15 Reasons We Really Miss ‘Teen Wolf’

Seven years ago on June 5th, 2011 a little show called Teen Wolf aired after the MTV Movie Awards. The show was based vaguely on the 1985 film of the same name and followed awkward teen Scott McCall (Tyler Posey) after he was bitten by a werewolf one night in the woods.

To many people’s surprise back in 2011, the drama series turned out to be quite good. The writing was witty and smart, while a relatively unknown cast of actors was able to captivate the audience easily with their charm and chemistry.

There were so many reasons why a show called Teen Wolf should never have worked, and yet it did. Over the years the show has accumulated a massive following of fans online and earned praise for rivaling shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural with its perfect blend of comedy and drama.

Teen Wolf went on to have six seasons in total with its final season ending last September.

After seven years, let us look back on 15 reasons why we miss the series and why TV just isn’t the same without Teen Wolf.

1. The Cast

We could go on for hours about how amazing Dylan O’Brien and Tyler Posey are in this series. We could talk about how Holland Roden and Crystal Reed created strong female characters that needed no man to come and save them.

But here’s the thing about Teen Wolf, the entire cast was phenomenal.

Side characters like Danny and Coach Finnstock were well developed and well utilized as comedic relief throughout the series. Danny was the loveable gay student of Beacon Hills High that was none too surprised to find out most of his classmates were werewolves.

Coach was the only character that could revival Stiles’ sarcasm and frequently used that to his advantage when in class with the kid. However, beneath the harassing, constant whistleblowing, and yelling was a teacher who genuinely cared about his players and students.

Coach might have yelled a lot but he stuck up for both Meridith and Liam because as he put it, the school has a strict no-bullying policy.

Beacon Hills lacrosse team wouldn’t have been half as interesting if it wasn’t for those two characters. Danny and Coach went about their lives, choosing to ignore the truth about their small town and just play some sports.

Then there were the later additions to the core cast.

Unfortunately for Teen Wolf, the show aired on MTV and actors were bound to leave for greener pasters at some point. The show was constantly plagued by unexplained character departures and plot holes because of it. But Teen Wolf didn’t let that stop it from thriving and introduced characters in the later seasons that became some of the best parts of this show.

Additions to the cast like Kira Yukimura (Arden Cho), Malia Hale (Shelley Hennig), and Liam Dunbar (Dylan Sprayberry) proved Teen Wolf was in it for the long haul as the show continued to expand its universe without jeopardizing the quirky personalities that made everything work so well.

Kira was originally introduced as Scott’s love interest but it was her bond with characters like Malia and Lydia that really made the character feel like she deserved her own place in his pack. Her knowledge of Japenese folklore and katana skills made her a unique and valuable addition to the cast.

Our only regret with Kira’s character is that we didn’t get to see the end of her story as the character was written off the show at the end of season 5.

Malia was an interesting character, to say the least.

Living as a coyote for most of her life, Malia had a very primal and aggressive personality as a result. She was blunt which made for some very comedic relationships between her and the rest of the cast.

But over the seasons, Malia found her place in Beacon Hills and learned what it meant to be human as she developed strong relationships with both Stiles and Scott. She also stepped up and helped Lydia through her grieving process after losing Allison.

Without Malia, the later seasons would not have been as good as they were.

Then we had Liam, who arguably came at the best time for the series as most of the original cast members were no longer teens. Adding a younger actor to the cast put the teen back in Teen Wolf and opened the door to a whole new generation of Beacon Hills students.

Not to mention, Liam’s initiation into Scott pack was one of the funniest storylines to take place in the series. Poor Scott, he was never good at coming up with the plans.

2. Lacrosse Scenes

No, we didn’t just love these scenes because we got to see a bunch of good-looking men run around in shorts.

When a lacrosse scene came up you were guaranteed a good time. The music playlist was always on point, Coach was guaranteed to insult someone at least once, and the action of a full-contact sport was never disappointing.

Lacrosse might just be a sport for some, but for Teen Wolf it played a pivotal part in the storylines and progression of episodes.

At the end of the day, these characters were just kids. So if an evil lizard was running around murdering people but Scott had a lacrosse game to get to he went to the lacrosse game.

This sport kept the show grounded in realism and reminded viewers that for many teenagers losing a game or failing a test did feel like the end of the world to them.

Not too mention most of the exciting developments happened on Beacon Hills’ lacrosse field… and most of the attempted murder plots.

3. Allison Argent

Back in 2011 women didn’t have the same kind of representation in the industry as today when it came to strong and well written female characters. We didn’t have Supergirl to look up to yet, but we did have the ladies of Teen Wolf.

Every woman on this show deserves her own category in all honesty. Teen Wolf was a show about teenage werewolves, sure. But it was also so much more than that and we have characters like Allison Argent to thank for that.

Allison represented strength in many ways. She was a literal badass when it came to hand to hand combat, archery, and using Chinese ring daggers. Isaac learned that one out the hard way.

Over the seasons, Allison accepted her fate as a hunter and chose to throw herself into the trade despite the dangers. But her true strength showed through as she lost her mother to the hunter code and endured toxic relationships with her family members to eventually fight alongside the enemy and give her life to save her friends.

Her mental strength was truly what made her a strong character. Allison was flawed and uncertain of her leadership at times, but that only made her more human in the end. She was braver than any man in Beacon Hills and they all knew it.

There’s a reason the Argents trained their sons to be soldiers and their daughters to be leaders.

4. Lydia Martin

Then there was Lydia Martin.

At first glance, she was the superficial cool girl that cared more about being vain than being educated, but that couldn’t be farther from the case. Lydia is smart, so unbelievably smart.

