Since we’re all excited for the newly announced Teen Wolf movie, it seems like the perfect time to take a look at all 6 seasons of Teen Wolf and see where they rank against each other. There may be a consensus about one or two of these, but there’s always room for debate. And no, we won’t be dividing Season 3 into 3a and 3b. It was all Season 3, so we’ll be considering both parts of the season when making our rankings. So, read on to see how that may have affected where a couple of these seasons ended up in our rankings. For those who haven’t watched (you should really get on that), Teen Wolf tells the story of Scott McCall (Tyler Posey), a teenager who unexpectedly gets bitten by a werewolf, turning his life upside down, but, maybe, putting him on a path to fulfilling his greatest potential.
Okay, with no further ado, here are our rankings of all the Teen Wolf seasons.
6. Season 4
Last, and least favorite, is Teen Wolf Season 4. Sadly, this season suffers from a terrible resolution. The build-up to the reveal of the Benefactor is compelling, and getting to know some of the former supporting cast better, like Deputy Parrish (Ryan Kelley), is great stuff, but the season stumbles when it comes to the big reveal. That’s not to say there isn’t plenty to love. We specifically called it our least favorite because, if it’s Teen Wolf, even the worst seasons are plenty worth a watch. And there is a lot of good stuff in the episodes building up to the grand reveal. Especially watching our favorite pack realize just how much they are worth to the Benefactor. And if memory serves, we also learn just how terrible Scott is at picking computer passwords (wink wink). In addition to the Benefactor storyline leaving a little something to be desired, the were-jaguar also wasn’t Teen Wolf’s finest hour. But at least it was all in one season, leaving us five more to be absolutely wonderful.
5. Season 5
While things only go upward from the lows of Season 4, Teen Wolf Season 5 has its share of issues, too. The Dread Doctors are an atmospheric and effectively scary baddie, but the explanation of their power and the implementation of their experiments to the overall storyline lacks a bit. Diving back into a little more Nemeton lore was a good time though, especially since the last time we were involved with that supernaturally superpowered tree stump, ice baths were involved. Ultimately, Season 5 is more interesting than the human hunters of Season 4, but not quite as immersive an experience as the seasons that rank a little higher. Speaking of which...
4. Season 6
Rounding out the bottom of our list is Teen Wolf Season 6. It’s only this low because the first half of the season requires our pack to forget one of its founding members, Stiles Stilinski. While it made total sense due to Dylan O’Brien’s blossoming career, it did leave something to be desired, especially for the show’s final season. The Wild Hunts’s ghost riders were intimidating villains though, and lots of fun to watch on screen. And Roscoe played an integral role in bringing Stiles and all the memories associated with him back to reality, which was an awesome bonus for all us Roscoe fans. It did bring an end to the show in outrageous style, though, and it was a mostly satisfying ending too. Series finales are no easy feat, but Teen Wolf did a great job of wrapping things up and leaving a couple of things unspoken to keep the mystery alive. Because Teen Wolf was always at its best when the fans were speculating endlessly.
3. Season 1
Let’s start talking about the top 3, shall we? In the third-place spot, we have Season 1. It’s the foundation of the whole series and does a great job of establishing baseline relationship dynamics for everyone. We first meet our protagonist and his best friend, both of whom we will go on to love and care about for six whole seasons. We meet Lydia (Holland Roden), who is afraid to show how smart she is. Also Jackson (Colton Haynes), the spoiled, entitled golden boy who thinks everything revolves around him, as well as Allison, (Crystal Reed) and Derek (Tyler Hoechlin), and all the parents and advisors that help make Beacon Hills their little hamlet. This season also contains a lot of the most iconic images from the show. Think Stiles hanging upside down from Scott’s porch, Scott transforming as Allison looks on in horror for the first time, as well as all those unnecessary flips and rolls from Derek.
Teen Wolf Season 1 did a great job of setting the show on a winning trajectory. Those final episodes, even with some questionable CGI here and there, were compelling as hell to watch unfold and made us all wish we lived in a town like Beacon Hills so we could join the pack.
2. Season 2
Fittingly enough, Season 2 gets our second ranking because it’s pretty well-produced from start to finish. It has a compelling mystery that lasts for a good portion of the season. Even after the initial mystery of ‘Who is the kanama?” is resolved, though, there are still a number of answers that need to be found and worked out before the finale arrives. This is the season where Jackson stops being the superficial antagonist and starts interfering in the supernatural of it all. It's also where we start to question Lydia’s role in all of this, and we start to get inklings of her supernatural heritage. Then there’s all the growth Scott and Stiles show too. Even with Derek building a new pack and turning some classmates, this season is a fantastic example of how the show took the firm foundation of Season 1 and built another layer into the mythology and lore, making the world that much more interesting a place to visit every week.
1. Season 3
And our favorite, best, and most incredibly memorable season is Season 3. Pretty much anyone that considers themself a Teen Wolf fan will agree that this season is pretty remarkable. The storyline got incredibly dark, not just for Stiles and Scott, but for everyone. And we got to see Dylan O’Brien really explore his range in ways we hadn’t seen him do before. Stiles was the goofy, smart bestie that was always there for Scott, but watching him degrade throughout season 3, and finally seeing him in the Void Stiles form was something you never forget. Season 3 is also the season of the alpha pack, ushering in a number of supremely powerful werewolves who are all trying to get Scott to join them. In addition to some epic battle scenes and hilarious school drama, Teen Wolf Season 3 also has one of the most iconic and poignant moments in the series’ history. In Season 3, Episode 6, under the influence of an extremely creepy hotel, Scott and Stiles have a showdown involving a puddle of gasoline and a swiftly burning road flare.
We also met Kira (Arden Cho) and her parents, ushering in a slew of new mythological creatures and challenges for Scott’s pack, so season 3 was chock full of incredible plots and twists. It’s easy to place this one at the top of the list because it is bursting at the seams with great storylines and character moments.
All six seasons of Teen Wolf are available to stream on Hulu.