Let’s be real for a second. When The Vampire Diaries first aired on The CW back in 2009, nobody actually expected it to become a decade-spanning franchise that would outlast the network’s own identity. It looked like just another Twilight clone. Then things got weird, bloody, and surprisingly complex.
Suddenly, we weren't just watching a high school love triangle. We were watching a sprawling epic about family trauma and 1,000-year-old grudges. This naturally led to the first spin off the vampire diaries, a show called The Originals. If you ask most hardcore fans, they’ll tell you it actually surpassed the flagship show in quality. But then came Legacies, and things got… polarizing.
The story of these spin-offs isn't just about vampires biting people. It’s about how Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson managed to build a "TVD Universe" (TVDU) that survived cast departures, massive lore shifts, and a changing television landscape. It’s a messy, fascinating history.
Why The Originals Scaled New Heights
When Klaus Mikaelson first showed up in Mystic Falls, he was a villain. A terrifying one. Joseph Morgan brought this Shakespearean energy to a show that was mostly about teen angst. It was a risk to move him and his siblings to New Orleans for their own show, but it paid off because it changed the genre.
The Originals wasn't a teen drama. It was a gothic political thriller.
Instead of worrying about prom or who was dating whom, the Mikaelsons were fighting for control of the French Quarter. They were dealing with "The Hollow," internal coups, and the sheer burden of immortality. You had Elijah’s obsessive need for family "Always and Forever" clashing with Klaus’s unchecked paranoia. It felt adult. It felt heavy. Honestly, the stakes often felt much higher than anything happening back in Virginia.
🔗 Read more: Jack Blocker American Idol Journey: What Most People Get Wrong
The show ran for five seasons, and while it stayed true to the lore established in the parent series, it expanded the magic system. We saw ancestral witchcraft, which was way more brutal than the "Gramms taught me a spell" vibe of early TVD. It also introduced Hope Mikaelson—the "Tribrid"—who became the bridge to the next chapter.
The Legacies Experiment: What Happened?
If The Originals was the dark, brooding sibling, Legacies was the quirky cousin who watched too much Harry Potter. This second spin off the vampire diaries took place at the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted. It was meant to be a fresh start.
The tone shifted. Hard.
We went from ancient blood feuds to a "Monster of the Week" format. One episode you'd have a dragon; the next, a dryad or a Krampus. For many fans who grew up with the grit of Damon Salvatore or the intensity of Marcel Gerard, this felt like a betrayal of the brand. It was "TVD-lite."
But here’s the thing people miss: Legacies was trying to capture a new generation. It leaned into the camp. It gave us the twins, Josie and Lizzie Saltzman, who provided some of the most emotional beats in the later seasons by grappling with "The Merge." Even so, the show struggled to find its footing, eventually getting canceled after four seasons amidst the Nexstar takeover of The CW.
💡 You might also like: Why American Beauty by the Grateful Dead is Still the Gold Standard of Americana
The Mystery of the Fourth Series
Is the TVDU dead? Not if you listen to Julie Plec.
There has been constant chatter about another spin off the vampire diaries. For a while, rumors swirled about a series focused on the Bennett bloodline or perhaps a "reboot" that returns to the roots of the books by L.J. Smith.
Plec has gone on record saying there’s "more story to tell" and that she and her team have a specific idea in mind. However, with the current state of streaming and the 2023 strikes having shifted production schedules across Hollywood, we are in a waiting game. The demand is clearly there. Netflix data consistently shows that The Vampire Diaries remains one of the most-watched legacy programs globally, even years after it ended.
The Lore Mistakes You Probably Missed
The writers weren't perfect. When you have three shows running in the same universe, the "rules" of magic start to get a bit bendy.
For instance, the "Other Side" was a massive plot point in the original show. It was a purgatory for supernatural beings. When it collapsed, it was supposed to be a permanent, universe-shaking event. Yet, in the spin-offs, we constantly saw characters communicating with the dead or finding loopholes that made death feel like a revolving door.
📖 Related: Why October London Make Me Wanna Is the Soul Revival We Actually Needed
Then there's the "Original Vampire" power scaling. In The Vampire Diaries, an Original was an unkillable god. In The Originals, they sometimes got knocked out by Relatively Young Vampires™ because the plot demanded it. It’s these little inconsistencies that keep Reddit threads alive at 3 AM.
How to Watch the Franchise the Right Way
If you’re diving in now, don't just watch them in order of release. That’s a mistake. You’ll get spoilers for things that haven't happened yet in the timeline.
The timeline is actually pretty tight. The Originals begins around the time Season 5 of The Vampire Diaries starts. If you want the full experience, you have to do the "overlap watch." You see the Mikaelsons leave Mystic Falls, and you follow their journey in New Orleans simultaneously with Elena and Stefan’s final years.
- TVD Seasons 1–4: Pure setup.
- TVD Season 5 / The Originals Season 1: Watch these back-to-back.
- The Conclusion of TVD: Finish the main story before finishing The Originals.
- Legacies: Save this for last. It takes place years after the series finale of The Originals.
Actionable Insights for Fans and Collectors
The TVDU isn't just a set of shows; it’s a lifestyle brand at this point. If you’re looking to engage with the world of the spin off the vampire diaries today, here is what you actually need to do:
- Visit Covington, Georgia: This is the real-world Mystic Falls. You can take the "Mystic Falls Tours" and see the Clock Tower and the Lockwood Mansion. It’s remarkably well-preserved.
- Track the Creator’s New Projects: Julie Plec is currently under a deal with Universal Television. If you want to see where the "DNA" of the TVDU is heading, keep an eye on her upcoming supernatural adaptations.
- Audit the Books: If you only watched the show, go back to the L.J. Smith novels. They are vastly different—Elena is a blonde "mean girl" in the books—and it gives you a whole new perspective on the source material.
- Check the Conventions: "Creation Entertainment" still hosts Vampire Diaries and Originals conventions. Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley are frequently there promoting their "Brother’s Bond" Bourbon, which is a nice meta-nod to the show.
The franchise proved that you could take a simple romance and turn it into a generational mythology. Whether we get a fourth show or not, the impact of Klaus, Elijah, and the Salvatore legacy on pop culture is pretty much permanent. You can't just kill an Original, and apparently, you can't kill this franchise either.