YEM readers, welcome back to Wolf Pack! We have an exclusive interview with Rio Mangini, who portrays Austin in the show! We are ecstatic to talk to Rio about his role as Austin, his thoughts and experience with the show and cast members, and more. This article will be as spoiler-free as possible for those who haven’t watched the show and aren’t as far in the season. And now, onto the interview and its refresher.

In a last interview with Tyler Lawrence Gray, we went in-depth about Wolf Pack’s story, but here’s a brief reminder of the show. The series tells the story of two teenagers whose lives change from a strange, Californian wildfire. The fire awakens a deadly, supernatural creature that runs amok and attacks many people on a highway traffic scene. The two teens were left wounded from the attack and find themselves drawn to two other teenagers, both of whom were adopted by a park ranger and had experienced the same mysterious wildfire sixteen years ago. The four teens must work together to unravel the secrets behind this wildfire and to see what lies beneath a werewolf’s bite. For those who aren’t aware, the series was created by Jeff Davis, the same creator of Teen Wolf and Teen Wolf: The Movie.

If you want to read more about Wolf Pack’s origins, including a few other goodies such as the show’s origins, check out the interview below starring Tyler Lawrence Gray here: https://youngentertainmentmag.com/yem-exclusive-interview-with-tyler-lawrence-gray-from-wolf-pack/.

Now onto Rio Mangini, an American actor, musician, and composer. For those who remember watching the old shows from the early 2010s, he was Sam from Kickin’ It, Tom from Marvin Marvin, Ace McFumbles from Bella and the Bulldogs, and Matt from Good Luck Charlie. For something fairly more recent later on, you’ll recognize him as McQuaid from Everything Sucks!, Ethan from Home Before Dark, and his current role as Austin in Wolf Pack. Rio won a lot of awards in his acting career, such as the Young Artist Awards for “Best Performance in a TV Series” on Bella and the Bulldogs and Teen Wolf, to the Young Entertainer Awards for “Best Supporting and Leading Young Actor” on One Lazy Cruise and Bella and the Bulldogs. As a musician, his abilities as a pianist had him awarded by the Young Artists Awards with a special award in the “Outstanding Instrumentalist” category.

Here’s a fun fact about Rio for those curious about him! Rio is the son of the Academy Award-winner for Best Sound Editing for his work on Mad Max: Fury Road: Mark Mangini!

We start the interview by asking how Rio feels about his current career. Rio states that he feels extremely excited, mentioning that everyone is very passionate about the show. When asked about the audition process, Rio mentioned that he had originally auditioned for two different roles, Everett and Connor. He mentioned that after reading through the lines and from Jeff’s guidance, he realized that he wasn’t suited for the roles. Austin’s however was a different story. He remembered that he had returned home after a commercial shoot and he got the tape for Austin, but because he had to attend a party, he had to quickly do it with the help of his mom. A week later, he heard it was in the show.

We also asked Rio how this show is different from other supernatural species. Rio does mention that the show does still have supernatural teen show tendencies, but states that there are more grounded implications. He talks about how when Jeff would talk about the show, he would express how it would be a response to how teenagers dealt with separation in the past few years about Californian wildfires, the pandemic, etc. Rio said that Jeff wanted to make a show about people coming together from these disasters. For Rio, what he took out of the show was that it was a moral lesson on growth because he remembered that during his time, it taught him many lessons as an adult growing up. He took it as a lesson on maturity and growth as a human.

Thank you, Rio, for spending some time with us! You can follow him on his Instagram @riomangini. Please also watch the interview below where we ask Rio even more questions about his time in Wolf Pack, his character Austin, and a few other things about the show. While you’re there, be sure to like, comment, and subscribe to our channel for the latest news in young entertainment!