This article contains spoilers for Teen Wolf: The Movie, now streaming on Paramount+.
The highly-anticipated movie adaptation of the beloved series Teen Wolf has finally arrived. Unfortunately, all the anticipation is being forgotten as fans are definitely upset about the movie's tragic ending. While Derek's death came with good intentions from the movie's creator, it also highlights an awful movie trend.
Teen Wolf: The Movie is a follow-up to the iconic MTV series. Set about 15 years after the events of the show, Tyler Posey's Scott McCall reunites with the rest of his werewolf peers and returns home to Beacon Hills. Of course, the full moon isn't all that's looming over the sleepy town, as the pack is forced to survive a past foe's mission for revenge on the wolves.
How Tyler Hoechlin's Derek Dies in Teen Wolf: The Movie
Near the end of Teen Wolf: The Movie, there's an intense battle between the pack and a supernatural trickster demon called the Nogitsune. Unfortunately, the conflict puts Scott, Derek, Derek's son, and a hellish wolf right in the eye of danger. The almost-Alpha Derek doesn't make it through the fight. As he and his "brother" Scott hold the Nogitsune down, the plan is to burn the entity back to the underworld. To do this, the aforementioned hellish wolf, Jordan Parrish, intends to use his Hellhound ability of fire manipulation. The problem with this is that he's unable to send the fire toward the trio without putting Derek and Scott in the crosshairs. To save his people, Derek decides to sacrifice himself alongside the Nogitsune and burns to death.
The death of Tyler Hoechlin's Derek is obviously heartbreaking for fans of Teen Wolf. Given the gruesome manner of his death, it's hard to consider the scene anything other than a slap in the face. Still, the movie's production team intended Derek's death to glorify the wolf's bravery and heroics. Before his death, Derek's wolf eyes shift from a striking blue to the iconic red color. This detail may be muddled by the fact that he died so horribly, but the color shift seems to give Derek's character his redemption. As such, it's fair to assume that his ultimate sacrifice earned the werewolf his Alpha status back, for his final moments at least.
Derek's Teen Wolf Death Adds to a Bad Trend in Sequels and Revivals
Aside from the uproar over the death of such a beloved Teen Wolf character, Teen Wolf: The Movie's ending brings a horrible sequel trend back into the spotlight. For a while now, it seems that whenever a popular, well-loved show or movie gets a long-awaited revival or sequel, a fan-favorite character dies. Considering the internet is ablaze with angry Tyler Hoechlin fans, Derek is the latest, but not the only example of this.
In January 2022, there was a similar series of events in Scream (2022) with the brutal death of Dewey Riley. Another example of such a travesty is Han Solo's death in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. These characters are widely considered to be legacy characters. Other than the fact that they're fan favorites, legacy characters tend to be well-written and play an important role in the franchise in general. Killing these characters off provides plenty of emotional tension and can put the character to rest with a proper send-off. But, this trend is so often poorly done, and the character doesn't get their well-deserved justice. Arguably, Derek's death fits with the latter.
No one likes seeing their favorite character get killed off in a show or movie, and unfortunately, fans of Teen Wolf have to go through this grief because of Teen Wolf: The Movie. Killing off Derek at the end of the movie has left fans furious. Recently, it's become a trend to revive popular franchises just to kill off a legacy character. Frankly, this trend is overdone and usually poorly executed. And as seen in the past, trends like these only succeed in pissing people off.
To say goodbye to Tyler Hoechlin's Derek, Teen Wolf: The Movie is now streaming on Paramount+.