Eli Hale is the son of Derek Hale.

As a child, Eli was sees Derek shift in order to protect him from coyotes invading their home and was traumatized by Derek's appearance, thus he is reluctant to learn how to or embrace his family's gift.

In 2026, he is 15 years old, plays lacrosse for Beacon Hills High School, and occasionally has trouble with the law every time he steals Stiles' jeep. Eli is injured during a game and not healing due to his powers not manifesting. Soon Allison Argent chases after him and is rescued by Scott McCall who forces him to shift for the first time.

After the Nogitsune captures his dad, he joins the fight and can now shift on his own. Derek, seeing Eli embrace his werewolf side, is proud of his son and decides to sacrifice himself in order to defeat the Nogitsune and keep Eli safe. Before Derek sacrifices himself, he instructs Scott to take Eli into his pack in his stead.

At Derek's funeral, Eli turns away from Scott's speech to leave the room but Sheriff Stilinski pauses him to talk in a hallway and passes down Stiles' Jeep to Eli. Eli says his dad hated the Jeep. Sheriff Stilinski relates how Derek took the Jeep after Stiles left it behind, fixed it up, and could never figure out why the Jeep kept running after it had been through so much. What Derek may not have realized is that that is exactly how they felt about Derek himself - no matter what Derek went through, he always kept standing up to protect the people he loved. Sheriff Stilinski finishes by gently correcting Eli that Derek had "complicated feelings" about the Jeep (implied to encompass feelings towards Stiles as well) but that it didn't need to be that way for Eli, he only needs to keep it running. Eli drives away in the Jeep and is later seen overlooking Beacon Hills with his eyes glowing yellow.