If you’re a true Vampire Diaries fan, then you know that there’s another spin-off about to hit The CW now that The Originals wrapped up. Legacies, still being spearheaded by Julie Plec, is set to air on October 25 on The CW, had a trailer premiere at Comic-Con, and will have quite a few familiar faces popping up throughout the duration of the series.
If you’re chomping at the bit for Legacies’ season premiere, we’ve rounded up some of the most important information – and a few spoilers – you need to know before we all tune in this fall.
12. The plot
Legacies picks up with Klaus Mikaelson and Hayley Marshall‘s darling daughter attending the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted back in Mystic Falls. Hope Mikaelson is played by Danielle Rose Russell, who first appeared in The Originals on season five. Matt Davis, who played Alaric Saltzman on all seasons of TVD also takes a starring role, and Alaric’s twin daughters, Josie and Lily, will be main characters. The “Young and Gifted” students who attend the school consist of werewolves, vampires, witches, and other supernatural beings and they’re learning to resist their violent tendencies to be good. Well, some of them are. Of course, the townspeople can’t know what goes on at the Salvatore House, and the students must keep their identities on the DL when they leave the grounds.
11. There’s a trailer out!
As mentioned, at Comic-Con 2018, Legacies aired its first trailer about the next generation in The Vampire Diaries‘ universe. From the trailer alone, we get quite a few hints about what the show’s going to be about, some potential love connections, and how Mystic Falls has changed since we left it in the TVD series finale. It definitely gives us some serious flashbacks from the OG series, though, with the shots of Landon writing in his journal! Very Elena Gilbert season one, and we love it.
10. Many OG Cast Members Will Appear
During an interview with TVLine, Julie confirmed, “We’re integrating [classic characters] into these scripts, and when the scripts are done, we’ll call [the actors] and say, ‘Hey, do you want to come do this?’ … There are already three names from the two shows in the first five scripts that we reference, if not see.” While Paul Wesley will be back to direct an episode, sadly, he won’t star since his character died in TVD’s last episode. In the promo, we saw that Daniel Gillies’s Elijah will show up. But there’s even more good news! She also said at Comic-Con, “I would love to see any faces that we can see over the long course of the series, not as a way of being cute or gimmicky, but because they’re part of the universe.” She then revealed someone definitely coming back! Zach Roerig! “The first familiar face that we’re going to be seeing in the first episode is Sheriff Matt Donovan.” YES. Last we saw him, he was considering running for mayor one day. We wonder if we’ll see that come to fruition!
9. Don’t Expect to See Klaus on Legacies
During the Comic-Con panel, Julie accidentally implied that Joseph Morgan likely won’t make it past the series finale of The Originals, much to the fans’ displeasure. “It’s going to be entirely predicated on the ending of The Originals. Whether they end beautifully, terribly, whether she rejects them, whether he sacrifices something for her…” Yikes.
8. There’s a Role for Nina Dobrev If She Wants It
Julie said she’s got an “open door policy” with former cast members from Vampire Diaries and The Originals. If they want to come back, she’ll take ’em – happily! But one person who actually already has a role is Nina Dobrev. Elena Gilbert is living in Mystic Falls and runs a medical practice there, so she’ll at least be mentioned if Nina decides not to reprise her role. Sadly, Nina opted to leave TVD early, so it’s unlikely she wants to return to the universe. However, she did come back for the series finale… so anything is possible!
7. Caroline Forbes Has a Mysterious Storyline
When asked by TVLine if Candice King, who plays Caroline, should be expected on Legacies, Matt Davis didn’t miss a beat. “Definitely,” he said. Julie echoed him, “Absolutely. I would love to see her again and she knows that… She loves the character so much and she and I are good friends. My hope is eventually she will make her way to us for a visit. But in the meantime, she is very much referenced and alive in the world. And absent for mysterious reasons. Dot dot dot…“
6. The supernatural beings are ACTUALLY teenagers, not hundreds of years old looking like teens
It was always a bit creepy that there were a bunch of hundred-year-old people falling in love with minors on TVD, so people will be pleased to learn that the students attending the Salvatore School are actually 16 and 17 years old. Therefore, Hope’s hinted relationship with Landon just might be the least-creepy coupling we’ve seen in TVD universe.
5. Legacies Picks Up Two Years After The Originals Finale
So we know that the finale of The Originals will determine a lot about what we see on Legacies, but it’s also confirmed that there will be some things that happened between the two timelines that we never see. That’s because this third installment continues the universe two years after the second season wrapped. Who knows what could have happened during that time?
4. Hope will be a little different than you remember her
Those who watched The Originals will know that Hope hasn’t had an easy ride thus far. “On the last season of The Originals, Hope screamed and cried a lot,” Danielle Rose Russell pointed out. “It’s been really nice to see Hope have a little bit of normalcy. It’s been nice to infuse my own teenage experience in this role. In those two years, a lot has happened… she’s changed a lot, she’s matured a lot.”
3. Matt Davis Says It’s a “Trilogy,” Not a Spin-Off
This is, however, something Julie Plec doesn’t necessarily agree with. While the guy who plays Alaric Saltzman says that this is part three of TVD and implies it’ll be the last installment in this world, Julie thinks of it as “three of ten.” That looks to be the ONLY thing these two aren’t agreeing on, though. (And Julie probably has the final word, right?)
2. But You Don’t Need To Have Vampire Diaries/Originals Info to ‘Get it’
While the showrunners and writers will definitely be giving nudges to OG TVD fans and there will be characters popping up from past shows, the Legacies gang insists you don’t NEED to have watched the previous shows to enjoy this one. Julie told ShowbizJunkies, “There’s definitely going to be a lot of Easter eggs in Mystic Falls, specifically. Little hints and references to the past, past characters, past mythology and that kind of thing. We’re having a lot of fun with it. So, it’s like if you haven’t watched the show, you wouldn’t even notice what you’re doing. But if you have, you can kind of get a little bit of a wink and a nod out of it.”
1. Landon was first seen on The Originals
For those of you who only watched Vampire Diaires, or who missed one single episode of The Originals, you might not know that Landon has appeared in this universe before. During the season five episode, “The Tale of Two Wolves,” Landon was seen in the Mystic Grill… and seen dancing with Hope in the town square. Looks like their love story has been fated for a while!