Why Legacies Was Cancelled And Hopes For A Season Five And Spinoff

Legacies finale spoilers ahead

It's official: supernatural series Legacies has come to the end of the road. After four seasons on the air, The Vampire Diaries and The Originals spin-off has been cancelled.

The show starred Danielle Rose Russell as Hope Mikaelson; a 17-year-old boarding school student descended from the most powerful vampire, witch and werewolf bloodline.

Now the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted has shut its doors for good, with the last episode of the teen drama airing last night (June 16th).

CW announced the cancellation of its show in May 2022, and fans all but lost their minds, using Twitter as that therapeutic, safe space to voice their upset.

"For the people who decided to cancel legacies and to take away from me the only thing that makes me happy. I hope you get attached to a show and it gets cancelled. #SaveLegacies." Savage

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Another user tweeted:

"I'm not gonna lie and say Legacies is the best show ever but I don't think it deserved to be cancelled."

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One fan vowed to stick with the show until the final moments with admirable dedication:

"Literally cancelled all my plans tonight to watch the finale of #Legacies. This is more important."

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We feel your pain and share your need for answers.

Why was the beloved show cancelled, and is this the end for The Vampire Diaries universe, or is there hope for a spin-off? Here's what we know.

Why was Legacies cancelled?

Fans weren't the only people who were heartbroken about the loss of Legacies. It seems its creative team also weren't ready to let go.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, the show's executive producer and co-creator Julie Plec shared her emotions upon hearing the news stating:

"What I felt in the moment was concern for the hundreds and hundreds of people who'd just lost their jobs across three of my shows," explained Plec.

"We did 331 episodes of television, and a lot of people that worked on season one of Vampire Diaries worked on season four of Legacies.

"There was such a beautiful family that we were able to build in Atlanta across these three shows. To think that that's just gone now is sad."

The sad news didn't come as much of a shock, though, with Plec suspecting the show wouldn't be renewed.

Russell told The Observer that the producer met with them during the finale's shooting.

"[She] came back into town for a little while and made it a point that we all did say goodbye [in case the show wasn't renewed]—and I really appreciate that, because obviously, it wasn't.

"I cleaned out my dressing room and everything, so I think we had a pretty good sense by then that it was not gonna happen. It certainly didn't feel like the ending I wanted it to be. We didn't get a definitive goodbye. But you don't always get that luxury."

Rumours have been circulating linking the show's untimely demise to the CW's projected sale, which has had a knock-on effect on other big shows which have also faced cancellation (as reported by The Express).

Among those to have been given the chop by CW is the controversial Charmed reboot. The witchy drama went out with a bang, though its divisive ending gave viewers (and writers) much to talk about.

Also on the culling list are Dynasty, DC's Legends of Tomorrow, Roswell, New Mexico, 4400 and Batwoman.

Legacies season 5: What could have happened if the show had been renewed?

The finale saw the show's titular character Hope, finally, reach a settled place. The emotional return of her father, Klaus (Joseph Morgan), helped her make peace over his death, and she was poised to step into a mentoring role at Salvatore.

In an interview with TV Insider, the actress agreed that this is the first time her character has seemed so hopeful.

"I do think that this is the first time you see Hope in a really good place and where she has accepted everything that's happened in her life, and she's excited for what's to come.

"This is the first time we really see her at such peace and it felt that way when I was filming the finale."

That peace is marred by a little sadness as her relationship with Aria Shahghasemi's Landon ended on a sombre note, thanks to him being stuck in limbo.

Had the show continued, Russell suggests that this may not have been the end for them both.

Speaking of their future, she said:

"I think there would definitely be an option for them to be together at some point. I think the show has been so much about Hope and Landon that they would always sort of be destined to be together, sort of supernaturally.

"Aria and I came up with a couple of ideas as to actually how that could happen. It does make sense to me that they would find their way back to one another. But who's to say that, at this point in their lives, they wouldn't explore and experience new people and new experiences and see where that led them."

Klaus's reappearance wasn't the only surprise cameo for the finale. Candice King returned to the role of Caroline for the finale, replacing Alaric (Matthew Davis) as the school's new interim headmistress.

Something tells us that, if given half the chance (*ahem, that chance being a season five), Caroline would have really enjoyed her new position.

Plec admitted that she was mostly satisfied with how everyone's story played out (via EW); however, the creator also revealed that she's still hung up about Ben [Zane Phillips] and Jed [Ben Levin].

"That was so new this year and it was so good. They were just getting started and now the story's over. That's one of the heartbreaks," Plec says. "They were just warming up."

If the show were to continue, we suspect that Ben and Jed's romance would have definitely seen some trials and tribulations (come on, it's Legacies), but something tells us the two would have some staying power.

Will there be a Legacies spin-off or movie?

It's good news for you bloodsucker, werewolf-lover, supernatural addicts. Plec seems wholly committed to bringing back the franchise in another form.

In the same interview with EW, Plec said with confidence:

"There will be another one.

"We're a little sad, we're going to take a beat, but yeah, there's more ideas. There's more to do."

As she explains it, the idea for this new iteration has been germinating for quite some time.

"We had a plan to keep the franchise on the air until the next instalment, which exists in our brains, but not on the page yet," Plec said.

When The Originals ended, Russell jumped aboard Legacies to reprise her role as Hope.

It's possible she could make the same move again, which would make a Landon reunion in the possible future.

Let's keep hope alive (pun totally intended).

Legacies airs on The CW in the US.

Warner Bros/The CW The Vampire Diaries: The Complete Series [DVD] [2017]

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Warner Bros/The CW The Originals: Season 1-5 [DVD] [2018]

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£11 at AmazonJanet A Leigh

TV writer, Digital Spy Janet completed her Masters degree in Magazine Journalism in 2013 and has continued to grow professionally within the industry ever since. For six years she honed her analytical reviewing skills at the Good Housekeeping institute eventually becoming Acting Head of Food testing. She also freelanced in the field of film and TV journalism from 2013-2020, when she interviewed A-List stars such as Samuel L Jackson, Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson. In 2021 she joined Digital Spy as TV writer where she gets to delve into more of what she loves, watching copious amounts of telly all in the name of work. Since taking on the role she has conducted red carpet interviews with the cast of Bridgerton, covered the BAFTAs and been interviewed by BBC Radio and London Live. In her spare time she also moonlights as a published author, the book Gothic Angel.