Gird Thine Loins, Your Long-Lost Teen Crush Dylan O’Brien Is Having His Saturn Return

Dylan O’Brien is undoubtedly having his moment after starring as a tiny-beanie-clad, lowkey gaslighty, ‘fictional’ ex-boyfriend of Taylor Swift in the ‘All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)’ music video.

And, as a longtime Dylan O’Brien stan (O’Brieny? Dyll-pickle? O’Brienator?) I have one thing to say: it’s about fkn time.

After a series of starts, stops, and viral masterpieces, my body and mind are ready for 2022 to be Dylan O’Brien (Taylor’s Version)’s year.


For the love of god, please give this man a cameo in a Marvel film.

For those unfamiliar with the work of Mr O’Brien, or if you’ve accidentally ended up on Dylan O’Brien thirst-trap-TikTok (one of the few sacred spaces on the internet), the first and most obvious point of reference is Teen Wolf.

In a media world surprisingly full of chaotic supernatural teen dramas, Teen Wolf stood out as particularly batshit. There were many inexplicably-muscled shirtless ‘teens’, CGI glowing eyes, and much growling of the words “I’m the alpha”,  foreshadowing the real-life dialogue of men’s rights activists in 2021.

The high point was undoubtedly O’Brien’s character Stiles Stilinski, famed for his buzzcut and wise-cracking, as well as a plotline in season three where he was possessed and consequently given messy hair. The character was dubbed ‘Void Stiles’ and thus, a thousand horny Tumblr gifsets and self-insert fanfics were born.

Teen Wolf was cancelled in 2017, though thankfully a reunion film has been confirmed, so get out your coloured contact lenses and start binge-watching now.

So, continuing our trip down Dylan O’Brien memory lane, we get to a VERY 2014 career move: star of dystopian YA franchise.

Catching the tailwind of the generically-bleak–futuristic-teen-dystopia hype, O’Brien was cast as the lead in the film adaptations of James Dashner’s The Maze Runner series.

However, during filming for the third film (The Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials) in 2016, he was traumatically injured in an accident on set.

“I really was in a dark place there for a while and it wasn’t an easy journey back,” he told Vulture in 2017.

“There was a time there when I didn’t know if I would ever do it again.”

As a result of the accident, he was hospitalised with brain trauma, a concussion, and a severe facial fracture. To get back in to the industry after such a traumatic experience is really fucking impressive, so a big shout-out to my man Dyl.

Otherwise, keen viewers have been able to catch him in a handful of films, including 2013’s longform Google ad slash Owen Wilson/Vince Vaughn comedy The Intern, 2017 action flick American Assassin, and as the voice of Bumblebee in 2018’s Transformer’s spin-off.

Late last year, he also starred in the surprisingly delightful but tragically under-hyped Netflix film Love and Monsters.

So, if ‘All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)’ was your first intro to Mr O’Brien and you’re craving more – even of the car-alien-hybrid Transformers variety – go forth and binge.

You also can’t forget his iconic lockdown remake of a scene from The Social Network with fellow actor Sarah Ramos, if you like your men glistening with sweat and tears.

Alternatively, you could keep watching the ‘All Too Well (Taylor’s Version)’ until your heart drops out of your bowels, or strategically make your way onto Dylan O’Brien thirst-trap-TikTok.

Welcome to the mult-Dyl-verse!

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