Warning! This article contains SPOILERS for Teen Wolf: The Movie.Teen Wolf: The Movie ends with Derek Hale's death, which while perhaps unexpected and certainly heartbreaking, is necessary. While it was somewhat predictable that a character would die in Teen Wolf: The Movie, many viewers did not expect Derek to die out of all the characters. This perhaps has to do with the fact that he was around for most of the seasons of Teen Wolf and faced many of the villains that threatened Beacon Hills. In fact, it is the Hale family, arguably more than anybody else in Teen Wolf, that has the strongest and oldest connection to the supernatural world in Beacon Hills.
Therefore, Derek has always been a key character in Teen Wolf, always fighting alongside Scott's pack, even when he appeared to be his enemy in the first season of the show, as proven by the fact that he is willing to sacrifice himself at the end of the Teen Wolf movie and by his involvement in Teen Wolf: The Movie. As a character, Derek had gone through significant growth through the Teen Wolf show. In Teen Wolf: The Movie, Derek remained in Beacon Hills, unlike some of the other Teen Wolf characters like Lydia and Scott, who only return to the Californian city at the beginning of Teen Wolf: The Movie.
Derek's Arc Needed To Come To An End In The Teen Wolf Movie
As Teen Wolf: The Movie begins, Derek is now a grown man and a single father to his 15-year-old son, Eli. As such, this is already a testament to his growth in Teen Wolf: The Movie and having somewhat managed to heal from his past, outgrowing the person he was in Teen Wolf season 1, when he was struggling with survivor's guilt and grief due to the fire that caused the death of his entire family. After the time jump in the Teen Wolf: The Movie timeline, Derek overcoming his anger towards his traumatic past and his tendency not to get attached is a huge part of his character arc.
In fact, Derek's character arc is essentially completed at the end of Teen Wolf: The Movie, which is why his death was actually the perfect ending for the film. Similarly, while he is a key figure in Eli's life as his only parental figure, Eli is now in Scott's pack, thus terminating Derek's role in teaching him how to use his werewolf abilities. Therefore, to properly conclude his story, Derek needed to die, as tragic as that is for Derek and his friends and family in Teen Wolf: The Movie.
Why Derek's Teen Wolf Movie Fate Was Perfect
While Teen Wolf: The Movie leaves one big Derek mystery unanswered regarding Eli's mother, it concludes his plot line well. Though dying is not the ending many Teen Wolf viewers may have envisioned for Derek - who has always been a fan favorite - it was the perfect way for him to go, as seconds before his death, Derek finally turns into a True Alpha, in line with his plot focus on becoming an Alpha after the death of his family. While Derek did become leader of his own pack multiple times, the movie ending showed him obtaining the status in a more authentic way than getting it from displacing another leader.
Until Derek's death in Teen Wolf: The Movie, Scott was the only True Alpha. The True Alpha status allows a werewolf to become an Alpha without killing anybody or without inheriting the title of leader of the pack from anyone before them. Instead, a werewolf becomes a True Alpha by strength of character. While this is something that Scott has always been known for in Teen Wolf, that is not the case for Derek. The fact that he finally becomes a true Alpha speaks to his newfound empathy and character development, and was a fitting final note for his sacrifice in Teen Wolf: The Movie.