If you’re like us, then Teen Wolf season 5’s new villains are nightmare-inducing. And, unfortunately, they’re not going away any time soon.

E! Online spoke with Teen Wolf Executive Producer Jeff Davis about the Dread Doctors, those creepy steampunk-inspired villains our heroes will be going up against this year. Davis had some interesting tidbits to share about their origins and their future on the show.

The Dread Doctors were inspired by a few different baddies throughout history, including the Germans who experimented on humans during WWII and the Plague Doctors that existed during the Bubonic Plague. However, although they drew from these ideas, Teen Wolf created a mythology all their own.

“We call them scientists who worship the supernatural,” Davis says, “and they have a very specific agenda in Beacon Hills and they are going to get in Scott’s way quite a bit.”

Related: Teen Wolf season 5 premiere review (spoiler-free)

We’ve seen all manner of monsters on Teen Wolf, but it’s rare we get a truly human villain. The Dread Doctors make up for that, though, and this aspect makes them somehow scarier, as if they could really exist in our world.

Even creepier is that Director Russell Mulcahy says these villains will evolve, meaning they’ll be sticking around for Teen Wolf season 5B, too. He adds, “The real teaser, which won’t be revealed until next season, is what’s behind the mask.”

Though the Dread Doctors are human, we imagine there’s something a little supernatural going on under those masks as well. The way they’ve already been depicted, as steampunk creatures who don’t quite move like humans, added to the fact that it looks like they’re doing experiments in a dungeon lab somewhere in Beacon Hills, we’re sure they’ll find a way to go beyond what a normal human body is capable of.

Teen Wolf season 5, episode 1, “Creatures of the Night,” airs Monday, June 29, at 10 p.m. ET on MTV. Episode 2, “Parasomnia,” airs Tuesday, June 30, at 9 p.m.