For Laura Vandervoort, her role as Elena Michaels on Syfy’s Bitten was a daunting, yet exciting step into unchartered territory, “I loved the fact that she is a rare character, we haven’t seen a female werewolf before in a television series.” Indeed, whilst supernatural films and series have reached their zenith in recent years, the absence of female werewolves has been noticeable, particularly in relation to their vampiric counterparts. Perceived as the epitome of aggression and masculinity within the supernatural world, werewolves have tended to be gendered male, their physicality and primal urges deemed antithetical to female sensibility.

Vandervoort, however, is to change all that with Bitten, an adaptation of Kelley Armstrong’s first book in the Women of the Otherworld series, where she is not only the first sole female werewolf but also the leading star of the show. Having been ranked amongst Maxim’s hottest women for the last two years Vandervoort is not content to sit pretty and instead relishes the opportunity to put her martial art skills to good use-an aspect that Armstrong had been keen to emphasis in her novel: “I love that they incorporated her fighting technique and things like that, they didn’t make her any softer, she’s still very edgy.” Her willingness to engage in the physical nature of the role, Vandervoort believes, allows her to feel closer to the predominantly male cast and crew of Bitten: “I just wanted to be one of the guys, and you know, keep up with them physically and they all, I think, see me as one of the guys now which is fantastic and is how Elena is with the pack.”

Bitten charts the tale of photographer Elena Michaels, who is torn between her seemingly normal life with her boyfriend Philip and the duty she has towards her pack, amongst whom is her ex-fiancé Clayton, the man responsible for turning her into a werewolf.  Growing up within the foster care system, we see fragmented glimpses of the abuse suffered by Elena throughout her childhood and earlier adolescence, a dimension of character which Vandervoort is glad the show’s producers kept faithful to the book, “She grew up in a horrible environment and had horrible things happen to her, so we had them all in there from the books and the fans seemed fairly happy.” This trauma is emphasised by the benevolent intentions of Elena’s pack, a solid, yet unusual family unit, fiercely protective of one another, especially when the presence of a lone werewolf threatens the pack’s existence within the small community. With Elena’s tumultuous relationship with Clayton as well as its use of supernatural elements, comparisons have undoubtedly been drawn to HBO’s True Blood which Vandervoort welcomes, “I think True Blood is a great comparison, as the show is more adult, especially the sexuality of the wolves and the characters.”

Moreover, it is not the first time that Vandervoort has played an animal on screen, her previous television credits have included a lizard on ABC’s V. A devoted animal lover and animal rights’ activist, Vandervoort took part in PETA’s Exotic Skin Campaign during her time on V and was bodypainted in reptilian skin which she believes was “a nice sort of marriage of the two, doing a campaign to save the lizards from exotic skins when I was playing one…I just decided to do something positive and I think it turned out well.”

Whilst having found continued work in sci-fi series such as Smallville, V and now Bitten, Vandervoort admits that prior to her casting as Supergirl on Smallville “sci-fi wasn’t really on my radar.” The experience, however, has been enjoyable for Vandervoort who relishes the opportunity to attend comic cons and meet her fans, “the sci-fi fans are really well educated, really up to date on what you’re doing and what your character’s doing, so I appreciate that side of it.” Furthermore, this continuous casting in the sci-fi world has provided Vandervoort with the chance to debut as the leading star of a series, a responsibility that she relishes, “I love that sci-fi allows women to be lead females, to be strong…I’m grateful for it.”