In the final hour of Teen Wolf’s season 5A, five people were resurrected, Parrish was revealed to be a Hellhound, and Lydia was left a catatonic state. And that’s not even mentioning Theo being a chimera, the return of Braedan, and a handful of other huge life events. Let’s just say a lot happened in the season’s final hour.
With that in mind, we talked to showrunner Jeff Davis about all of the twists and what’s to come in 5B. (Yes, we asked about Roscoe the Jeep.)
Let’s talk about the Wild Hunt. “We always start a season talking about different mythologies and this was one of those more fascinating ones, the story of the ghost riders and the idea that the Hellhound, or the black dog, is part of it all the way back to Woden’s Hunt,” Davis said. “So it felt like a good way to start the season off and a potential mythology that we’d plant the seeds for that could pay off in later episodes. And we always knew that we wanted to tie Parrish’s story back to that first big storm and give a first clue as to what he is.”
Why the Hellhound? “We had a couple different ideas [for Parrish] at first, but we ended up on this because we knew that we wanted Parrish’s role to be morally on the fence,” he said. “You don’t know whether he’s a good guy or a bad guy but that he serves a function, that he is definitely there for a reason, that he was drawn to Beacon Hills for a purpose, and the purpose of a Hellhound is they’re a guardian of a supernatural place and that’s what he is. And we’re going to find out just what that role entails in season 5B and how dangerous it’s going to become for the rest of the characters.”
The Doctors caused the Wild Hunt. If you thought the Wild Hunt was the Doctor’s end game … you might be right. “Well, they are tied into a part of it, which is revealed in the fresco that is uncovered at the end. We’ve always described the Doctors as scientists who worship the supernatural and the Wild Hunt is actually the supernatural world’s reaction to what they’re doing by bending science and the supernatural to their will,” Davis said. “So they brought it about themselves in a way. And you’ll see the Clash of Titans that the painting reveals in season 5B.”
So about that painting … Davis wouldn’t reveal details about the painting, other than that one of the figures is a Hellhound, and the other is not.
Where in the world is Doctor Valack? After Valack broke out of Eichen House, he’s been MIA. But Davis promised that we will see him again in the premiere of 5B. “He has a lot to say,” Davis said. “And what you’re also going to realize is he’s not exactly the bad guy he might seem to be. He may actually be one of the good guys.”
The Desert Wolf is coming to town. And she is pissed. “She’s very big in Malia’s story and she’s going to cross paths with Theo actually and they’re going to find that they might have more common goals than they know,” Davis said. “And a lot of it has to do with her relationship with Malia and the reason why she says, ‘If she’s alive, then I’m just going to have to kill her again.’”
There’s more than nudity to Theo’s big reveal. While we’re talking about Theo, Davis revealed that Theo’s ability to transform into a coyote makes him both “very dangerous” and a “talented chimera.” (And yes, Cody Christian was wearing skin-colored underwear in that scene.)
Braeden is sticking around. Not only did Davis say that the writers had been trying to work Braeden back into the story for a while, but he also guaranted that she will be back in 5B.
Could Derek return? With Braeden back, the door is open for Derek to return. Davis simply said the writers aren’t “sure about it yet.”
We haven’t seen the last of Void Stiles. “That’s part of the darkness still lurking inside of Stiles and he’ll have the fear that, is it more than just being possessed? Is there something inside that he has to keep a lid on?” As for the difference between Scott and Theo, Davis added, “Whereas Scott tries to bring out the best in his friends, Theo actually came back for the worst in them. He came back for the angry kid, the killers, and the murderers, he wants that because to him that equates with power.”
There is hope for Roscoe the Jeep. In one of the finale’s more emotional moments, Stiles watched his beloved Jeep get towed away. But worry not, Davis promised there’s still hope. “There is hope for the Jeep,” he said. “Light a candle for the Jeep because the Jeep could still return.
Season 5B is all about resurrection. “We call season 5B a season of resurrection because it’s partly Scott has come back from the dead and he has to bring his pack now back from the dead as well,” Davis said, before adding that they’re currently exploring what side effects Scott might have from his death. “It’s a question of how does death affect him? Will it change him for the worse, for the better? It’s all about what his mother said at the end, give them hope. So he’s got to find hope again.”
Scott and Stiles aren’t making up anytime soon. “It’s going to be rocky still,” Davis said of the beloved friendship. “They were both taken in by an Iago and Theo played them all and pitted them against each other, so they’ve got to get past the underlying resentment and forgive each other and it’s going to take more than one episode.”
Hayden is going to be a changed woman. There’s just something about becoming a chimera, dying, and being brought back to life that changes a person, you know? “All the chimeras that were brought back to life, there is something that’s settled over them, a kind of darkness, partially because they were changed by the Dread Doctors,” Davis said. “They were experiments gone wrong and now brought back to life, they’re all a little bit Frankenstein’s Monster so they’ll each need to be reminded of their humanity. While Scott and Stiles try to rebuild the pack to face what’s coming to Beacon Hills, Liam and Mason will be doing their best to remind the chimeras of their humanity and try to draw them away from Theo.”
Kira’s getting her own episode. After missing out on the fun of the finale, Kira will return in a big way. “We have a really big episode which is all about Kira and Noshiko going off on their own story to try to figure out how to tame the fox spirit within her and it takes place actually in the desert in New Mexico where they have to journey.” In other words, there’s a possibility for a familiar face/place … we hope.
Season 5B picks up the same night as the finale. “511 happens the same night as 510,” Davis said. “Lydia will be taken to Eichen after it’s deemed that her injuries from Theo have essentially driven her into a catatonic state and that the only place that may be able to help her is Eichen House.” Furthermore, Davis teased a “very interesting” story for Lydia at Eichen House. “She’s a bit like Linda Hamilton in the asylum at the beginning of Terminator 2.”
Stiles and Malia are going to have to deal with their dark sides, but romance is still possible. Aside from exploring Stiles’ dark side, Davis said, “Malia has her own dark side to deal with in the fact that she’s going to break Scott’s rules which is that we don’t kill people or at least we don’t murder people, because she’s very determined to murder her mother.” And yet, he promised that “the relationships are very much on our mind every day because we love romance at Teen Wolf and it’s always interesting when they break up, they get back together and seeing the different variations on that and creating these kind of tragic romances.
“One of my favorite romantic scenes from a movie is from Last of the Mohicans when he says, ‘You stay alive! I will find you! Stay alive!’ And those are the kinds of things that we strive for, which are not necessarily scenes of soap opera where one person says I love you, you’re the greatest thing in my life, I couldn’t live without you, but more along the lines of ‘Stay alive becuase I can’t live without you’, which is underneath that. That’s what we strive for.”
Teen Wolf boss answers season 5 finale burning questions, talks potential Derek return