‘Teen Wolf: The Movie’ Boss on Stiles & Lydia’s Future, What Would’ve Happened If Dylan O’Brien Returned

There was bad news for Stydia fans in Teen Wolf: The Movie: Lydia (Holland Roden) and Stiles (Dylan O’Brien, who didn’t return) broke up off-screen.

What exactly happened was slowly revealed throughout the film. Lydia stopped using her banshee power because of something related to Stiles, Jackson (Colton Haynes) shared early on. Then, as the two were facing off with Harris (Adam Fristoe), the puppet master of the nogitsune, the whole story came out. As Harris said, Lydia’s heartbreak was a delicacy to the nogitsune, and he forced her to talk about why she left Stiles.

Lydia had a dream of a crash, in which both had been through from the car. Stiles wasn’t moving or breathing, she said. When it kept happening, she couldn’t tell if it was just a dream or a premonition. As she saw it, “If I was never in the car with him, there wouldn’t be a crash, he wouldn’t have to die.” And she wouldn’t have to scream — or, as she reminded Harris of banshees, wail.

Creator Jeff Davis explains the decision to break up Stydia and what would’ve happened if O’Brien had returned and shares if they might still have a future together.

You broke up Stiles and Lydia. Was it only because Dylan didn’t return for the film, or was it also because of the story you wanted to tell with Lydia as a banshee?

Jeff Davis: I would say partly both. You can leave it at the excuse that, oh, Stiles is off just doing something else while the movie happened. But I didn’t want to leave it at that. I wanted to still be able to tell an emotional story and the idea that Lydia had a premonition and she couldn’t shake it and that was the reason she broke up with him was to save him, was to keep him alive, felt like [a] great heroic sacrifice in a way.

Would you say they have a chance at a future together though?

Oh, absolutely. You never know what happens in these stories.

What was the plan if Dylan had returned?

We had ideas written down, nothing that ever passed an outline stage. There was one moment where he said, “OK, maybe I’ll do a cameo.” Then another moment where he said, “Maybe I’ll do a few days of shooting.” But at a certain moment in the process I said, we’ve either gotta have him in it or not in it. And I think he made the right decision for himself. He’s gotta do what creatively feeds him. He did that character for six seasons. I said to him on the phone, “the worst thing that could happen is for the audience to see you on screen and not want to be there. So you have to want to be there if we’re gonna do this or not.” And he chose to leave the character where it was.

Would you have done the same thing, though, with Stiles and Lydia? Because it turned out that breakup was so key to Lydia’s story.

When a business decision is made, you have to see how it affects the creative and sometimes what you think is going to be bad for the movie turns out pretty good. Because I love that speech. I loved writing it and I love the way she acts it and it’s sad, but it’s utterly human at the same time. It makes for a good story.

So you don’t know, though, if you would’ve still had them broken up if he had been onscreen?

I don’t know. I probably would’ve done the same thing.