Legacies may be a spin-off from The Originals and The Vampire Diaries, but why doesn't the series seem to be gaining the same fanbase as those previous Shows?
Legacies: Lighter Tone
Since the series began, Legacies has had a noticeably lighter tone than both previous Shows, a problem that is partly due to the series set at the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted. Sure, the characters of The Vampire Diaries were also of high school age (or permanently young, in the show's vampire case) when the series started, but the show made it clear that the cast was often in mortal danger and as the series, The Vampire Diaries were notoriously not afraid of Tragic endings of story arcs. In fact, at some points, it seemed to fans that the Vampire Diaries were almost afraid of non-tragic endings. In contrast, the fact that the main cast of Legacies are young (especially Josie and Lizzie, both of whom are fifteen years old when the series begins) means that the show is not quick to put their lives at risk. Moreover, when Legacies seem to threaten their main team (as they did during Josie's burial in Season 1), viewers seldom worry that they will really be killed. This lack of consequence naturally gives Legacies a lighter tone, which becomes an issue due to the show's difference from the format set by The Originals and The Vampire Diaries.
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Legacies, since their first season, have offered an interesting variety about coordinating each of their predecessors. Like The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, Legacies have several sweeping plots throughout the series, with stories like Hope and Landon's relationship throughout the show's three seasons. However, unlike its predecessors, Legacies also relied on the "Monster of the Week" format that owes more to Buffy The Vampire Slayer than The Vampire Diaries, as the first season of the show alone sees the actors face off against dragons, dryads, zombies, unicorns, and mummies. Season 2 saw the arrival of Krampus and the minotaur among many, many legendary threats, and although this bold change keeps the show fresh, the fact that Legacies actually have a lighter tone than both previous series means that the show has gotten a lot more foolish and a lot more out of the way. Tragic and often poignant to The Vampire Diaries due to these many hilarious monsters (few, as seen above, pose a mortal threat to the main cast).
Legacies: The Hope And Landon Show
In their first 2 seasons, Legacies has focused on Hope and Landon at the expense of the rest of the cast, failing to follow in The Vampire Diaries of the supporting characters outside of the central love triangle. This resulted in the Hope and Landon dynamic, an initially interesting reflection of gender stereotypes in which she was the proactive savior and the passive rescuer was in distress, becoming outdated for viewers who were tired of the two receiving most of the focus of the show and screen time. This isn't a problem developing the character of Hope and Landon (although neither of them has grown as much as their Vampire Diaries Elena And Damon did in the first two seasons of their show), and more to do with the show's potentially marginalization of interesting characters Like Lizzie, Alaric, and MG are in favor of repeatedly revisiting the differences in the same basic storyline between the main duo.
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How Legacies Can Earn The Vampire Diaries/The Originals’ Popularity
Raising the stakes in the show's main struggles would greatly aid the Legacies' attempts to break out of the long shadow of their main performances. For one thing, the series' younger cast is now approaching the same stage of life as the actors of The Vampire Diaries when the original series began, with the actors of Landon, Hope, and Josie now 24, 21, and 23, like Damon, Elena and Stefan were They are 31, 20, and 27 years old respectively when the original CW series started in 2009. As such, despite the school setting (which The Vampire Diaries shared again) Legacies can, in their third season, begin to rid themselves of being A smoother, less intense look in The Vampire Diaries formula and begin to gain the kind of dramatic effect the original show had on viewers.
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Separating the central spouses by trapping Landon in the prison world was a strong start to the maturity streak as a whole, and while a dark tone might mean killing some characters, the sprawling set of legacies meant that the death of an influential character or two could increase the dramatic effect of the show without messing with his central character's dynamic. Ultimately, Legacies are not as popular as The Originals and The Vampire Diaries because the series has yet to gain the dark edge and sense of real threat that its predecessors shared, and as entertaining as the "Monster of the Week" formula could be, the format detracts from the tragic melodramatic elements that prompted viewers to connect with Both previous shows.