Warning: The following contains spoilers for the Teen Wolf movie.Teen Wolf fans had mixed feelings about the television series seeing a revival in the form of a movie, and the movie provides just as many questions as it does answers for the fans that tuned in to stream. Set more than 15 years after the series finale of MTV’sTeen Wolf, the Paramount+Teen Wolf movie brings most of the original cast back together for a new adventure. Though several of the characters left Beacon Hills behind as adults, they find themselves having to return to their hometown to solve one big mystery.
Though the MTV series shares its name with the Michael J. Fox movie, the two projects don’t have much in common beyond being centered on a teenage werewolf. The series followed lacrosse hopeful Scott McCall (Tyler Posey) after being bit by a werewolf and charted his growth to become an Alpha of an unusual pack of supernatural beings. The 2023 movie revisits Scott McCall and his friends, though they’ve been separated for years, providing a big time jump between the series and the movie.
Which Fire Is Stiles Putting Out?
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Not every main character in the original Teen Wolf series is present in the movie. Fan favorites like Isaac (Daniel Sharman), Braeden (Meagan Tandy), and Kira (Arden Cho) are all missing from the action. The most glaring absence, however, might be Stiles (Dylan O’Brien). O’Brien declined an offer to return for the movie, and though his character gets quite a few mentions, the mentions of his character only lead to more questions about what he’s up to.
The last the audience saw Stiles, he was an intern with the FBI. It’s hinted that he’s now an agent, as his father (Linden Ashby) mentions Stiles having his own fires to put out when a deputy suggests calling the FBI or his son for help with their serial arsonist. The question is, what is Stiles working on that’s so big his own father won’t even put in a phone call to get help with a potentially supernatural villain? Stiles has always been the person who puts the puzzle pieces together for the McCall pack, so it’s unusual that neither his father nor Scott would even send him a text message about what’s going on in Beacon Hills for advice.
What Happened To Kira?
Much of the storyline in the Teen Wolf movie involves the nogitsune coming after the McCall Pack all over again. Fans of the show will remember the supernatural being taking over Stiles, making for one of O’Brien’s best performances, and Kira the thunder kitsune being instrumental in stopping the nogitsune. That makes her absence sharp as well. Cho declined to return for the movie after not being offered the same pay as her other female costars, so her absence is understandable, but her storyline in the series had been left on something of a cliffhanger.
The last the audience saw Kira she made the move to the middle of the desert to train with a group of Skinwalkers. Her powers were out of her control as the fox spirit inside of her grew stronger, and she promised to return to the pack once the Skinwalkers helped her to better understand her abilities. She never returned to the show, and she wasn’t even mentioned after her absence. As a member of the McCall Pack during her time in Beacon Hills, it’s hard for the audience to understand why the pack doesn’t seem to care whether she ever gained full control of her powers. Is Kira still with the Skinwalkers? Or is she living a stable life somewhere else outside of Beacon Hills?
Who Is Eli Hale’s Mother?
One of the most interesting aspects of the Teen Wolf movie, and a way to carry on the Teen Wolf legacy, is that Derek Hale (Superman & Lois' Tyler Hoechlin) is the only one of the main characters to have a child in the years since the end of the series. Eli Hale (Vince Mattis) is 15 and struggling with his werewolf abilities when the movie picks up.
Derek appears to be living and working in Beacon Hills as a single dad. Eli is well known to Sheriff Stilinsky and Deputies Parrish (Ryan Kelley) and Hewitt (Khylin Rambo). Neither Derek nor Eli - nor, for that matter, anyone else - talks about Eli’s mom. The only female character who seems to have a connection to Eli in the movie is Malia (Unfriended’s Shelley Hennig). She’s the one who tells Scott about Eli’s difficulty transforming and is the one who frequently reminds the others they need to help him. It makes sense that Malia would be in the know as she is still in contact with everyone in Beacon Hills, and even those not there. She’s also Eli’s cousin. It still makes the audience wonder, however, just who Eli’s mother is. Derek had a few relationships during the run of the Teen Wolf series, but none of them stuck.
Is The Pack Still Truly Connected?
One of the best aspects of the final seasons of the Teen Wolf series is the unconventionality of Scott’s pack. It isn’t made up entirely of werewolves like other packs. While Scott is a werewolf, Lydia is a banshee, Malia is a werecoyote, Kira is a kitsune, Parrish is a hellhound, and Stiles is a human. When Liam (Dylan Sprayberry) becomes Scott’s beta wolf, he brings his human friend Mason into the pack. Though Derek is a werewolf, he’s not officially a member of Scott’s pack, but he’s always there when Scott needs him. That group considers Scott their Alpha, and they always follow his instincts. By the time of the Teen Wolf movie, they have mostly gone their separate ways.
Scott works in the Los Angeles area, Kira and Stiles are both off to parts unknown, Liam is in Japan, and Malia, Parrish, and Mason are all still in Beacon Hills. Lydia appears to still own property in Beacon Hills, but it’s not clear if she lives there or simply returns for the events of the movie. Scott doesn’t seem to know exactly what’s going on with anyone in his pack anymore, so the audience has to wonder if they’re still as connected as they used to be. When Scott roars, he only seems to activate the abilities of Eli and Liam, making it clear they’re members of his pack, but no one else reacts as strongly as they did when they were in high school. Is the pack just smaller now and his former pack members simply allies? It’s not clear.
Why Hadn’t Scott Been Back To Beacon Hills In A Decade?
Scott is very clear that he hasn’t been back to Beacon Hills in years. He runs an animal shelter in the Los Angeles area, and he uses his abilities to help both animals and people. He’s hesitant to return to Beacon Hills and doesn’t even want to let his mom know when he’s back in town. When he first meets up with Eli, Eli makes it clear Scott hasn’t even seen him since he was a toddler.
There is no explanation for what drove Scott from Beacon Hills when he is the one of his circle who seems most committed to the town as a teenager. Stiles and Lydia both have big plans for university and internships and Malia intends to make it to Europe during their senior year of high school. Scott is the one who always insists on helping the residents of the small town and seems the most connected to it. While the movie leads the audience to think it’s Allison’s (Swamp Thing's Crystal Reed) death that drove him from town, that event happened two years before the series finale. Just why Scott isn’t talking to his mother, why he leaves his beloved Beacon Hills behind, and why he doesn’t seem to stay in touch with his pack is never explained.
MTV’s Teen Wolf and the Teen Wolf movie are both available to stream on Paramount+.