She underwent the greatest character development of anyone throughout the series as she learned to use her intelligence rather than hide it to better herself as a person and to keep Beacon Hills from crumbling.

Lydia taught herself how to use her banshee abilities to help others despite her audible disdain towards being a human detector for death. Despite the mental hurdles she endured, Lydia eventually found her place in Scott’s pack and still carried herself with the same confidence she did in the pilot despite everything she had been through.

Holland Roden took a basic character and turned her into a symbol of empowerment for women whose greatest strength might just be their book smarts. And never once did she sacrifice wearing a cute outfit to save the town.

5. Roscoe The Jeep

Stiles could have driven any other car and we wouldn’t have cared less, but when the kid first pulled up in a black and blue CJ-5 Jeep we knew we hadn’t just fallen in love with the character— we had fallen in love with the car too.

Over the course of the series, it seemed the two were inseparable as Stiles relied on his quirky little Jeep to get him out of some tough situations— most of which he caused himself.

That kind of support came at a price, however. Stiles’ vehicle needed a lot of work due to how old of a model it was, but the boy would never abandon his Jeep and he always kept a roll of duct tape on hand just in case.

The Jeep became such an important part of Teen Wolf that some believed it deserved to be considered its own character. And for the most part, the vehicle was.

In 2013 at New York Comic Con Dylan O’Brien gave his Jeep the name Roscoe. While the name was never officially used in the television show, fans have embraced Roscoe the Jeep. The vehicle became the rock of this show, standing by Stiles even when the rest of the world had forgotten he had existed.

So where is the beloved Roscoe today? During a live Q&A on Twitter, the show’s creator Jeff Davis reassured fans that Dylan O’Brien was taking the Jeep home. A special request production couldn’t say no to.

So rest assured the two will grow old together.

6. Hales V.S. Argents

Like all great feuds, Derek Hale and Chris Argent’s hatred for one another goes back centuries. Soaked in mythology and tales of hunters named after silver ridding the world of werewolves, it was only a matter of time before the two families collided.

When we first met Derek Hale, he was a loner that sulked around the woods in a leather jacket.

As Stiles pointed out in the pilot, Derek’s family all burned to death in a fire like 10 years ago. While the show never gave a full backstory on Derek’s life leading up to the fire, it was suggested Kate Argent took advantage of a young Derek, using a romantic relationship with him to gain information that would eventually lead to her burning his family house down.

The introduction to Chris Argent’s character was eventful, to say the least when it was revealed he was Allison’s father and the hunter out to kill Scott.

What was even more eventful was Chris and Derek’s various face-offs throughout the earlier seasons which usually involved a lot more intimidation and leather than actual fighting. After several seasons, they found themselves allies on the same side of a war to protect Beacon Hills, mostly from the rest of the Argent family.

After Chris suffered tremendous lost he began to bond with Derek, becoming a similar mentor as the Alpha to Scott’s pack.

Often an overlooked relationship, Derek and Chris went from sworn enemies to two people who confided in each other for support and for back up in a fight. Their friendship was as unique as it was pure.

7. Stiles Stilinski

We know what everyone was thinking back in 2011: who would name their child Stiles?
Turns out, that’s just what he likes to be called.

Little did we know, Dylan O’Brien would eventually become a household name for his portrayal of Scott McCall’s goofy sidekick in the series with so many memorable one-liners and a undying love for his Jeep, Roscoe.

Behind the character’s spastic movements and inability to stay focused is an actor with a real emotional depth you can’t help but feel drawn to. The heartfelt scenes between Stiles and his father, Sheriff Stilinski are always tear jerkers. Then there are Dylan O’Brien’s onscreen-offscreen shenanigans with best friend Tyler Posey to make you laugh.

Dylan O’Brien took a character that wasn’t meant to be anything more than comedic relief and made himself a staple of the series. His range was so impressive, Stiles became the center focus of season 3B and in a shocking twist, the villain as an evil Japanese spirit terrorized the town through Stiles. It was both haunting and exhilarating to watch.

Romance, drama, and comedy. Dylan O’Brien did it all with nothing more than a youtube account as experience on his resume. He has continued to show how versatile of an actor he is with lead roles as Thomas in The Maze Runner trilogy and Mitch Rapp in American Assassin.

There are more than enough reasons involving Stiles alone to miss this show.

8. Sterek

Teen Wolf has many memorable relationships worthy of shipping. But there was none quite like Sterek (Stiles+Derek). Whether it was the love of their oddball friendship or the need for more of a romantic relationship, fans can’t deny these two had some memorable moments on screen together.

From the start, it was clear the pairing of Hoechlin and O’Brien was brilliant. Derek being a stoic boundaryless person and Stiles being a spastic know it all, the two were bound to butt heads.

But when Derek found himself confiding in Stiles for expertise on infiltrating the Sheriff’s Station and keeping Scott from killing somebody, the two ended up on the same side many times.

They were reluctant friends to the very end of the series and we were all much better off for it.

Any fan of this show will tell you the Sterek scenes were always the best simply for the comedy that ensued. These two brought us great lines like, “don’t be such a sour wolf,” and the cousin Miguel classic, “this no fit.”

After Hoechlin left the show, it became abundantly clear Teen Wolf was missing something without Derek and Stiles teaming up.

So in the final season, while studying to become an FBI agent Stiles learned the Burro was hunting Derek for several counts of murder. Thus the two were thrown together one last time and Derek may or may not have had to carry Stiles out of a building after he shot one of his toes off.

If there’s anything we miss the most about this show, it’s the chaos that would ensue when Sterek got together.

 

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