The CW’s era of teenage vampires has come to an end. In a shocking move, the network canceled Legacies after four seasons.
The Vampire Diaries, based on the young adult books by bestselling author LJ Smith, premiered in 2009 and ran for eight seasons, becoming The CW’s most popular show until before Riverdale’s acquisition in 2017. The series , developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, focused on Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), a teenager caught in a love triangle with a 162-year-old vampire named Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) and his brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder). The show’s first spin-off, The Originals, debuted in 2013 and ran concurrently with The Vampire Diaries, which starred various actors from the main show.
Legacies, a second spin-off starring Danielle Rose Russell’s character on The Originals, was ordered to series in 2018. The show primarily took place at the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted, a school for teenage ghosts, witches, werewolves , etc. by human and former vampire hunter Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis), a choice we’re still a bit confused about.
Before its next sale, The CW canceled seven shows, including Legacies Roswell: New Mexico, both of which were produced by Plec. Fans have rightly been mourning, as the cancellation of the franchise’s third spinoff (including The Originals: Awakening web series) means its 13-year run on the network has officially come to an end.
Plec’s next project is to adapt Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy books into an original series for Peacock. Paul Wesley has been cast as James T. Kirk in Star Trek: Strange New Worlds at Paramount Plus.
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