diff --git a/doc/changes/devel/12655.newfeature.rst b/doc/changes/devel/12655.newfeature.rst
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..b2711d2f2ed
--- /dev/null
+++ b/doc/changes/devel/12655.newfeature.rst
@@ -0,0 +1,2 @@
+Added support for passing ``axes`` to :func:`mne.viz.plot_head_positions` when
+``mode='field'``, by `Eric Larson`_.
diff --git a/mne/viz/_3d.py b/mne/viz/_3d.py
index d2097b219fc..0d389645f3f 100644
--- a/mne/viz/_3d.py
+++ b/mne/viz/_3d.py
@@ -130,6 +130,7 @@ def plot_head_positions(
     mode="traces",
     cmap="viridis",
     direction="z",
+    *,
     show=True,
     destination=None,
     info=None,
@@ -169,9 +170,11 @@ def plot_head_positions(
 
         .. versionadded:: 0.16
     axes : array-like, shape (3, 2)
-        The matplotlib axes to use. Only used for ``mode == 'traces'``.
+        The matplotlib axes to use.
 
         .. versionadded:: 0.16
+        .. versionchanged:: 1.8
+           Added support for making use of this argument when ``mode="field"``.
 
     Returns
     -------
@@ -193,7 +196,9 @@ def plot_head_positions(
 
     if not isinstance(pos, (list, tuple)):
         pos = [pos]
+    pos = list(pos)  # make our own mutable copy
     for ii, p in enumerate(pos):
+        _validate_type(p, np.ndarray, f"pos[{ii}]")
         p = np.array(p, float)
         if p.ndim != 2 or p.shape[1] != 10:
             raise ValueError(
@@ -315,9 +320,15 @@ def plot_head_positions(
         from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d import Axes3D  # noqa: F401, analysis:ignore
         from mpl_toolkits.mplot3d.art3d import Line3DCollection
 
-        fig, ax = plt.subplots(
-            1, subplot_kw=dict(projection="3d"), layout="constrained"
-        )
+        _validate_type(axes, (Axes3D, None), "ax", extra="when mode='field'")
+        if axes is None:
+            _, ax = plt.subplots(
+                1, subplot_kw=dict(projection="3d"), layout="constrained"
+            )
+        else:
+            ax = axes
+        fig = ax.get_figure()
+        del axes
 
         # First plot the trajectory as a colormap:
         # http://matplotlib.org/examples/pylab_examples/multicolored_line.html
diff --git a/mne/viz/tests/test_3d.py b/mne/viz/tests/test_3d.py
index 5109becb645..584e70432c4 100644
--- a/mne/viz/tests/test_3d.py
+++ b/mne/viz/tests/test_3d.py
@@ -104,13 +104,20 @@ def test_plot_head_positions():
     pos = np.random.RandomState(0).randn(4, 10)
     pos[:, 0] = np.arange(len(pos))
     destination = (0.0, 0.0, 0.04)
-    with _record_warnings():  # old MPL will cause a warning
-        plot_head_positions(pos)
-        plot_head_positions(pos, mode="field", info=info, destination=destination)
-        plot_head_positions([pos, pos])  # list support
-        pytest.raises(ValueError, plot_head_positions, ["pos"])
-        pytest.raises(ValueError, plot_head_positions, pos[:, :9])
-    pytest.raises(ValueError, plot_head_positions, pos, "foo")
+    plot_head_positions(pos)
+    plot_head_positions(pos, mode="field", info=info, destination=destination)
+    plot_head_positions([pos, pos])  # list support
+    fig, ax = plt.subplots()
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError, match="instance of Axes3D"):
+        plot_head_positions(pos, mode="field", info=info, axes=ax)
+    fig, ax = plt.subplots(subplot_kw=dict(projection="3d"))
+    plot_head_positions(pos, mode="field", info=info, axes=ax)
+    with pytest.raises(TypeError, match="must be an instance of ndarray"):
+        plot_head_positions(["foo"])
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="must be dim"):
+        plot_head_positions(pos[:, :9])
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="Allowed values"):
+        plot_head_positions(pos, "foo")
     with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="shape"):
         plot_head_positions(pos, axes=1.0)
 
diff --git a/tools/install_pre_requirements.sh b/tools/install_pre_requirements.sh
index 2f532b73220..a5a11dba3e6 100755
--- a/tools/install_pre_requirements.sh
+++ b/tools/install_pre_requirements.sh
@@ -46,7 +46,7 @@ python -m pip install $STD_ARGS vtk
 python -c "import vtk"
 
 echo "PyVista"
-python -m pip install $STD_ARGS "git+https://github.com/adeak/pyvista.git@fix_numpy_2"  # pyvista/pyvista
+python -m pip install $STD_ARGS "git+https://github.com/pyvista/pyvista"
 
 echo "picard"
 python -m pip install $STD_ARGS git+https://github.com/pierreablin/picard