How 'Legacies' is more like 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' than its parent show 'The Vampire Diaries'
Spoilers for 'Legacies' Season 2
While the Necromancer may be the villain to worry about in the long term in this season of 'Legacies', Josie Saltzman's dark alter ego is not too far behind. We first saw her in the two-parter featuring Kai Parker's return. Dark Josie resurfaced in last week's episode of 'Legacies'.
While Kaylee Bryant has said dark Josie's look was inspired by Katherine from 'The Vampire Diaries', most of us could not help but notice that she looked more like the dark alter ego of a witch from another fan-favorite show involving vampires: 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'.
Many fans were quick to point out that dark Josie's makeup was a lot like dark Willow's from the erstwhile WB series, even down to the dark veins on her face. Even the plotline seems a little familiar. Both alter egos rose from their addictions to strong and dark magic.
But that's not the only common feature as far as 'Legacies' and 'The Vampire Diaries' goes. In fact, we would dare say that 'Legacies' has more in common with 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' than its parent show 'The Vampire Diaries.
For one, Alexis Denisof who played the Watcher, Wesley Wyndam-Pryce on 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' is also on 'Legacies' as Professor Rupert Vardemus, who was initially portrayed as being taken over by Malivore's son, Ryan Clarke, but is now back to being himself.
With Emma and Dorian, the only other adults at the Salvatore School besides Alaric Saltzman, having left Mystic Falls to enjoy some alone time away from monsters, Alaric will certainly need Vardemus to stay on.
The teachers at Salvatore School are quite like the Watchers on 'Buffy' — they help the students learn more about new monster attacks each week and even help train them. The monster-of-the-week format followed on 'Legacies' is similar to that on 'Buffy'.
Hope Mikaelson from 'Legacies' is more like the eponymous character from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer'. While Hope is the only tribrid, Buffy is the only vampire slayer (until she dies). Moreover, Buffy struggles to understand her quest, while Hope struggles to understand her purpose. They are also both strong female leads who are not afraid to protect those around them.
Then there are the lead characters' support systems on each show. Buffy had the Scooby Gang consisting of Xander, Willow and others as the show progressed. Hope has the Super Squad, consisting of Landon, MG, Kaleb, Josie and others.
The question now is whether 'Legacies' will manage to achieve the cult status that 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' has? The latter had seven seasons and several comic book spinoffs. 'Legacies' is only in its second season, but with work, it may get close to it.
'Legacies' airs on The CW on Thursday nights at 9/8c.