Summary

• Legacies strayed from the successful mythology of The Vampire Diaries, losing fans' interest in favor of a lighter tone and new storylines.
• Bringing back Kai Parker could have saved the show from cancellation, but poor execution failed to capitalize on his potential.
• The Gemini Coven storyline, along with other rich TVD plots, was squandered by Legacies' focus on new monsters and lack of darker themes.

Legacies will always be remembered for failing one of the best The Vampire Diaries villains and how it was canceled for discarding the mythology of its predecessor. Legacies had a lighter tone than The Vampire Diaries and The Originals to appeal to younger viewers. From the get-go, Legacies alienated much of the built-in audience by focusing on storylines that wouldn't resonate with those who watched the other shows. By the time Legacies brought a The Vampire Diaries villain into the mix, the show was going in circles.

The biggest departure for the series was the monster-of-the-week format, which drew comparisons to Buffy the Vampire Slayer. However, this format also meant that Legacies' villains became less creative as the series progressed, likely pushing execs to bring in a villain from The Vampire Diaries to help shake up the dynamic and send the show in a compelling direction. Unfortunately, the poor execution of the big return highlighted Legacies' inability to craft satisfying storylines that honored the wider franchise.

Kai Parker Could Have Saved Legacies From Cancellation

Kai Parker had plenty of storyline potential on Legacies

The Vampire Diaries viewers had anticipated Kai Parker's (Chris Wood) return ever since he was banished to a prison world. Kai was cutthroat and killed anyone who got in his way. His return to Legacies was inevitable because he was the uncle of Lizzie (Jenny Boyd) and Josie Saltzman (Kaylee Bryant). At that point in the narrative, the twins were battling their feelings about The Merge, a prophecy that meant one of them would die.

The Merge hung over the twins like a dark cloud, and given Kai's history of killing family members who threatened his leadership, Legacies would have been wise to revisit that over a longer arc. Instead, Kai's reign of terror kicked off because Josie and Alaric (Matt Davis) were trapped in the prison world with a group of students. Despite Kai's first episode back having some darker elements, the follow-up undid all of that good by having Kai posing as Alaric's friend at the school.

Kai remained cunning and strategic while hanging around the school, but it's hard to believe that he didn't go on a murderous rampage, given his knack for killing people who looked at him the wrong way.

Kai remained cunning and strategic while hanging around, but it's hard to believe that he didn't go on a murderous rampage, given his knack for killing people who looked at him the wrong way. Alaric killing Kai was also unsatisfying because the storyline was only just beginning. Given Kai's link to the twins and his actions in The Vampire Diaries season 6, Mystic Falls stood to lose a lot by having Kai stick around for longer. Legacies would have benefited from his ability to wreak substantial havoc the same way TVD did, bringing more viewers to the show.

The Gemini Coven's Return Would Have Been Worthwhile

The Gemini Coven didn't get the time to shine on The Vampire Diaries

Kai Parker wiped The Gemini Coven from existence at the end of The Vampire Diaries season 6. Legacies, The Originals, and The Vampire Diaries had countless loopholes to bring characters back from the dead when viewers least expected it. Alaric died many times on Legacies and The Vampire Diaries. Legacies could have excelled by adding another layer to The Gemini Coven and finding a way to bring some of the people Kai killed back to life.

The Gemini Coven storyline never reached its full potential in The Vampire Diaries season 6, possibly because the series went in a different direction after Nina Dobrev's exit.

The Gemini Coven storyline never reached its full potential in The Vampire Diaries, possibly because the series went in a different direction after Nina Dobrev's exit. The storyline introduced excellent characters like Jo (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe), Luke (Chris Brochu), and Liv (Penelope Mitchell), but their lives were all cut short by Kai, who killed them at Alaric and Jo's wedding. Jo returned for one episode of Legacies to spend some time with her children.

It would have been far more satisfying if that episode planted seeds to bring the Gemini Coven back with Kai's return a season later. It would have provided the payoff viewers expected at the end of The Vampire Diaries season 6 but never received. The Gemini Coven had the potential to be expanded in Legacies, thanks to Jo, Kai, and their ties to Lizzie and Josie, but it's yet another storyline that was discarded. It wasn't a part of the canceled Legacies season 5 storylines, so it seems there were no plans to revisit it.

Legacies Squandered Many Good The Vampire Diaries Storylines

Legacies should have borrowed more from The Vampire Diaries

Legacies lost sight of storylines about witches because it was more interested in introducing monsters that were new to The Vampire Diaries franchise. The series' inability to balance the dark and light storylines was its ultimate undoing. Had it continued with the same mythology established on The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, it would have been a more enjoyable show.

At times, Legacies didn't feel set in the same universe as the shows that came before it, which explains why it never matched up to the success of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. Legacies was too worried about feeling like a sequel to The Vampire Diaries that it discarded most of the exciting plots and focused on establishing a new mythology involving Malivore. If Legacies had borrowed more from The Vampire Diaries and kept villains like Kai around, there's a good chance it wouldn't have been canceled.

All four seasons of Legacies are available to stream on Netflix.