Exclusive

Teen Wolf: Tyler Hoechlin on Derek's New Mindset, "Big Brother" Status and Lack of Romance in Season 3B

Exclusive! We talked to the MTV hit's star about all things Derek Hale...and Game of Thrones?!

By Lauren Piester Jan 27, 2014 8:14 PMTags
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Expecting answers on Teen Wolf any time soon? Ha, no! What show do you think you're watching? 

E! News talked exclusively with star Tyler Hoechlin and he basically had one major thing to say: "It's a lot of questions." Yes, that's a pretty good summation of the show in general (Like, remember that time Stiles used his imagination to make more mountain ash? What? Why?), but Hoechlin was talking more specifically about Derek's mindset after losing his pack and alpha status. "What is my purpose? What am I supposed to be doing? And what is my role in life? I think that's really the most important thing," Hoechlin previewed.

When we last saw Derek on the MTV hit, he had just returned from a fingernail-fueled chat with his mother wolf at the nemeton (a great name for a new Teen Wolf-themed watering hole, by the way) and it did not look like she had anything particularly good to say. Hoechlin said we won't get all the answers right away, but he did tease a few of the "juicy" things he and Mama Hale might have talked about, particularly regarding one dead English teacher. "I'm sure she wasn't very approving of his choice," he said, referring to his doomed romance with the gruesome Darach. "Hopefully that talk gave him a little bit direction, and hopefully will kind of motivate him and what he does for the rest of the season."

As far as any future romances are concerned, Hoechlin is pretty sure Derek should be taking a break. "We'll have to see if the writers agree, but I think Derek has other things on his mind right now." However, if Derek Hale had a dating profile, it's pretty safe to assume he would attempt to filter out any other psychotic supernatural human sacrificers. "Someone who's never killed people would be a good start," he joked.

If any romance were to come along, Hoechlin hopes it's love of the fairy-tale variety. "I think it's going to have to be something that just comes along and just smacks you in the face and you're like, 'Oh wow, this is it; this is what it's supposed to be.' I think until that happens, it's going to be very interesting to see what motivates him to even think about moving forward in that area."

In terms of Derek's search for direction, Hoechlin elaborated a bit on Tyler Posey's tease that Derek would become sort of an older brother to Scott. "In seasons two and three, with [Derek] being the alpha, I think he really thought that was his calling and thought he was supposed to be the leader of the pack," he explained. "Now it really is Derek acknowledging that Scott is that alpha that he never could be. And I think Derek still has the wisdom, as far as being a werewolf goes, which is something that he could teach Scott. Together, they're always stronger, but they definitely see it more as the role of an older brother or an ally, as opposed to someone who's as codependent as they once were." 

Hoechlin also said that he easily relates Derek's struggles to his own life, revealing, "I spent my whole life growing up and playing baseball, and that was my first love and my first passion, and once that was over, you go through a period of adjustment of 'Well, what do I do now?' It's a really weird space to be in."

A "weird space" is certainly one way to describe losing your pack and alpha werewolf status after discovering that your girlfriend was a mass murderer and then having to hide your sister who is now the Queen of Scotland (PSA: go watch Reign, you guys!). But that's pretty much every day on Teen Wolf, and Hoechlin isn't often surprised by what he finds in the scripts. "You definitely get used to it in a weird way, but it's all kind of a nice part of feeling yourself fall into these characters and see what it's like to live in their world a little bit, where seeing some crazy monster beast is not out of the norm. It's like, 'Oh, well we did awaken this thing, so that's probably going to be happening a lot now.'" 

However, Hoechlin did almost tease a couple of upcoming scenes that did manage to completely shock him. "If I told you, I would be fired immediately," he said. "There are some very, very surprising, shocking things coming up this season that—and it's such a cliché—but that I really don't think anyone will see coming."

It could be that one of those scenes is even coming up in tonight's episode, if we're to read anything into Hoechlin's one-word description of the black light-centric outing. "Blindsided," he said, and didn't care to elaborate on whether the characters or the viewers were the ones being blindsided. We're guessing it's both. He did add, however, that "Illuminated" is "unlike any episode we've ever had." 

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Of course, we couldn't end an interview with Tyler Hoechlin without asking about Sterek (Stiles/Derek, if you're somehow unfamiliar), the best frenemy/BFF duo ever. Unfortunately, Hoechlin didn't have much to share in terms of whether there are any upcoming Sterek-heavy scenes. "They come sporadically and, you know, they're there and then they're gone. It's always something to look forward to." That sounds almost like a cagey "yes" to us, so we'll take it for now.

And finally, we asked Hoechlin what show he would crossover with Teen Wolf if he could, and he barely even thought about it. "Game of Thrones, in a second." He even hoped the werewolves would be local to King's Landing, to avoid the frigid temperatures of the North, which is a sentiment we're totally down with right now. (Stay warm, Midwest!)

Check out the extended trailer for tonight's episode, and perhaps keep an eye out for Wednesday's Spoiler Chat if you want a couple more tidbits from our interview with Hoechlin. 

Teen Wolf airs tonight at 10 p.m. on MTV.