Board Thread:False Info and Speculative Discussion/@comment-32859958-20160427180330/@comment-32859958-20160427223714

Killer kev wrote: In no way has Liam taken Derek's place. He was given slightly more screen time in S5 but as Scott's Beta, he had an automatic place in the show, just like Hayden does now. With or without Derek. Liam would've gotten his time. It doesn't make much difference to us, because bae was getting storylines in season four and five, but to show-runners your status on the cast makes EVERY difference. Derek left the main-cast, and Liam was promoted instead, so he kind of did replace him.

But yeah, I'm not saying it didn't leave more time for new characters. Like Mason was sure more than the extra to Liam he was in Season 4. He even had his own extra ;)