Teen Wolf 'Season 6' Probably Won't Feature Derek

Like most viewers, I'm a big fan of complicated characters, so I've got to ask, will Tyler Hoechlin return for Teen Wolf Season 6? When it comes to nuanced characters, who was more troubled and more complicated on Teen Wolf then one Derek Hale? He lost so many of his family in a fire started by someone he unintentionally abetted, his rise to alpha werewolf was accompanied by some dicey moral decisions and, last time we saw him, he had evolved into a black wolf. Hoechlin announced he'd be stepping back from Teen Wolf during Season 5 to focus on his movie career, something he did very successfully, appearing in Richard Linklater's critically-acclaimed Everybody Wants Some!! as Glen McReynolds. But those of us who were howling to the moon for more Derek couldn't be faulted for hoping that perhaps the star would return for Season 6.

After all, he'd proven himself in the wide world of the silver screen, what more did he want? And he hadn't seemed 100 percent sure he would be gone forever. When he took the time off in 2015, the executive producer Jeff Davis seemed to applaud his decision and imply he could come back anytime he wanted to in the future, even saying they'd developed storylines for the future together. But if you've seen the trailer for Teen Wolf season 6, you might notice one key absence:

I know. I know. I guess this isn't entirely unexpected. Hoechlin's dance card is looking awfully full these days, with him currently filming as Boyce Fox in the Fifty Shades of Gray sequel, Fifty Shades Darker, and as Clark Kent/Superman in series Supergirl. Hoechlin appeared at Sydney's Supernova convention and when a Teen Wolf fan from the audience demanded to know if Hoechlin would be back, Hypable quoted him in the following:

Oh god. I’m sorry, I would love to make everybody cheer and be happy right now. I don’t have any plans to right now. I kind of feel like where we left the character, at least, when I knew it was going that way, kind of wrapped it up in the passing of the baton on to Scott, is just kind of how I felt like that story ended. I don’t know in which way he would come back into this world, exactly...You never know with TV... Sorry for the honest answer.

Ugh, no. While I'd like to argue his "You never know with TV" is a good sign, the parting note — one of regret for disappointing a Teen Wolf fan doesn't bode well. And since this is the final season of Teen Wolf, I guess we've already seen the last of Derek Hale. In the words of Hoechlin himself, "Sorry for the honest answer."

Images: MTV