'Legacies' Is Ditching These Problematic Relationships From 'The Vampire Diaries'

10 August 2018, 14:55

By Nicky Idika

Even the show's creator Julie Plec thought it was a bit weird.

Legacies lands on the CW this Autumn. In the upcoming series, a new generation of witches, werewolves, and vampires will create their own lore with a little help from some familiar faces.

You may have been a fan of the show's predecessors, The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, but creator Julie Plec wants you to know that Legacies will likely change one aspect of the characters' relationships that even she found strange in the beginning.

According to TV Guide, the show runner addressed reporters at the Television Critics Association press tour and hinted that Legacies would be cutting back on one of the creepier aspects of The Vampire Diaries.

For anyone unaware, The Vampire Diaries' main pairing was initially Elena Gilbert, a 17-year-old high school student from Mystic Falls, and Stefan Salvatore, a 160+ year old vampire. Though Stefan was turned into a vampire at age 17, the whole situation obviously became very complicated when you considered the implications of their real age difference.

"When I read The Vampire Diaries and I thought, 'Well, God, that's weird. Stefan's technically been on this Earth for, like, 162 years and Elena's 17,' and I said I'm just going to let it go, because Edward [Twilight ] was older," said Plec. "And, like, that was literally, like, people seem cool with Edward and Bella, so they're going to be cool with this and that's just the end of it, and I'm going to, like, just put my head down and power through."

Plec further explained that a more modern lens had led them to take on a "socially responsible" approach to the new series.

If this means the series will feature more age appropriate romances, then that can only be a good thing.

Obviously, modern films like the Twilight series established very old vampires dating very young women as "a norm" in the genre. However, with so many variations of supernatural stories to tell, this trope is no longer a necessary component in crafting compelling characters.

Legacies' first trailer does seem to centre heavily around our young protagonist and the other teens in her orbit.

Legacies | Legacies Comic-Con® 2018 Trailer | The CW

Now that we know the series likely won't feature creepily large age differences, what's one thing you're REALLY excited to see on Legacies?