If you thought Tuesday’s Teen Wolf felt more like a series finale than a midseason ender, there’s a good reason for that.

“We definitely wanted to close the book on the high school chapter of their lives,” executive producer Jeff Davis tells TVLine. “This season was really about honoring the character of Stiles. We knew we wouldn’t have Dylan O’Brien full-time, and then we had him even less once his accident happened. So there was a bit of behind-the-scenes trickery there. I love when a season feels like it’s told a full story, a complete story. Every season finale has felt like a series finale to me.”

Before we continue picking apart the episode, here’s a quick recap of the main events (in addition to the defeat of Mr. Douglas and the Ghost Riders): Stiles returned to the land of the living, where he reunited with (and kissed!) Lydia; Argent and Melissa shared a kiss of their own; Malia and Peter had their first real heart-to-heart moment as father and daughter; Stilinski and Lydia teamed up to send Claudia back to… wherever the hell she came from; and the senior pack members celebrated the end of high school. (Stiles is off to a pre-FBI program at George Washington University, while Lydia is heading to MIT — as a junior! — and Scott is attending UC Davis.)

Unfortunately, Davis can’t say how Stiles and Lydia’s (long-overdue) kiss will affect the pair moving forward, nor can he confirm the amount of Dylan O’Brien we’ll actually see in the final 10 episodes. Instead, he offers up this Cheshire Cat-like musing on the couple’s finale moment: “It all has to do with friendship and romance, where someone finally says ‘I love you’ after it’s been boiling up inside for years.”

Speaking of what’s coming up, Davis says Season 6B jumps ahead “a few months” and will explore what it means to be an outsider.

“It’s something new, but also old,” he explains. “Scott and his supernatural friends become pariahs once again. They’re feared and hunted. It’s very much a season of fear. Our inspiration was H.P. Lovecraft, so you’re going to be seeing a lot of dark horror in the next season. We have some really disgusting stuff coming up.”

There’s also an interesting future in store for the show’s newest — and my personal favorite — pairing, Argent and Melissa.

“We’d been flirting with the idea of Stilinski and Melissa,” Davis says, “but one of our rules in the writers’ room is to go the unexpected route — and putting her with Argent felt unexpected. Then it started to feel natural. Like, they’re really good together. I was like, ‘Are we doing this? It’s the last season. Let’s do it.’ In 6B, things are going to get ever more awkward. We love awkward romances, inspired by my own life.”

We’ll have even more Teen Wolf 6B scoop for you in the morning. For now, grade the finale below and drop a comment with your full review.

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