'Legacies' Season 2: Why we are certain Season 1 baddie Clarke will be redeemed
When Julie Plec adapted 'The Vampire Diaries' by author L.J. Smith for television in 2009, she created jobs for herself and the crew (especially Matthew Davis) for 10+ years and it continues. The first spinoff show, 'The Originals', premiered in 2013 and ran for five successful seasons. The third edition of the franchise, 'Legacies', premiered in October 2018 and has been renewed for a second season, is due on The CW on October 10, 2019. It starrs Danielle Rose Russell as Hope, famous TVD villain Klaus Mikaelson's daughter. In the show, Hope is a student of the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted, where Davis' Alaric Saltzman is the principal.
In Season 1, Hope and company deal with monsters that were previously thought to be myths and not real. This is when they learn of Malivore - an entity created using black magic by an ancient witch, an ancient werewolf, and an ancient vampire. The real villain of the season, however, was the mysterious Clarke, who was later revealed to be Malivore's golem son who is trying to bring back Malivore to life. In the last episode, in an attempt to prevent this, Hope and Clarke (by virtue of casting a mirroring spell on him), jump into the Malivore Pit. We also learn that Landon - who we thought was mortal, was, in fact, Malivore's son, with his supernatural side being that of the legendary phoenix.
One of the things we know about season 2 is that Hope is in the pit, which means the rest of the world has forgotten about her existence. While in this other world, Clarke and Hope will be spending time with each other as Hope tries to escape to her world. Clarke may have been the bad guy in Season 1, but we are sure that when we see more of him, the viewers will learn a different side, and perhaps with the help of one of two other characters, Clarke might eventually redeem himself. While this seems unlikely right now, we have a few reasons as to why we are confident of this happening.
Both 'The Vampire Diaries' and 'The Originals', were in the end, about the redemption of its main characters. On 'The Vampire Diaries', this was Damon, and perhaps to an extent, Stefan as well. While Damon was originally introduced as a character to be wary of, he ends up finding love (with Elena), becomes part of the good-guy team, being cured of his vampirism, and as the series ends, we know he and Elena lead a happy life in Mystic Falls. Stefan, who was the one who coaxed Damon into completing his turn into a vampire, spends most of the series helping Damon and eventually sacrifices himself for his brother. Meanwhile, on 'The Originals', Klaus - a character no one would think is redeemable, save for the actor's good looks - has a daughter, Hope. The show is about Klaus and the Mikaelson family doing what it takes to keep Hope safe, from enemies the family has accrued over generations - be they witch, vampire or werewolf. By the end of the show, Klaus is redeemed (at least in his brother, Elijah's eyes) when he sacrifices himself for his daughter. Like Stefan, Elijah can also be considered "redeemed" here - Elijah's biggest guilt was not protecting his brother against their father, but for centuries later, Elijah continues to be at Klaus' side, save for that little time where his memory is erased. There is Kol, Klaus' and Elijah's brother who is shown to be a ruthless vampire with no qualms about killing people. On 'The Originals', he meets witch Davina Claire (while he is occupying the body of a witch called Kaleb) in Season 2 and proceeds to fall in love with her. While we don't see much of the character in the last two seasons, Davina and Kol are in love, leading a happy life away from the chaos of the Mikaelson family in New Orleans.
TVD's biggest and baddest villain is probably Kai Parker, who is the only villain to not have been redeemed by the end of the show. But he almost was. During the ATX Television Festival in 2015, Julie Plec stated that they've taken almost every villain they have had down a redemption path. This redemption still could be possible considering Plec and fans want Chris Wood to return as Kai to 'Legacies.'
The matter of Kai aside, Nick Fink's Clarke is the first major villain of the show and with hopefully many more seasons to come, Clarke stands to be redeemed. Considering that he is said to spend time with Hope with both of them learning more about each other, Clarke's redemption seems highly likely. Not to mention that Clarke is Landon's brother, and we all know how Plec loves exploring the relationship between brothers and how one ends up vying for one or both of their redemptions. While viewers may have thought 'Legacies' brother-pair would be Landon and his foster brother Rafael, the dynamics between Clarke, Landon, and Rafael would be an interesting one to watch.
