Warning: This story contains spoilers for the premiere episode of Teen Wolf season 5.
Anticipation has been building for season 5 of Teen Wolf. Our favorite supernatural teens are back for their senior year of high school, which can only mean cutting class, worrying about college, and of course whatever mystical force comes stomping through Beacon Hills.
As expected, the Teen Wolf fandom has been busy dissecting every bit of promotional content released by MTV—everything from actual teasers of the premiere to compilation videos taking a trip down memory lane from the show’s first couple of seasons.
The fandom has whipped up a flurry of various theories about our pack of adolescents. Now that we’ve seen the premiere, we’re looking at the likelihood of these predictions, what they could mean for the rest of the season, and how everything might play out.
1) Lydia’s banshee powers
Questions regarding Lydia’s abilities have floated through the fandom ever since her supernatural status was revealed in season 3. While we got to see her hone some of her powers last season, much was left to be desired.
When season 5’s trailer was released in late May, Tumblr users athenaohwise1 and reportergirl13 captured the parts that appeared to show Lydia’s scream having some kinetic force.
Of course, fans were also treated to the first five minutes of the premiere earlier this June, which proved athenaohwise1 and reportergirl13’s hypothesis.
But the timeline of Monday’s premiere is a little murky. We start with the scene of Lydia escaping Eichen House and don’t see her until near the end of the episode where she’s waiting for the rest of the gang at the high school. Then the episode ends with her back in the mental institute, which is likely a scene from the future.
Although we didn’t see much of Lydia in the present-day scenes, it doesn’t seem like her powers are to the advanced level that they are in her attempted escape. We’ll probably be watching her figure out her powers even more over the course of this season, finally being able to use her scream as an offensive means. Maybe unlocking the rest of her banshee powers will have something to do with this season’s villains, the Doctors.
2) The relationship between Lydia and Parrish
A good portion of the fandom ships Lydia with Stiles, but the show has also teased some sort of connection between the red-haired beauty and hunky police officer. The “Lydia x Parrish” tag on Tumblr has a lot of steam and the scene from the premiere with Parrish injured and envisioning him and Lydia almost locking lips is definitely going to give the part of the fandom that ships them together some content to work with.
We might very well get to see more chemistry bubble between Parrish and Lydia during season 5, especially if the guy is imagining her on his deathbed. But is their connection purely romantic, mystical, or maybe both? Well, it’s very possible that their relationship is going to be heavily influenced by whatever Parrish turns out to be, a question that still hasn’t been answered.
3) What supernatural creature is Parrish?
Fans have been speculating what Parrish is ever since he emerged from a car engulfed in flames and we know he’s something because he’s been getting that red-eye glow special effects treatment. Even the wolf with the mega claws couldn’t figure out what Parrish was as he gutted the deputy.
Parrish being a phoenix or fire kitsune has been tossed around a lot within the fandom, with his ability to rise from the flames unscathed. But some Redditors think that Parrish might be a hell hound. It’d fit within the canine mythology of Teen Wolf, along with typically being associated with fire. And most importantly, they deal with lost souls.
An innate connection with a banshee would make total sense since they’re both associated with death. That could very well mean a spiritual/supernatural connection that then leads to some smooching. And like Lydia has said previously, she’s over high school boys.
4) Theo’s intentions
Tumblr is skeptical of Theo and fans very much should be especially how the trailers for the season frames his introduction. Watchers of Teen Wolf aren’t supposed to know what exactly the deal is with Theo.
In the trailer, we see Malia eyeing a shirtless Theo working out. None of that ogling is present in the premiere, and we don’t really get much other than the fact that he’s an old friend of Scott’s from fourth grade. He’s now a wolf and heard about an alpha in Beacon Hills, so he’s back.
The premiere doesn’t give fans a lot to work with in terms of what Theo’s actually up to. But Teen Wolf often pulls a switch and bait with its seasons antagonists (we saw that with season 3’s alpha pack and the darach, last season with the Benefactor and Kate Argent). Could the Doctors just be a distraction for Theo’s actual malicious plans?
5) Malia being captured by the Doctors
Tumblr user the-runner-from-beacon-hills theorizes that Malia might be kidnapped by the Doctors. While the clues do point to that conclusion, we now know from the premiere that the scene of Malia being cornered into some rocks has to do with her trying to find her mother, the Desert Wolf.
The theory that the Desert Wolf and the Doctors are working together in some way would make sense. Everyone in Beacon Hills tends to be connected in some way, especially the bad guys. Malia getting kidnapped by the Doctors would also make sense for them trying to lure Scott into coming to rescue her.
6) What are this season’s villains up to?
A theory from fangirlish predicts that the Doctors are creating chimeras, mythical beings with parts from different animals. This is totally probable considering the mystery wolf with the huge claws that we saw in the premiere, who appears to have been working with the Doctors. Maybe they used whatever powers or science they have to give him those upgrades.
What exactly are they doing with chimeras? Maybe the Doctors are just creating supercharged hybrids to take out Scott, who’s in the way of their masterplan. We only got a weak sense of what they’re up to with the premiere. But something science-y and playing with the rules of the supernatural definitely sounds plausible.
7) Who’s coming back?
With all supernatural shows, there’s always the chance that somebody will return. Because when somebody dies, nobody’s actually dead for sure. Teen Wolf fans saw that with Peter when he gets resurrected during season 2.
There’s been various guesses as to who might be returning, such as Jennifer the darach from season 3 and even Allison who was killed at the end of season 3. We know from that touching scene from the premiere in the high school’s library that Allison is still on her friends’ minds, which could be foreshadowing to her return this season. Fans have also pointed out that Crystal Reed, who played Allison, was at Paleyfest 2015. But the library scene could very well have just been paying tribute to a friend, and Reed at Paleyfest could have just been because her character died pretty recently.
Bringing somebody back would be a lot for this season, especially with the introduction of Theo. It’s likely that the episode’s preview description from IMDB simply referred to Aiden being in the premiere—but it turned out Lydia was just hallucinating him.
Monday’s premiere definitely stirred the pot of Teen Wolf theories. We’ll just have to wait to see if they play out during the rest of the season.
Photo via MTV/YouTube
