Everything We Know About Legacies Season 5's Canceled Story Plans

Even though Legacies was canceled after season 4, that doesn't mean plans for season 5's story weren't already underway. Here's everything we know.

The Vampire Diaries spinoff Legacies was canceled after season 4 and since then, quite a bit has come out about Legacies season 5’s canceled story plans. The second TVD spinoff after The Originals, Legacies was decidedly different in tone and focus. Instead of focusing on adults playing teenagers–or just adults–Legacies‘ cast skewed decidedly younger. The tone was much lighter and campier, with the story revolving around the students of the Salvatore School facing down a multitude of foes in a monster-of-the-week style setup.

Despite the fun change and promising start, Legacies was never quite embraced the way the other two series were. The show never quite seemed to find its footing, then lost a number of less die-hard Vampire Diaries and Originals audiences by being so disconnected from the wider universe for multiple seasons. Legacies season 4 started to rectify that, bringing back plenty of the Vampire Diaries lore it had ignored for the first three seasons, as well as cameos from beloved characters. Ratings continued to drop, however, and in the middle of the Warner Bros.-Discovery merger, the decision was made to cancel it following season 4.

Still, that doesn’t mean that there weren’t already plans for Legacies season 5. Since the show’s cancellation, the TVD universe creator, Julie Plec, and multiple Legacies writers have revealed there were indeed concrete ideas for a Legacies season 5 story arc. The plans even included introducing a few long-awaited characters into the Vampire Diaries universe. Here’s everything we know about Legacies season 5’s canceled story plans.

Legacies Season 5 Would’ve Had A Time Jump

Interestingly, Legacies showrunner Brett Matthews revealed that season 5 would have involved a time jump:

“We would have been in a time-jump scenario. I think the fun of the fifth season would be to really take those characters, who had reached such a good place in the school, and then move them beyond it and throw them in lives beyond it and seeing where they were and how they would all find their way back to one another.”

While it initially seems surprising, a time jump makes sense when considering the events of Legacies season 4. One longtime cast member in Kaylee Bryant left and others appeared to be on their way out, their stories brought to a neat close. It would be somewhat odd to pick up right after the events of Legacies season 4 when so much has changed. Clearly, the writers smartly realized that picking up for Legacies season 5 with a time jump would be the most efficient way to lead into the story.

Legacies Season 4’s Finale Had Setup For Season 5’s Story

Despite coming to a satisfying ending, the season finale of the Vampire Diaries spinoff had quite a bit of setup for a potential Legacies season 5. The season 4 finale saw Jed and Ben, now both free of their “curses,” striking out together. Presumably, Legacies season 5’s story would have found them both grappling without their powers and perhaps learning that what they had viewed as curses were, in fact, gifts. Legacies season 5 was also set to focus more on Kaleb and Cleo; season 4 hinted that her new powers of clairvoyance as an Oracle would have a larger part to play. The season 4 ending revealed that she’d seen something in the future for her and Kaleb that terrified her, hinting that their future ended in tragedy.

In another part of the universe, Landon’s new role as the Ferryman of Limbo, The Vampire Diaries universe’s version of Purgatory, had plenty of potential for Legacies season 5. His story could have easily wrapped up at the end of Legacies season 4, and had the show chosen to leave him there, it would have been enough. However, it would have been really interesting to see him tackling his new role as the Ferryman, especially as he has traded away some of his human emotion and feeling to save his friends in the world above. It would have been an incredibly different version of Landon in Legacies season 5 and given the underutilized Aria Shahghasemi a lot to work with.

Lastly, the Legacies series ending threw a curveball at the audience when Alaric Saltzman announced he was leaving the Salvatore School and no longer its headmaster. Instead, his old dear friend and co-parent, TVD‘s Caroline Forbes-Salvatore, was stepping in as the new headmistress. Things would have been very different at the Salvatore School in Legacies season 5, and perhaps a little bit calmer with Caroline at the helm–though probably not for long.

Legacies Season 5 Would’ve Introduced Elena & Damon’s Child

Arguably, the biggest change would have been the introduction of Stephanie Salvatore, the daughter of The Vampire Diaries‘ Elena and Damon in Legacies season 5. As creator Julie Plec revealed,

“[Stephanie was] very much at the top of our white board as a character that we were planning on introducing, should the show move forward. In my mind, Damon and Elena had kids in our timeline. The way we alluded to her in the genie episode was as though she was 12 or 13. But in the Legacies timeline, their kids were younger, probably toddlers.”

It would appear, then, that the time jump would have been pretty considerable if Stephanie were old enough to attend the Salvatore School. Plec has revealed another Vampire Diaries spinoff is in development after Legacies and it was meant to stem directly from the events of the recently canceled show. Still, it would have been nice to see the children of other beloved characters in Legacies season 5’s story. If the third spinoff does happen, perhaps audiences will meet them after all.