everything, sort of, came to that moment, over the last three years. That was the last scene that at least I shot. I think Laura had a couple more after that, but it was my last scene of Bitten forever. It was definitely an emotional scene.
Lena: Speaking of compelling TV, it’s only fitting that The Albino (Oliver Becker) has a twin and Konstantin (Rafael Petardi) can’t be trusted. What can you say about the finale?
Greyston Holt: I’ll just say that due to the relentless onslaught of the Russians, The Albino, and Konstantin that Elena is forced to make her biggest decision in the pack’s history, basically in the werewolves’ history. They, kind of, force her hand and it’s a tough decision but the whole series really culminates in this choice that she has to make.
Lena: Do you think that the fans are going to be pleased with the ending, and get the closure that they are looking for?
Greyston Holt: I thought the way that the writers wrote it out was beautiful. It’s a beautiful send-off, and the fans will be more than happy with how we say goodbye to these characters.
Lena: The finale has already aired in Canada, so did you get the reaction to the finale that you thought you were going to get from it?
Greyston Holt: Yeah, everyone was obviously sad to see the show go but the reactions on Twitter were really sweet. Everyone really appreciated how we wrote out the show and how we left things. I think everyone in the States will really appreciate our send-off.
Lena: After bringing Clay to life, and living in that world for three seasons, what are some of the scenes that meant the most to you?
Greyston Holt: One scene that will always stick with me, it’s a bit of a light scene but it’s one of the few scenes where we are all together—the original pack. We are all sitting together at the breakfast table with piles and piles of meat and we all, sort of, sit down at the table for the first time, it’s Elena’s first time back in years, and we just all look up to Jeremy, our pack leader, and we are basically waiting for him to start eating before we eat. It was our first big scene all together, at a huge table, and that’s one scene that will always stick with me.
The episode where I’m interrogating Cain (Noah Danby) in the War Room, in the cage, and he’s such a brilliant actor, Noah Danby, and the two of us just literally went there and supported each other as actors. It was just a beautiful scene between the two of us where we are divulging our secrets—having this weird, fucked up therapy session in a way, and then I end up cutting his balls off. [Laughs] Up until that point, it was sweet.
This season, somewhere during the midpoint, it’s got Jeremy, Greg’s character, breaking down because everything is falling apart and Nick (Steve Lund) and I are in the room with him and, kind of, questioning his choices. He’s just breaking down and disappointed in us questioning him. There was such a vulnerability to Greg’s performance, in that scene, that was so touching. It felt like he was actually talking to his two real sons, which he has two. When someone’s giving a beautiful performance you don’t have to do much, you just listen to him, watch, and take it all in.
Lena: What would be some of the disadvantages and advantages of actually being a werewolf?
Greyston Holt: I already have a voracious appetite, so you can check that one off the list. I already do get naked in nature often, so you can check that one off the list. I think a lot of the pros of being a werewolf I already have and live. [Laughs] A heightened sense of smell, I think would be a con. I wouldn’t want a heightened sense of smell, to that level. Like any trip to New York, for instance, would be something. You would smell everything. [Laughs]
Lena: That would be awful. Speaking of that, watching you guys walk around smelling things on the show, someone had to pull a prank on you. Put something really stinky on something that they knew you were going to smell. Did that ever happen?
Greyston Holt: No, I can’t remember anyone doing that. [Laughs]
Lena: No? [Laughs] Wow! They missed such an easy one right there.
Greyston Holt: We did have an ongoing joke that if you were involved in an argument with another werewolf that you would just grab a tennis ball and throw it, and they would have to race after it. [Laughs]
Lena: [Laughs] That’s a good one. I can’t believe there weren’t more pranks on the set.
Greyston Holt: Not a lot of pranks, but we were always joking around. There were days when we would have heavy stuff and we would keep a subdued demeanor on set, but most of the time we were just telling jokes and laughing. Greg was the king of the jokes. He’s a hilarious, hilarious guy.
Lena: Did you get to take a bunch of things from the set?
Greyston Holt: Yeah, some of my wardrobe. One particular piece of set decoration that I wanted was this native drum above the mantel, which I have in my apartment now. It’s covered in beautiful Haida artwork. The Haida are an indigenous people to the Central Western Coast of British Columbia. They are known for their amazing and beautiful artwork. I had my eye on that since season one and now, it’s in my apartment.
Lena: Are you going to be putting out any music?
Greyston Holt: I’m actually in the process of trying to finish five songs, which I’ve never done before and I’ve been playing music for many, many years. Other than I did have a metal band in my early twenties, but that was different. I’m actively trying to finish my songs. I have no idea when it’s going to be finished, but at some point in the future. [Laughs]
Lena: You are also part owner of your mom’s boutique.
Greyston Holt: Yes, She’s Some Kind of Wonderful. We sell ladies’ clothing, accessories, candles, trinkets, and more.
Lena: I was on the site earlier. You have skull rings, but no wolf rings?
Greyston Holt: [Laughs] Nope. We did have a fun little event, like a meet-and-greet on behalf of Bitten. My mom was serving champagne and a lot of the community came out. It was fun. I got to meet some fans and they did some shopping. I gave my opinion because I happen to be a very good shopping assistant. I’m an only child, so I think I’ve played the part of son and daughter at some point. The daughter part was going shopping with my mom and giving her my opinion, which I think is a pretty damn good one. I have a pretty good eye for ladies’ clothing.
Lena: What else are you working on?
Greyston Holt: Nothing at the moment. There are a couple of things that I can’t share at the moment, but hopefully they will pan out and I will be sharing them soon on social media.
The series finale of Bitten will be airing on Monday night at 11/10c on Syfy.
Follow Greyston on Twitter: https://twitter.com/greystonh
She’s Some Kind of Wonderful: shessomekindofwonderful.com
Bitten: http://www.syfy.com/bitten
Photos: Syfy