The Problem With Legacies Was Never The Writing – It Was Hope Mikaelson

Fans can all agree that there were some real problems with the Vampire Diaries spinoff Legacies – but the biggest problem was its lead character, Hope Mikaelson. The Vampire Diaries, which premiered in 2009 and ran for eight seasons, was beloved for its characters and relationships that formed over the years. It was successful enough that it spawned a spinoff based on the antagonistic Original Vampire family, The Originals, in 2013, which ran for five seasons before coming to a memorable close.

The Originals also spawned its own spinoff, the second spinoff in the TVD universe, with 2018’s Legacies. Legacies followed the exploits of supernatural tribrid Hope Mikaelson, the daughter of the late Mikaelson family patriarch Klaus, and her exploits at the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted. From the start, Legacies had a wildly different tone and feel than The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, and it struggled to gain the same traction for so many reasons. While the uneven plotting was to blame, the biggest problem was Hope herself: once the show tied itself to the character, it was stuck and it’s a big reason that Legacies season 5 never happened.

Hope Wasn’t A Very Likable Character In Legacies

Her “Trauma”-Based Personality Is A Problem With A Lot Of YA Female Protagonists

Being perfectly frank, Hope Mikaelson was a frustrating character. Too often, the frustrating aspects of her personality crystallized into something that was downright unlikable, and unfortunately, they eventually became her entire personality. The writers seemed to be so concerned with giving her flaws and making her relatable that it had the opposite effect; her prickly, defensive, know-it-all attitude eventually dominated Hope’s character and defined who she was. It made it hard to root for her, which isn’t great when the entire series of Legacies was built around her character. If Hope didn’t evolve, neither could the show – and Hope didn’t evolve.

The problem with Hope Mikaelson is a problem that has infiltrated female YA protagonists in recent years, whether in books or in TV shows. For whatever reason, when writers craft a male lead character with flaws, even one who can be a bit of a jerk, he’s still charming to make up for it. But with female protagonists, especially in YA content, strong is too often confused with just being an unmitigated brat – b•tchy, even. Writers will try to explain and excuse it, inevitably because of “trauma,” but the result is still the same: the character is just hard to like, and that was unfortunately the case with Hope in Legacies.

Legacy Season 4 Tried To Fix It But It Was Too Late

The Good Ship Legacies Was Already Steering Into The Iceberg By Season 4

In early seasons of Legacies, Hope insisted on going it alone, handling everything herself and facing all the dangers solo without letting anyone help her. Even when the results proved disastrous, she insisted she could handle it all herself. At a certain point, it crossed the line from nobility and wanting to protect her loved ones to just being stubbornly insistent on being the martyr. As Hope’s attitude started to read as though she thought her friends were incompetent and unable to handle themselves, other characters began to vent their frustration with her, particularly her boyfriend, Landon.

Ultimately, her refusal to grow slowed down the show’s momentum and character development, and it became a point of criticism from fans who were frustrated by her repeating the same patterns. It also absorbed development for Legacies‘ supporting characters who were consistently sidelined for Hope’s fixation on her relationship with Landon. It was hard to buy into the storylines of the supporting characters when it had been the Hope Mikaelson show for so long, both on screen and in her own mind, and Legacies and Hope suffered serious stagnation because of it. By Legacies season 4, the writers seemed to understand this and started to bring Hope around, but by then, it was too little, too late and the uneven fourth season was also the final one.

It’s a real shame, too, as Hope could have been a great role model for younger viewers, someone who was tough and protective, but didn’t let her loss define her. Despite the significance of her being named Hope, it was a quality she rarely exhibited, which is sad. Her story would have been much more powerful if she had been a character who made room in her heart for new loved ones despite having lost others in the past, rather than completely shutting down and pushing everyone away. It was an unfortunate arc to a character with such potential and Legacies fans, and Hope’s character, deserved better.

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