There’s a huge debate about whether or not the fan pairing of Sterek (Stiles Stilinski and Derek Hale) should become canon in the Teen Wolf universe, and we’ve brought you some major reasons why they should be, but also why they shouldn’t.

It’s Teen Wolf Takeover month on Hypable.com, and today’s article discusses the potential romance which is dividing the fandom. Read all of our TWT articles here and submit your own!

This article is written by Tariq Kyle, and is purely speculative for both sides of the debate. The opinions in this piece do not represent Hypable as a whole, and should be read with an open mind. This is meant to give an even argument for both sides of the Sterek controversy, and we ask that all commenters keep that in mind!

Thanks to jboogle on Tumblr for the fantastic fan art displayed above!

Why should Sterek become canon?

It’d bring more diversity to the show.

One of the greatest things about Teen Wolf is that they have a gay character, Danny, whose sole purpose on the show isn’t to be the gay guy; he’s not your stereotypical homosexual with over-the-top clothes, a lisp, and a high voice. He’s just a normal kid on the lacrosse team that happens to be gay, and that’s fantastic!

It would be even better, however, to add a character who’s struggling with their sexuality to the point where they try new things during the show’s run to discover themselves. Heck, let’s add two! Stiles and Derek would be fantastic characters to play around with.

It could be a great story arc for both characters.

We’ve already seen Stiles hint at being bisexual during the past two seasons when he asks Danny if he thinks he’s cute, and then again this past season when Danny offered to stop Stiles from being a virgin as a joke, and Stiles took him seriously. His character is definitely open-minded enough to go down the path of sexual self-discovery, and it’s in no way a far stretch from the current character arc.

Derek, on the other hand, is a different story. His character hasn’t shown too much interest in the same gender, but that can’t stop him from falling for Stiles at some point in the show! Stiles and Derek have already formed a sort of alliance, working together to keep their friends and family safe from the Alpha pack and Peter, so a Castle-styled romantic arc isn’t out of the question.

If you don’t watch Castle, the two main love interests in the show (Kate Beckett and Richard Castle) start off not liking each other in season 1, only to fall for each other and finally getting together in season 5. It was the ship we all hoped for, and something that Sterek can easily follow suit with.

The following is huge.

Let’s face it, if it weren’t for some shipper communities (Klaine, Swan Queen, etc.), the two characters we want to ship the most usually end up not interacting with each other in the show in any other way than what the show runner intended.

Swan Queen shippers have been able to get the show runners to write small nods to them in the show, with a connection happening between Regina and Emma rather than them staying complete archenemies. Klaine shippers can be proud with how loud they’ve been, because they’ve been heard by Ryan Murphy (the show runner for Glee) multiple times, and we’re sure some scenes were thought up because of how loud the fandom has been.

And we’ve gotten small nods to Sterek when Stiles had to save Derek from the drowning in season 2, and them laying on top of another without the ability to move (which probably excited every Sterek shipper in the world), so it’s not hard to imagine Jeff Davis writing more nods to the Sterek fan base and possibly making it canon.

Those are just some reasons we think Sterek should become canon. Continue on to the next page to see why we think they shouldn’t be.

Why should Sterek not become canon?

It’d be a total 180º change for Derek

Derek Hale has had sex with the late Kate Argent, as we’ve been told by Kate herself in season 1. We know he’s a big fan of the ladies, but the more stable reasoning behind the 180º turnaround would be his attitude towards Stiles.

Derek Hale does not love Stiles as it currently stands, and for him to turn from a presumably* straight character into a bisexual one with feelings towards a person he currently thinks is an idiot, that would be such a huge change that the show would need a decent amount of time (two more seasons at least) to make his feelings towards Stiles a remote possibility.

*We say presumably because despite no evidence leading Derek being anything other than a heterosexual, we know that character development can easily change this perception.

Derek has a female love interest this season

It’s already known that Jennifer Blake, the English teacher, is the targeted love interest for Derek this season. And unless she dies (which is a total possibility), fans will have to get through this season seeing him trying to woo her, not Stiles.

This brings us to the question: Does Derek’s sexuality have any canon flexibility, like Stiles’? Jeff Davis is well aware of the Sterek fan base, but the coupling of Stiles and Derek might be something of which he loves the idea and fan creativity, but not something he wants to make canon in his show. If Davis did have future plans for Sterek to become a reality, he likely would have given subtle hints about Derek’s struggling sexuality like he has for Stiles. Seeing as it’s three seasons in and we haven’t had a hint of Derek being remotely interested in anything but women, it’s hard to see Sterek happening any time soon, if at all.

Even if Ms. Blake is killed, Derek would still be in mourning over the death of yet another female figure in his life. Some may (and probably already do) argue that Derek could give up girls after Blake dies and then seek the attention of the only person he trusts who could possibly love him back, but even for MTV that’s a bit of a opaque plot.

There’s enough male homosexuality

Teen Wolf already has two gay male characters now – Danny and Ethan. With a romantic story arc already planned for them, having not only one additional gay male but two would make for almost too much male favoritism. Where are the long-running lesbians?!

While a lot of TV shows have an iconic gay or lesbian couple, the problem is that, normally, that’s all they ever have: one type of gay couple; shows tend to not diversify the LGBTQ community and only stick to having one gay couple, or one lesbian couple. Yes, we’ve had Emily and Caitlin on this season, but that lasted all of one episode, and having an actual main or recurring character on the show that is a lesbian would mean so much more than just having two and then killing one off for dramatic effect.

We’re not completely opposed to Sterek happening, but we’d rather have Jeff Davis diversify Hollywood by having a lesbian couple on the show rather than two gay couples, or even introducing a transexual character into the mix. Teen Wolf is already breaking barriers, so what’s the harm in breaking another?

Where do you stand?

We’ve given our arguments for both sides of the Sterek debate, and now it’s your turn! Do you think Sterek should or should not become a canon reality on Teen Wolf?

And don’t forget: We all have different opinions, so sometimes the best thing in a heated debate is to agree to disagree.