A Revival That Ripped Apart a Beloved Franchise’s Legacy Somehow Howls to New Heights on Streaming

We live in an age of reboots and revivals, but as much as it is often thrilling to revisit old favorites and see the next chapters in beloved characters’ lives, sometimes a project will come along that is so universally hated by its respective fandom that it reminds us that not every franchise needs to be brought back past its natural lifespan. Unfortunately, such was the case with Paramount Plus’ recent Teen Wolf: The Movie.

A continuation of the popular high school horror-infused series, which originally ran from 2011-2017 on MTV, must’ve sounded like a slam-dunk for the streaming platform, but the trouble started to set in once Dylan O’Brien — arguably the biggest star to come from the show and certainly its biggest fan-favorite, thanks to his role as Stiles Stillinski — passed on reprising his role. Add in one of his co-stars publicly shaming producers for offering her much less than her co-stars and the writing was already on the wall.

The bad buzz in the run-up to its release, however, was nothing compared to the backlash that erupted when The Movie hit the internet in January 2023, as fans unanimously rejected the many wayward creative decisions the film took. Alpha wolf Scott McCall (Tyler Posey) reuniting with his resurrected lost love Allison Argent (Crystal Reed) didn’t go over as well as Paramount predicted, and killing off a major player who had been around since the beginning was the final straw.

Given that Teen Wolf was already a revamp of the classic ’80s movie starring Michael J. Fox, which itself spawned a sequel and a cartoon, no doubt we’ve got more from the Teen Wolf brand to come in the future. Yet, its legacy has definitely been stained by this movie revival. Not that Paramount Plus users seem to mind, of course, given that — according to Flix Patrol — Teen Wolf: The Movie is the current fourth most popular title on the service worldwide.

Image via Paramount Plus

We live in an age of reboots and revivals, but as much as it is often thrilling to revisit old favorites and see the next chapters in beloved characters’ lives, sometimes a project will come along that is so universally hated by its respective fandom that it reminds us that not every franchise needs to be brought back past its natural lifespan. Unfortunately, such was the case with Paramount Plus’ recent Teen Wolf: The Movie.

A continuation of the popular high school horror-infused series, which originally ran from 2011-2017 on MTV, must’ve sounded like a slam-dunk for the streaming platform, but the trouble started to set in once Dylan O’Brien — arguably the biggest star to come from the show and certainly its biggest fan-favorite, thanks to his role as Stiles Stillinski — passed on reprising his role. Add in one of his co-stars publicly shaming producers for offering her much less than her co-stars and the writing was already on the wall.

The bad buzz in the run-up to its release, however, was nothing compared to the backlash that erupted when The Movie hit the internet in January 2023, as fans unanimously rejected the many wayward creative decisions the film took. Alpha wolf Scott McCall (Tyler Posey) reuniting with his resurrected lost love Allison Argent (Crystal Reed) didn’t go over as well as Paramount predicted, and killing off a major player who had been around since the beginning was the final straw.

Given that Teen Wolf was already a revamp of the classic ’80s movie starring Michael J. Fox, which itself spawned a sequel and a cartoon, no doubt we’ve got more from the Teen Wolf brand to come in the future. Yet, its legacy has definitely been stained by this movie revival. Not that Paramount Plus users seem to mind, of course, given that — according to Flix Patrol — Teen Wolf: The Movie is the current fourth most popular title on the service worldwide.