Spoilers ahead for the series finale of Legacies on The CW.
A television era has come to an end with the series finale of Legacies, which was the third and final installment in the TV universe started by The Vampire Diaries back in 2009. It was only fitting that the final episode managed to bring in appearances from some of the biggest stars of both TVD and The Originals, with Candice King returning as Caroline after previously making a voice cameo and, of course, the very long-awaited return of Joseph Morgan as Klaus Mikaelson.
Morgan revealed his return ahead of the finale and previewed that it would be centered on Klaus and Hope, but fans had to wait until the last episode to see the actor back in Mikaelson mode to deliver some Originals and Legacies closure. Now, it’s safe to say that the finale honored Klaus (and Morgan) in his return without breaking all the rules and bringing the character back to vampiric life.
The first mention of Klaus came when Hope received a package containing her father’s ashes in an urn, and she wanted nothing more than for him to be at peace. Her best bet seemed to be keeping his ashes at the Salvatore School… which immediately went sideways when Alaric announced that the school was shutting down after Ethan’s death. She reached out to Landon for his help in contacting her father, since he wasn’t at peace and Landon theoretically should have had access to him.
It wasn’t quite that simple, particularly with the complication of Landon paying the price for sending his deceased friends back to life in the action-packed penultimate episode. Still, by combining their powers and getting creative, Hope was able to get a message from her father, even though it wasn’t quite the conversation she wanted. Klaus said:
My littlest wolf. My miracle child. What a gift to be able to leave you one last message, so please carry it with you in the years to come. I want you to know this: you will make mistakes in your life. That comes with being a Mikaelson. You will go through hard times, for no one with your power always knows how to use it properly. You will find love, and you will lose it, for such is the burden of immortality. But the most important thing about your life is that you live it, because you are my peace. And I regret a lot of things, but I don’t regret a single moment I spent with you. I love you so much, always and forever.
If you weren’t already emotional at the beginning of Klaus’ message or when he started crying while speaking to his “miracle child,” I’m guessing the “always and forever” did it for a lot of us who watched! It was a bittersweet moment, as Hope got the closure that she needed about her father’s peace, but she didn’t get to interact with him, and fans didn’t see him back to interact with her or anybody else. That said, she realized that she could simply release his ashes on the grounds of the Salvatore School, and that would be enough to honor him.
And in handling Klaus’ story this way, Legacies also honored what Joseph Morgan has said about coming back to play his character. He previously said that he felt Klaus’ story had been told completely from “beginning to end,” and he thought it “would be a bit cheap” to do something like “a flashback or as a ghost or something.” After he revealed that he was going to reprise his role for the Legacies finale, he shared that he’d been “asked again and again to make an appearance” on the show but that it “never felt right” until now, and he felt “passionate” about it.
So, Legacies managed to honor Klaus, his relationship with Hope, the legacies of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, and Joseph Morgan in the finale. Even though the cancellation came against the wishes of Julie Plec, the team put together a pretty fitting finale that followed the example set by TVD before it. Now, fans can relive the glory days of all three shows streaming with a Netflix subscription and check out our 2022 TV premiere schedule for some upcoming viewing options.