Editor’s Note: The following contains spoilers for Teen Wolf: The Movie.
It has been six years since the MTV seriesTeen Wolfaired its series finale on the network, bringing the story of Scott McCall (Tyler Posey) and his pack to a definite close. After defending Beacon Hills from paranormal threats for their entire high school experience, the gang said goodbye to the northern Californian town as we said goodbye to them in return. In many ways, theTeen Wolfseries finale, titled “The Wolves of War,” was just about everything that we could ask for. Not only did it bring the series to a round 100 episodes, perfect for syndication, but it closed out everyone’s character arcs well, brought back the most important recurring characters, and set our heroes up for success as they continued on to save other werewolves from extinction.
No matter how you may feel about it,Teen Wolf: The Moviepremiered on Paramount+ in early 2023, and though the tagline for the film reads “the pack is back,” not everyone opted to return.Cody Christianaka Theo Raeken, couldn’t make it work as he stars on the CW’sAll-American, though Theo’s arc had rounded to a nice, clean close anyhow.Arden Cho, who played Kira Yukimura, departed the series in its fifth season and neglected to returnover a pay dispute. But the most frustrating bit of news for fans of the series was learning thatDylan O’Brien, most famous for hisTeen Wolfrole as Stiles Stilinski, Scott McCall’s best friend, decided against returning for the movie, even for a brief scene.
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According to O’Brien in an interview withVariety, “It was a difficult decision. A lot went into it…” He’d continue by reiterating his love for the cast and crew, his love of the show itself, and his desire to see his friends succeed, just without him being a part of it. “Ultimately, I just decided it was left in a really good place for me and I still want to leave it there. I wish them well and I’m going to watch it the first night it comes out.” No doubt, O’Brien is right that the series left Stiles off in a pretty good spot (we’ll get there in a moment), but with so many of the cast members returning for such a big production – includingCrystal Reed, whose character Allison Argent was killed off in the third season – it’s odd that Stiles wouldn’t be joining his friends again for such a big event.
When Last We Saw Stiles…
The sixth season ofTeen Wolfsplit the plot into two halves, each of which was written around the fact that O’Brien had prior commitments due toThe Maze Runner: The Death Cure, among other projects. In the first half, Stiles was erased from existence by a group of otherworldly Ghost Riders who aimed at taking all of Beacon Hills off the map. After trying all season long to escape their interdimensional prison, Stiles is saved by his friends who force themselves to remember him. It’s this arc that solidifies Stiles and Lydia Martin (Holland Roden) as a couple, making both Stiles and long-term fans of the show overjoyed. In the second half of the season, Scott and his friends have graduated, with Stiles already long-gone from Beacon Hills while interning with the FBI.
As it turns out, Stiles has his own adventures outside of Beacon Hills, as he attempts to save Derek Hale (Tyler Hoechlin) from being captured by the FBI. Eventually, Stiles and Derek return to their hometown to help Scott, Lydia, and Malia (Shelley Hennig) avoid execution by an anti-werewolf army led by their nemesis Gerard Argent (Michael Hogan) and his new apprentice Monroe (Sibongile Mlambo). As Stiles and Derek help save the day, the show ends by flash-forwarding in time, seemingly a few years, to see the McCall Pack together as they prepare to deliver Monroe and her army their final blow. As far as we knew, Stiles and Lydia remained together after high school and into adulthood, and he and Scott stayed best friends.
The Pack Is (Mostly) Back
InTeen Wolf: The Movie, the McCall Pack reunites after Scott and Chris Argent (JR Bourne) get wind that Allison, Argent’s daughter and Scott’s first and true love, remains in a state of limbo between life and death. Despite dying 15 years prior during the show’s third season, Allison is resurrected by Scott, Lydia, and Malia at a sacred tree known as the Nemeton, which also happens to be a power source for many of the supernatural creatures in Beacon Hills. But, when Scott begins reuniting his friends, Stiles is never mentioned. Actually, the conversation about whether to bring Stiles back into the fold for Allison’s resurrection is never had at all, presumably because Stiles might not have approved of messing with something so dangerous.
Throughout the film, both Jackson Whittemore (Colton Haynes) and Mason Hewitt (Khylin Rhambo) mention to Lydia and Sheriff Noah Stilinski (Linden Ashby) respectively that they should reach out to Stiles, though not because he should be involved in the film’s plot which involves the Nogitsune, an evil spirit that once possessed Stiles. Rather, we learn that Lydia and Stiles broke up at an undisclosed time and that Sheriff Stilinski hasn’t talked with his son in a hot minute. While Sheriff Stilinski is never seen reaching back out to his son, Lydia’s story ends with a bit more hope, but not before first revealing a dark truth. When she and Jackson encounter the man who released the Nogitsune, their old science teacher Adrian Harris (Adam Fristoe), he gets her to admit the real reason she left Stiles…
The Fate of Stiles and Lydia
As it turns out, Lydia had been having a recurring nightmare where Stiles dies in a car wreck. In the dream, she sees Stiles' body after it had been thrown from his trademark Jeep as his lifeless eyes stare into nothing. Lydia explains that this dream was unsettling when it happened the first few times, but when it continued to recur with the same intensity, she came to believe that it might’ve been a premonition rather than just a nightmare. This led to Lydia breaking things off with Stiles and going her own separate way from him. Presumably, this is also why Stiles hasn’t been talking with his dad lately, and possibly why Scott didn’t include Stiles in the mission to resurrect Allison or kill the Nogitsune.
After Lydia reveals this dark truth, she overcomes her fear and uses her banshee wail to aid Scott and Allison in their battle against the Nogitsune, which conveniently also restores Allison’s forgotten memories. Though we don’t spend much time with Lydia inTeen Wolf: The Movieafter this, it is implied that, now that she’s overcome her fear, she may fight to rekindle their romance and restore the most loved romance onTeen Wolf, albeit offscreen. While Stiles isn’t seen or heard from at all in the film (not even in the movie’s many flashbacks to the original series), his presence is still felt through his father, through Lydia, and through his trademark Jeep with manages to find new life in Beacon Hills.
The Jeep Lives On Forever
Speaking of Stiles' trademark Jeep, the beginning of the film sees Derek Hale’s teenage son Eli (Vince Mattis) steal Stiles' old wheels to take a non-licensed joyride throughout the northern California town. We learn later from Sheriff Stilinski that Stiles left his Jeep behind when he moved away from Beacon Hills, but rather than it be sold or destroyed, Derek took it into his auto shop, fixed it up, and kept it until Stiles were to return. Unfortunately, Derek sacrifices himself in the battle against the Nogitsune, holding the evil spirit down while the hellhound Deputy Jordan Parrish (Ryan Kelley) burns the creature alive. As Scott and Allison take Eli in, Sheriff Stilinski bequeaths Stiles' Jeep to Eli, honoring the work his father put into fixing it up.
Strangely, Stiles doesn’t return for Derek’s funeral, which feels pretty out-of-character. In fact, his truancy in the battle against the Nogitsune, the vilestTeen Wolfvillain who also just so happens to be Stiles' nemesis, is also a bit odd given his connection to the villain. But, nevertheless, Stiles keeps far away from Beacon Hills, most likely trying to forget all the memories he made there. Though he and Scott remain best friends, and there seems to be hope for him and Lydia moving forward, there’s no doubt that the lack of Dylan O’Brien inTeen Wolf: The Movieis felt more than the absence of the funniest character in the entire series. With this being the first, and only,Teen Wolfstory without any Stiles at all, here’s hoping that it doesn’t become a recurring trend, especially if they end up greenlighting a sequel.
