‘Legacies’ EP on Redemption in the ‘TVD’ Universe and ‘Severe Obstacles’ for Hope & Landon

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Season 3 premiere of Legacies, “We’re Not Worthy.”]

There’s good news and bad news in the Legacies Season 3 premiere on January 21: Hope (Danielle Rose Russell) and Landon (Aria Shahghasemi) are both awake, but Josie (Kaylee Bryant) is leaving for a bit. In an attempt to deal with the aftermath of her dark magic binge, Josie is heading to see her mother.

Also, Alyssa (Olivia Liang) finds herself faced with a new role just as she’s leaving the school: the Necromancer’s (Ben Geurens) acolyte. Uh-oh.

TV Insider chatted with executive producer Brett Matthews to find out what’s next.

How will Josie be different when she returns from visiting her mother?

Brett Matthews: Josie, in the early part of Season 3, will make a choice that really does affect the status quo of the Salvatore School and her life and we will get to see that play out.

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How is Hope and Landon’s relationship this season compared to others? Their troubles aren’t over just because both are awake now.

It’s very, very true. They will continue to try to define their dynamic. As Hope goes, so goes the show. Hope is the foundation Legacies is built on and her relationship with Landon is very central to her journey. They will face some of their most severe obstacles yet and have to band together in the face of some really formidable enemies and make peace with the risks they are willing to take as a couple and their need and responsibility to face down the darkness that is Malivore and its monsters.

It’s a slippery slope, as always, that they continue to try and navigate. They get on the same page, but in that process, you will also see them grow closer than they ever have been before.

(Annette Brown/The CW)

Alyssa clearly doesn’t have a choice when it comes to being the Necromancer’s eternal acolyte. Can she be redeemed?

I think so. We’ll learn more about Alyssa and her very specific origin and how that turns and twists. The question will be, is she stuck with the Necromancer or is the Necromancer stuck with her? Their dynamic may not be exactly what you anticipate it is. She is going to leave Episode 1 of the new season with a very serious axe to grind, and as we all know, Alyssa Chang is not a person you want as your enemy. If the history of all these shows have you taught you anything, everybody’s redeemable. If Josie’s redeemable, Alyssa’s redeemable.

People rooted for Klaus (Joseph Morgan) on The Originals after The Vampire Diaries.

That’s what I’m saying! They made a whole show with him as the protagonist. He was the worst villain of all time. Damon’s [Ian Somerhalder] journey to being somebody you root and cared for. Redemption lies at the very heart of The Vampire Diaries universe, as different as these shows may be a little bit tonally.

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The logline for Episode 302 teases “devastating news involving one of their own” for the Super Squad.

The logline does a pretty good job of teasing the type of episode it is. We try to do an episode or two a year that really harkens to our Vampire Diaries roots, not necessarily through characters or mythology, but the style and tone of the other shows, [which] made you cry more than we probably do. It is a visitation to those roots stylistically and the smaller, more emotional stories, filtered into the Legacies universe and how we deal with things like that that in The Vampire Diaries, you might not even bat an eye at, but some of those moves and turns just feel a little different in Legacies. It’s one of those classic throwback episodes and a big one for us.

And Alaric (Matthew Davis) is “getting some timely affairs in order.” What’s he up to? I kept thinking about him dying in the original series.

[Laughs] There’s really no way to tease what Ric is doing without getting too much into the plot. Ric is tied to the central dilemma of the episode and is doing everything he can to resolve it. It’s just not necessarily the usual type of victory he’s tasked with winning. It is a different journey. But he is doing what Alaric Saltzman generally does in Legacies, which is trying to help the kids in any way he can and also as always, fearful they may run into problems he can’t solve.

(Mark Hill/The CW)

Alaric wanted the students to be kids, which, of course, didn’t last long. Will we continue to see an attempt to balance the supernatural with normal teenage lives?

That’s always at the heart of Legacies, but Ric is beginning to see them not just as kids or students but as equals or as special because of their gifts. He will only view them more as worthy of hearing their opinions. It becomes more of a collaboration between them than it has been in seasons past.

Legacies, Thursdays, 9/8c, The CW