Dylan O’Brien, who got his break as fan-favourite character Stiles Stilinski in MTV’s Teen Wolf, has announced that he will not be returning to Paramount+’ film “revival” of the series.
“It was a difficult decision. A lot went into it,” O’Brien told Variety. “The show couldn’t be more dear to me. It was the first thing I ever did and so many people there are extremely dear to me. It was something I was trying to make work but it all happened very fast.”
It seems like there was a mix of scheduling issues and just a general unwillingness on O’Brien’s part to risk messing up something that ended really well for him. I respect the decision to let a good thing stay in the past… but once again, I’m personally bummed by his decision because O’Brien was one of the unexpected breakout stars of that show who managed to have chemistry with every single actor on screen.
Most of those actors are returning! Variety reports that the original showrunner Jeff Davis will be leading the project, and other series stars, including Tyler Posey, Holland Roden, Colton Haynes, Crystal Reed, and Linden Ashby are all signed to return. (Also notably absent is Tyler Hoechlin, but he’s got that CW Superman money, he’s doing great.)
All these actors are wonderful in their roles, but as a testament to the overwhelming popularity of O’Brien/Stiles I only have to point to the sheer amount of fan work created for this show. Of the nearly 120K fanfics published on the Archive of Our Own for Teen Wolf, Stiles Stilinski is tagged on 92,000 of them. That’s higher than any other character in the series, and is over 75% of fanfics on the site. Scott McCall (Tyler Posey), the actual titular Teen Wolf has, by comparison, 48,000 fics. It’s clear that O’Brien’s Stilinski was beloved by the fandom.
Dylan, if you read this, I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed. But good for you, prioritise yourself. And your career, which is going really well, apparently.