Board Thread:False Info and Speculative Discussion/@comment-26828324-20150730184926/@comment-4295751-20150730193717

I love a planned writing when it makes itself realized. In 3x23, Scott said "a few weeks ago we saved Malia, she was a total stranger. This is Lydia". So if you ask me, part of the reason Malia was created is to make that line make sense. But then the actress they got for the role was so great (and available) that they decided to expand her role, so in the middle of the season Peter got obsessed with some memory locked inside Talia's nails and they (writers) made Malia Peter's daughter, preparing her role for the next season.

It's why Malia did not feel like a replacement to me. She was more like a character created for a small purpose, but then growed on writers and audience. As for her being Stiles' love interest, that's kind of random because there was no background for their attraction or whatever, and Stiles never had a reciprocated love until then, so they went for it.

So yeah, I think Malia is a character on her own. Not a replacement :)