The Ending Of Teen Wolf Explained

Contains spoilers for MTV's Teen Wolf

From 2011 to 2017, Teen Wolf, a show about a shy teenager who suddenly gets turned into a werewolf, aired on the typically scripted-TV-averse MTV. The series is loosely based on the 1985 film of the same name, and was an immediate hit for the channel. It stars Tyler Posey as Scott McCall, Dylan O'Brien as his best friend Stiles Stilinski, Crystal Reed as Allison Argent, Scott's first love and part of a werewolf-hunting family, and Holland Roden as Lydia Martin, Allison's best friend. Tyler Hoechlin rounds out the main cast as Derek Hale, Scott's werewolf mentor.

Teen Wolf ran for six seasons — technically — though seasons 3, 5, and 6 had two parts each, designated A and B. Each season, Scott and his friends take on a different supernatural foe, while trying to survive the ups and downs of high school at the same time. Some of the different creatures seen on the show include banshees, kitsunes, and wendigos — but the titular adolescent werewolf is always the real star. Overall, the series aired a total of 100 episodes, a real achievement for the supernatural teen drama. MTV has already talked about reviving it multiple times. Here's how everything wrapped up on the show, and what that might mean for a future revival.

The final season features a creature called the Anuk-Ite, a fear-inducing monster with two faces. It's found in Native American mythology, particularly in the folklore of the Sioux. The Anuk-Ite is a bit like Medusa. When you meet its eyes, you turn to stone — definitely something you want to avoid. All season long, Scott's preoccupied trying to decide what he wants to do for a career and mentoring Liam Dunbar, his beta, so that he can take over as alpha one day, which gives the Anuk-Ite an opening.

The other antagonist of the season is a very familiar face, someone who the pack runs into many times throughout the series: Gerard Argent. By season 6, Gerard, Kate, and Chris Argent are all that's left of the dangerous clan, and they're certainly not a family anymore. Reed, who plays Allison, left the show to pursue other projects, leading her character to die at the end of season 3.

Gerard uses the fear created by the Anuk-Ite to rally the town of Beacon Hills and gin up an all-out war on the supernatural. Despite the fact that Gerard is his father, Chris is not a fan of the man and fights against him in the final battle. Kate, now a were-jaguar, also returns to the town to try to kill Scott. It's a veritable who's who of Teen Wolf baddies as the second half of the season careens toward the final showdown.

At the end of the series, creator Jeff Davis tried to bring back as many past characters as he could, and he did pretty well. The finale features characters that haven't been around for quite a few seasons, like Jackson (Colton Haynes), Ethan (Charlie Carver), and Derek. Along with them, Stiles finally comes back to Beacon Hills to help save his friends from Gerard and the Anuk-Ite.

Stiles' only other appearance in season 6 part B, is in the beginning, when he first arrives at FBI training. The actor who plays Stiles suffered a life-threatening accident while filming the final Maze Runner film, so he spent a lot of the time recovering from his injuries while season 6 part B was being filmed. Fortunately, he was able to come back to play his crucial role in the finale. At the end of the season, Stiles finds out that the FBI is hunting Derek, and he convinces them to take him along. They reunite and come back to Beacon Hills together to help Scott. 

Davis said that he wanted to bring back more people, like Daniel Sharman who played Isaac, but he was stuck filming in Mexico for The Walking Dead spinoff, Fear the Walking Dead. It's clear that Davis had a vision for closing the narrative circle in season 6. Aside from resurrecting Gerard Argent as a primary antagonist, he managed to scoop up as many former guest stars as he could get — schedules and injuries permitting. If he had his way, we probably would have seen even more former Teen Wolf actors show up for the dramatic denouement. 

Scott and his friends face off against the Anuk-Ite and Gerard, successfully defending the town. After the fight, Stiles and Lydia, who get together at the end of season 6 part A, rush to each other. When Scott has trouble recovering after the battle, Malia (Shelley Hennig) kisses him, kickstarting his healing. The end of the show is left somewhat open, with Scott rescuing a new werewolf, Alec, and inviting him to join his pack.

Scott says that the hunters will continue coming after them, and they'll have to fight to protect themselves and others like them. Alec accepts Scott's offer to join his pack, and they all come together to walk off under the moon — the perfect portrait of a werewolf family. The series' ending is clearly intended to give you the idea that the story of Scott and his friends will continue on, and it provides Davis and MTV the opportunity to jump back into that world at any point if they so choose. As it so happens, that may have been the plan all along, since it wasn't soon after Teen Wolf made its final bow that the revival rumors started flying. 

The cast is definitely open to returning. Posey tweeted at MTV asking them to make new episodes of Teen Wolf, saying he's ready to come back at a moment's notice. When a bunch of the cast came together for a reunion special, many agreed with Posey's sentiment. Davis also revealed that a spin-off centered around Kira Yukimura (Arden Cho) has been discussed, though no concrete plans to place this project into development have been announced since. With such an eager cast and plenty of devoted fans, there might be chance you'll see Scott and his pack again someday, though. In this regard, the ending of Teen Wolf provides plenty of hope.