The CW’s ‘Legacies’: Everything We Know About ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Spinoff

If you love vampires almost as much as you love high school dramas, then The CW has a show for you. At the Television Critics Association‘s 2018 summer tour, show creator Julie Plec and stars Danielle Rose Russell and Matt Davis spilled the beans on their upcoming fantasy-drama Legacies.

Set in what Plec affectionately referred to as the TVDU (The Vampire Diaries universe), Legacies takes place after the events of both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. Instead of focusing on another teen romance or ambitious, vampy origin story, Legacies focuses on the future and a group of teenagers stumbling through their powers. In a world filled with vampires, witches, werewolves, and so many other supernatural creatures, only one thing remains true: high school is hard. Here’s everything we learned about the new vampire drama prior to its premiere this October.

It’s about a supernatural high school

At the end of The Vampire Diaries, Alaric Saltzman (Matt Davis) decided to open a boarding school for his two twin daughters. That school is called The Salvatore School, and it’s designed to help young witches, vampires, werewolves, and other young mystical creatures control their powers. Cut to four years into The Originals, and The Salvatore School saw another unlikely recruit — Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell), the daughter of the worst vampire of all time Klaus Mikaelson.

“This show is basically about that school and the kids that live inside those walls,” creator Julie Plec said.

So how exactly does a supernatural school work in the middle of normal and boring Mystic Falls? The school is on the edge of the town, and everyone thinks it’s actually a school for troubled rich kids. However, it’s actually a safe space for supernatural beings to learn and explore their powers. The series will largely follow Hope as she discovers herself, embraces this new world, and fights monsters of the week. But if you were hoping for a sassy high school drama but with witches and vampires, Legacies has that too.

Plec revealed during the panel that even though The Salvatore School students aren’t supposed to fraternize with the Mystic Falls High students, there will be a rivalry between the two schools. That comes to a head in Episode 2 when the schools have to play each other in a flag football game for charity. The Salvatore School kids’ only job is to lose the match, but the Mystic Falls kids’ bullying may make that simple request harder than it needs to be.

You don’t have to watch The Vampire Diaries or The Originals to understand Legacies

Though there will be nods to both series, like the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant or Founder’s Day, Legacies is intentionally designed to watch as a stand-alone show. Instead of focusing on the origins and mythology of vampires like The Originals, it’s all about a new generation. So as long as you think witches are cool and love teen drama, you’re set.

There will be monsters of the week

Perhaps the coolest aspect of Legacies has to do with its monsters. For the first time in the history of The Vampire Diaries universe, the series will be embracing the “monster-of-the-week” format. These monsters won’t appear every week, but they do exist and were created through a combination of CGI and old-school special effects prosthetics. But that’s not the only thing our heroes have to worry about.

“There is definitely an overall big bad that we slowly hint at,” Plec said.

Characters from other shows will be making appearances

We may be out of Mystic Falls High, but we’re not out of Mystic Falls. So far the only confirmed characters from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals are Matt Donovan (Zach Roerig) and Jeremy Gilbert (Steven R. McQueen). Matt will still be the town sheriff who preaches the truth though he comes off as a conspiracy theorist. Jeremy will be appearing in an upcoming episode.

Unfortunately Kat Graham, the actress behind Bonnie Bennett, has passed on the series for now. It’s also unclear if or when Candice King, the actress behind Caroline Forbes, will be returning. Caroline was instrumental in creating The Salvatore School, and she’s the mother of Alaric’s two children (it’s complicated).

“[Her children] believe she’s off on recruiting missions, and Alaric knows that she’s actually off doing other things that have to do with the longterm survival of their daughters,” Plec said. The mystery of where Caroline is will be a driving questions throughout the series.

“Then we’ve got what I call the open door policy, which is every now and then, I’ll reach out to one of these guys,” the creator said of the rest of the cast.

There are going to be new characters

Get excited Galavant fans. In August it was announced that Karen David would have a season-long arc in Legacies this year. The musically-inclined actress will be playing Emma Tig, a witch who’s now a guidance counselor. Emma acts as the emotional support center for the Salvatore School, and considering that the school caters to angsty teens with supernatural powers, she’s probably going to need a lot of tissues. However, the patient she’s most interested in is the mysterious Alaric.

Legacies is set up to go on for a while

Though Hope is the protagonist of Legacies‘ first season, Plec has bigger plans for the show. Because its a high school series, she plans on following different characters as her original protagonists grow older.

“So I think that the idea is, one, I’ve said out loud I want this show to run longer than Supernatural,” she joked before noting that Supernatural would have to end before that could happen.

Legacies premieres on The CW October 25, 2018.

Where to stream The Vampire Diaries 

Where to stream The Originals