Welcome back to Mystic Falls! Following its October 2018 debut, The CW’s Legacies was hailed as a The Vampire Diaries and The Originals spinoff for the next generation, while set at the fictitious Salvatore School run by TVD’s Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis).
While the original students and townies have long grown up, the Julie Plec-helmed spinoff focuses on the next generation of supernatural kids in town, which includes Alaric and Caroline’s twins and Klaus Mikaelson’s teenage daughter, Hope (Danielle Rose Russell).
Additionally, over the course of its four seasons, several fan-favorite characters have made brief appearances, including Chris Wood’s nefarious Kai Parker, Steven R. McQueen as Jeremy Gilbert and Zach Roerig’s Matt Donovan, who’s since been promoted to the sheriff of the Virginia small town.
“Sheriff Donovan gets a reference in the first episode as the crazy local conspiracy theorist, the crazy loon in town that thinks monsters are real. That’s kinda a fun role,” Plec exclusively told Us Weekly in July 2018. “Mystic Falls has recovered. They don’t know that they have a boarding school for supernatural kids or that they have a 200-year history of vampire violence so this crazy-ass sheriff. We like to think he’s a little bit like Hopper from Stranger Things, he’s just trying to protect his small town. He knows that all the monsters are real and they have no idea.”
Several seasons after Roerig’s pilot cameo, fans were excited to learn that the Supergirl alum would bring back Kai for a February 2020 episode, titled “Kai Parker Screwed Us,” reuniting with onscreen nieces Josie Saltzman (Kaylee Bryant) and Lizzie Saltzman (Jenny Boyd).
“[The reunion] is every bit as confusing and full of anger and spite as you would imagine that it would be,” Wood teased to E! News at the time. “Kai loves nothing more than a toy, and for him, someone to play mind games with, to torture, to trick. I mean, that’s when he feels things. So that’s his one fuzzy place is ruining people’s equilibrium, so it’s full of that.”
As season 4 began airing in October 2021, TVLine confirmed that Claire Holt would reprise her role as Rebekah Mikaelson in a November episode.
“Hope is tracked down by the one person who could help her — Rebekah Mikaelson,” according to the episode’s synopsis. “Rebekah is fearful of what path Hope has chosen but makes every effort to get through to her.”
One month earlier, the Australia native gushed over her time playing the vampire and hoped to return to the supernatural role.
“I miss Rebekah a lot,” Holt exclusively told Us in September 2021. “I really do. I would love the opportunity one day to play her again. She was just such a dynamic character, and those characters don’t really come around all that often. And it was a character that the fans really connected with, and I loved that. And I loved how I got to sort of go on this journey with them for so many years. It just was such a great experience working with the people that I got to work with. They’re still my friends to this day. Spending seven years of our lives with these characters, it’s like you’re going away to college with them.”
Keep scrolling to see how many beloved TVD and Originals stars returned in the spinoff:
Morgan, who played Originals OG vampire Klaus Mikaelson and Hope’s late father, returned to the CW spinoff during its June 2022 series finale. Hope received a special video message from her devoted dad — from the other side — who gushed about his “littlest wolf” and “miracle child” as he hoped she could move forward with her immortal life. The CW
Accola portrayed Caroline Forbes on The Vampire Diaries, who eventually gave birth to Legacies twins: Josie and Lizzie Saltzman. While Caroline was previously mentioned in name only on the supernatural spinoff, she appeared at the Salvatore School IRL during the June 2022 series finale. Her real-life daughter Florence, whom she shares with estranged spouse Joe King, also made a brief cameo in the scene. The CW
The Australia native, who played Rebekah on The Originals, first returned to Legacies at the beginning of season 4 shortly after Hope became the Tribrid and switched off her humanity. She later came back during the 15th episode of the season, which aired in April 2022, to attend Klaus Mikaelson’s funeral. Matt Miller/The CW
The Younger alum, who portrayed Marcel on The Originals, notably got engaged to Holt’s Rebekah by the series finale. Upon his Legacies return during its season 4, the onscreen twosome had tied the knot off screen. Matt Miller/The CW
Kol Mikaelson is back! Buzolic also appeared during the emotional family funeral to help Hope decide if she would turn her humanity back on, thus letting go of her nefarious agenda, during the April 2022 episode. Matt Miller/The CW
The Roswell, New Mexico alum played Freya in the OG series and has returned to the Salvatore School-based show several times to help Hope cope with her vampire transition. She last appeared alongside her TV siblings to honor Klaus’ death during the April 2022 episode. Matt Miller/The CW
The England native, who was a recurring character on The Originals, returned to her vampire roots during a December 2021 episode of Legacies. Shortly after Hope became the Tribrid and switched off her humanity, her path crossed with Aurora de Martel. De Martel even invited the supernatural teen for an elaborate dinner party during the December 9 episode of the CW series. Nathan Bolster/The CW
After playing the vampire hunter in TVD, the Legally Blonde star has been involved with the CW series since its first season, reprising his role of Alaric Saltzman. Alaric is now the headmaster of the prestigious Salvatore School and an overprotective dad to Josie and Lizzie. The CW
Russell is another series regular on the spinoff, after first appearing on the final season of The Originals as the teenage daughter of Klaus Mikaelson (Joseph Morgan) and Hayley Marshall (Phoebe Tonkin). On Legacies, the tribrid often saves her fellow peers from various monsters and supernatural entities intent on wreaking havoc in the town. Quantrell Colbert/The CW
Since the Carrie Diaries alum’s character of Kai was trapped in a prison world during his last TVD appearance, he was still stuck there when his nieces and almost brother-in-law Alaric stopped by for a visit. “Honestly it was so great to be that sort of unique monster because the show has a very different approach to this Salvatore-based universe,” Wood told E! News of his return to the character. “Kai is very different from anyone they’ve ever dealt with, and also he has, you know, not to quote the title of the show, but he has this deep legacy where all the characters there have heard the horror stories and know how awful he was. It just presents a really different interaction with a monster because he is a monster, just one in human form.” Jace Downs/The CW
After appearing as Matt Donovan on all eight seasons of TVD, he returned to the role as a “crazy local conspiracy theorist” who knew the supernatural beings exist unlike most townies, according to the Legacies showrunner. Quantrell Colbert/The CW
McQueen played the younger brother of Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) in the original series and briefly reprised his role in the first season, saving students Landon Kirby (Aria Shahghasemi) and Rafael Waithe (Peyton Alex Smith) from a werewolf hunter on the attack. Mark Hill/The CW
While O’Keefe’s Jo Laughlin was brutally murdered by her brother Kai on her wedding day to Alaric, she made a surprise appearance in season 1’s “Mombie Dearest” episode, even wearing her would-be wedding dress. Mark Hill/The CW
Bridges’ Dorian Williams was a late arrival to Mystic Falls, first appearing in TVD's season 8 and on various Originals guest spots. Since then, he became a series regular on the first two seasons of Legacies as the school’s librarian and Alaric’s partner in crime. The CW
In the fifth season of the Originals, Goodacre joined the New Orleans-based vampire cohort as Roman Sienna, who was Hope's first boyfriend. He later returned to the role in Legacies season 1, where his ex had since moved on with a now-jealous Landon. Quantrell Colbert/The CW
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