MTV’s hit series Teen Wolf, originally based on the 1985 movie about high school student-turned-werewolf, has moved beyond its roots over its first two seasons to develop fascinating characters and an ever-growing mythology. Teen Wolf stars Tyler Posey and Dylan O’Brien and creator/executive producer Jeff Davis took the stage at WonderCon to give fans a closer look at the show’s third season.

Some highlights from the panel include a clip from an upcoming episode, details about the alpha pack, Stiles' potential future as an FBI agent, and more.  Check out the full panel recap after the jump.  The new season of Teen Wolf premieres Monday, June 3rd on MTV.

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Here are the highlights of the panel:

  • The audience was treated to the full season two gag reel (extended beyond the version previously released online), as well as a clip from the new season. The clip showed two members of the villainous alpha pack, Ennis and Kali, breaking into Derek’s new loft and attacking him and mysterious new character Cora.
  • Davis said that it’s good to look back at previous seasons while writing to see where the characters have been and how they’ve grown. O’Brien doesn’t like watching older episodes, something Davis ascribes to O’Brien being too critical of himself.
  • The season has been split into two parts of twelve episodes each, which Davis referred to as 3A and 3B, the former leading directly into the latter while still standing as separate stories.
  • Davis is currently working on writing episode 10, on which filming will begin next week. However, he has already put thought into the last scene of episode 12, as well as new mythology for the second half of the season.
  • The second season DVDs, coming out May 21st, will include some extra footage, some behind the scenes material, a full gag reel, as well as commentary by Davis and Christian Taylor for three episodes.
  • Stiles’ real name will remain one of the long-standing mysteries of the show. Davis teased that the reveal will maybe be “in the last episode in the series finale in the last minute.”
  • The four month time jump between seasons two and three acts as a reset button, helping get the characters back to normal without having to show them morose and depressed.
  • Davis loves to read what fans have to say on social media, but that as they have to be careful about how they plot out the course of an entire season, he’d rather influence fan reactions instead of just react to them.
  • Jackson’s departure will be explained as delicately and carefully as possible in the season premiere.
  • While the first two seasons were filmed in Atlanta, the third is being shot in Los Angeles. Posey said that the biggest differences are the weather and being able to be close to his family and girlfriend.
  • The third season promos will start coming out soon.
  • “Motel California”, the sixth episode as directed by Christian Taylor, includes a very emotional scene between Scott and Stiles, causing many a tear on set during filming.
  • Posey and O’Brien both feel they have gotten a better handle on their characters since the beginning of season one, evolving along with the characters as they grow as actors. O’Brien said that at the beginning of the second season, it took them a little while to really settle back into their characters, but from the first table read before season three, it felt natural.
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    Posey and O’Brien have had a lot more input this year on their characters, even including some dialogue related to their real lives: Tyler Posey has never seen the Star Wars movies (a fact to which he yelled “who cares?” and O’Brien responded with “I care for you”).
  • Stiles has decided to move on from his love for Lydia this season, trying to “take ownership of himself”, part of which is shown in his new longer haircut.
  • The decision for Stiles to drop the buzzcut was in some doubt for the majority of the first day of filming until O’Brien literally took it into his own hands, trimming the haircut to everyone’s satisfaction.
  • Posey said that Scott is also working on self-improvement apart from the love of his life, Allison. He’s working to become a better student, son, and friend; however, he still believes that they’ll be together in the end. The craziness of Beacon Hills does bring them together again, though, and their relationship becomes more up in the air.
  • Davis said that he enjoys changing up relationships in the show, mentioning Sam and Diane from Cheers as an example of how on-again/off-again creates good drama, but “the real romance of the show is between Scott and Stiles.” He gets a lot of mileage out of pairing people up and “seeing what relationships get horribly destroyed.”
  • Danny will have a romance (and ensuing sex scene) with one of the alpha twins, but nothing that isn’t cable-friendly. Davis stated definitively that he’s gotten “no pushback whatsoever” from MTV regarding LGBTQ content.
  • Stiles will definitely get the chance to be a badass this season, with O’Brien hinting at the possibility of Stiles using a baseball bat as a weapon in episode ten.
  • While Davis thinks Stiles would grow up to be an FBI agent, O’Brien likes the idea of him taking on his father’s role as town sheriff.
  • Lydia becomes especially important this season, in terms of her relationship with Stiles and with Scott. Scott and Lydia have a scene in the ninth episode that cements their relationship, and establishes how she’ll be able to help him in the future.
  • Scott’s father will play a very pivotal role in the second half of the season. Davis also teased at revealing something about Stiles’ mother at some point this season.
  • There will be more about Stiles’ ADHD and panic attacks, as those are important aspects to his character.
  • Davis loves the work music supervisor Laura Webb has done for the show, noting in particular the excellent use of songs by Mikky Ekko.
  • Everyone would be very open to the possibility of a Teen Wolf convention in Los Angeles.
  • The alpha pack have reasons for going after Derek that are part of the grander mystery of the season.
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    Kali was inspired by Famke Janssen in GoldenEye. She is more than just a two-dimensional villain, playing a pivotal role throughout the season with motivations of her own.
  • Posey joked that he hopes Scott dies at the end of the series, and comes back to life as a zombie.
  • Davis said he’d love to do a Teen Wolf movie of his own one day.

As a huge fan of the show, this panel made me even more excited for the upcoming season. We have so much to look forward to: character growth, new mythology, higher stakes, and, of course, shirtless men.

In addition to our panel recap, we also participated in roundtable interviews with Posey, O’Brien, and Davis. Check back at Collider soon for more.

Click here for all our WonderCon coverage.