The Wolf Among Us was ‘almost unshippable’ and could have been a comedy, says Telltale

Telltale’s The Wolf Among Us is finally getting a second season in the second half of 2018, but according to head of creative communications Job Stauffer, the title might have never seen the light of day had it not been for a last ditch attempt from the development team to save it from being canned. 

"The truth is, is that in 2011 we announced we were working on The Walking Dead, and a game based on the Fables comics at the same time," Stauffer told MCV at Gamescom. "It was before The Walking Dead show had really taken off, because our game was based on the comic, so while Walking Dead was enjoying its success in 2012, Fables was actually in development and it was never actually very good until almost a year and a half’s worth of revisions.

"At a certain point in time, it was almost like a comedy, although frankly, it wasn’t very funny and it was almost un-shippable. We got to a certain point where we really weren’t sure how we were going to execute it, and a lot of times in development, when you get to that point where it feels like there’s nothing you can do to save it, it takes that for the team to really rally and find that last wrench to throw into the machine and make it work. Sure enough, they did and we really found our tone with it."

Fortunately for Telltale, the game was a hit: "When we premiered in 2013 and finished at the end of 2014, never in our wildest dreams did we expect to be the success that it was, both critically and – I think – financially as well. It was very successful for us." 

However, once the studio had finished the title, it already had a number of other announced projects on the go, making a second season a tricky proposition at the time. 

"By the time we were finishing, we were already committed to doing some new projects – such as Tales from the Borderlands, Game of Thrones and Minecraft. So finding a time where we could follow up The Wolf Among us and really do it justice was always in play – and for the last two years, every tweet we’ve sent out of our company has been, ‘That’s great but where’s Wolf Among Us S2?’ And you know, that passion and that energy from the fans I think really pushed it into the forefront for 2018 and we’re excited to get back to it." 

The Wolf Among Us season two is currently slated for Xbox One, PS4, PC, Mac, iOS and Android-based devices, and will be making its debut in the second half of next year.