Tapping into the late-aughts’ vampire craze sparked by the “Twilight” franchise, youth-oriented The CW hit a gold mine with “The Vampire Diaries,” which bowed in the fall of 2009, attracting the network’s largest audience to date for a series premiere. Based on the popular book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith, the supernatural teen drama, developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, went on to run eight seasons and spawned two spin-offs (“The Originals” and “Legacies”) which became successful in their own right.
The story of two vampire brothers obsessed with the same girl, who bears a striking resemblance to the beautiful but ruthless vampire they knew and loved in 1864.
Though once pledged to remain together through the test of time, the Mikaelson's — the first and original family of vampires — have been torn apart over the thousands of years of their existence. When Klaus Mikaelson, the original vampire-werewolf hybrid, receives a mysterious tip that a plot is brewing against him in the supernatural melting pot that is the French Quarter of New Orleans, he returns to the city his family helped build. Klaus, along with his siblings Elijah and Rebekah, must take back the city that once belonged to them, while avoiding a war between the vampires, werewolves and witches that populate the French Quarter.
In a place where young witches, vampires, and werewolves are nurtured to be their best selves in spite of their worst impulses, Klaus Mikaelson’s daughter, 17-year-old Hope Mikaelson, Alaric Saltzman’s twins, Lizzie and Josie Saltzman, among others, come of age into heroes and villains at The Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted.