The Originals

The Originals is an American fantasy supernatural drama television series that began airing on The CW on October 3, 2013. It is a spin-off of The Vampire Diaries and the first television series expansion of the franchise based on its parent series. The series follows vampire-werewolf hybrid Klaus Mikaelson as he and his family become embroiled in the supernatural politics of the French Quarter of New Orleans. On May 10, 2017, The CW renewed the series for a fifth season. On July 20, 2017, it was announced by series creator Julie Plec ahead of Comic Con that the series' fifth season would be its last. The final season began airing on April 18, 2018, and finished on August 1, 2018. Series overview The Originals, a spin-off of The Vampire Diaries, centers on three of the Mikaelson siblings: Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah. The Mikaelson family are also commonly known as "the Originals" due to the fact that they are the first vampires ever to exist. Klaus is the son of a witch and a werewolf, and his quest to unleash his hybrid nature was detailed in The Vampire Diaries. The backdoor pilot, "The Originals", which aired on April 25, 2013, also revealed that the werewolf Hayley, with whom Klaus had a drunken one-night stand in season 4 of The Vampire Diaries, is pregnant with his child the first ever tribrid. Elijah, Klaus, Rebekah and Hayley are all introduced in The Vampire Diaries as part of main or recurring cast from season 3 or 4 unlike the other cast of The Originals who are not introduced until the backdoor pilot or later on in the series. The series begins with the Mikaelson siblings returning to the city of New Orleans for the first time since 1919, where a pregnant Hayley has also settled and is under capture by the witches who use her to manipulate Klaus into helping them against Marcel's iron fist. Having originally built the French Quarter, they had been forced to abandon it when fleeing from their vengeful father, Mikael, who wished to kill them all and end the vampire species which he viewed as unnatural and evil. In their absence, Klaus's former protégé and adoptive son and Rebekah's former lover, Marcel, took charge of the French Quarter as self-proclaimed king. Klaus resolves that they must take down Marcel and get back the city that once belonged to them while protecting their city from a war brewing between vampires, werewolves, and witches.