In the realm of the supernatural genre, The Vampire Diaries occupies a very special separate space for being an incredibly intriguing and fascinating series about blood-sucking fictional beings known as Vampires. Having won several awards and fashioned off several spin-offs, the series remain as beloved as ever despite its end in 2017.
What made the tale even more interesting was that the series took creative liberty to expand upon the concepts of ‘Originals’ aka the first-ever Vampires, in turn leading to an equally successful series, The Originals. The concept turned out to be instrumental to the success of The Vampire Diaries, yet Ian Somerhalder has a good reason to be bitter about the show.
The Vampire Diaries’ Ian Somerhalder has a Bone to Pick with The Originals
The Vampire Diaries started as a standalone supernatural teen drama series based on the books of the same name by L. J. Smith but quickly evolved into a franchise spanning spin-offs and even comic books. While the series was good enough on its own, things got even more interesting when the series introduced the Originals in season 2 of the series.
While Daniel Gillies’s Elijah Mikaelson and Joseph Morgan’s Klaus Mikaelson were one of the first ‘Original’ characters to be introduced, several others followed suit. Soon after the characters were given their own spin-off, The Originals, which dealt with their origin, something that the books did not touch upon much.
The spin-off really gave the tale an extra edge, making it an even more interesting watch and creating a whole franchise. Yet, The Vampire Diaries’ Ian Somerhalder aka Damon Salvatore remains lowkey resentful of the spin-off series and for a hilarious reason as well. While speaking at the 2019 Wizard World Philadelphia (via CinemaBlend), the actor remarked,
They were all amazing on their own. Klaus really ticked me off ’cause he left and went and got his own show. Rude. Oh my gosh, we — by ‘we’ I mean Paul and I — were so bitter with The Originals because we lost all of these amazing actors. Like, those were our peeps, dog. Plus, they had all those great accents. … Klaus was an amazing — Joseph Morgan is an insanely beautiful actor.
We certainly do understand how sad it would have been for them to part ways, but the parting eventually turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to The Vampire Diaries.
Even the TVD co-creator Julie Plec, after 15 years since the world was introduced to the world of Mystic Falls, couldn’t help but remark that it was The Originals that opened a new door for the franchise.
The Vampire Diaries Co-Creator Hails The Originals For Expanding the Franchise
When The Vampire Diaries first aired, there were no plans of spin-offs, but when the Originals were introduced in season two of the series, it became pretty clear that they deserved their own story to be told. Now as famous and beloved as The Vampire Diaries, The Originals is one of the most followed supernatural shows of all time.
Starring Daniel Gillies as the Elijah Mikaelson, Joseph Morgan as Klaus Mikaelson, and Claire Holt as Rebekah Mikaelson, the three stars were the first to get their own TV show portraying three of the seven Mikaelson siblings. From Klaus’ barbarian nature to Elijah being the noblest of them all, their family dynamic quickly caught the fancy of fan, making them most fan-favorite supernatural characters of all time.
No one, including the co-creator of TVD, Julie Plec had anticipated that it would turn out to be such a phenomenon and spun a whole franchise. 15 years since the Damon brothers were first introduced, Plec sat down in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter and revealed it was really The Originals that made it all possible.
I don’t think either of us was ever looking down the road to a franchise opportunity, but it was the darn Originals that came around and were so good... Joseph Morgan and Daniel Gillies and Claire Holt, specifically, opened the door for more opportunities that we hadn’t even thought of until it became very obvious that it was the right and perfect thing to do.
And it certainly was the perfect thing to do for the books did mention The Originals but never really revealed their family dynamic and origin stories. Coupled with the actor’s brilliant portrayals and Shakespearean-esque writing, it did not take the series to become highly successful and famous among fans of the genre.
The Vampire Diaries and The Originals is available to be streamed on Amazon Prime.
