The Teen Wolf Movie Makes The Nogitsune’s Mythology Even More Confusing
The Nogitsune was an intimidating villain from Teen Wolf season 2, but the creature’s return in the movie undercuts the established mythology.
Warning! SPOILERS for Teen Wolf: The Movie!
While the Nogitsune made a good villain for Teen Wolf: The Movie, its addition made the creature’s mythology all the more confusing. Throughout its six-season run, Teen Wolf included many shapeshifters from folklore. However, when incorporating so much variety in one show, it’s important to foreshadow changes or avoid contradicting pre-established elements, lest the world lore becomes so confusing as to break the story’s immersion. This holds true for films such as The Wolf: The Movie, where changes in continuity long after the original show’s end can cause problems for the franchise’s viewership.
Teen Wolf: The Movie takes place several years after the events of Teen Wolf, following Scott McCall (Tyler Posey) and his pack as they face off against a Nogitsune, or a Void Kitsune. These creatures were first introduced in Teen Wolf season 3, and are Teen Wolf‘s fox shapeshifters that feed on chaos, strife, and pain. However, Scott and his friends defeated the corrupted shapeshifter by weakening it with a werewolf bite from Scott, thus allowing Kira (Arden Cho) the kill the Nogitsune.
The Teen Wolf Movie Added A Confusing Twist To The Nogitsune’s S3 Werewolf Bite
However, while the Nogitsune’s defeat in Teen Wolf seems relatively straightforward, its return in Teen Wolf: The Movie complicates the creature’s original lore. In the McCall pack’s final confrontation with the Nogitsune, it thanks Scott for his “gift” before transforming into a Nogitsune-Werewolf hybrid. This is an interesting twist that made for an engaging climactic battle, but also fully contradicts information set up in Teen Wolf season 3, when Stiles (Dylan O’Brien) said that a Nogitsune could not exist in the same body as a werewolf, both aligning with the two kinds of shapeshifters typically not getting along and with Scott’s bite allowing them to beat the monster later that season.
It is possible that such an old and powerful Nogitsune as the one featured in Teen Wolf could have evolved beyond its typical abilities during the years between the show and Teen Wolf: The Movie. However, its transformation into a hybrid creature is still a narrative surprise and saps some of the triumphs from Teen Wolf season 3. If the Nogitsune had instead developed a resistance to a werewolf bite during the intervening years when it was last defeated, it would have made more sense with the show’s overall lore than having the creature fully assimilate a wound from so long ago.
Why The Nogitsune’s Mythology Is So Confusing
The Nogitsune’s villain adaptation in Teen Wolf: The Movie into a werewolf hybrid is a large change from its established mythology, but it’s not the only edit the production made to the monster. Aside from the werewolf hybrid twist, the Nogitsune in the movie took the form of the firefly, even though it could specifically become a housefly in the show. All of these changes, both large and small, add to the confusion surrounding what should be an intimidating monster. With Teen Wolf: The Movie breaking previously-established rules for this monster, it makes the creature feel more like a plot convenience instead of a real challenge for the McCall pack to face.
