Legacies Season 3 - What We Know So Far

School will soon be back in session for fans of The Originals spin-off and current heir to The Vampire Diaries' TV kingdom, Legacies. Even though the second season of the show — which focuses on the teen drama and supernatural thrills that follow the students of Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted, a school for supernatural teens — hasn't even concluded airing, in January 2020, the CW renewed the show for a third season. Considering its two sister series ran for a combined 263 episodes, it doesn't come as any surprise that Legacies looks like it will be another hit for the network.

We may still be a ways out from the premiere of Legacies season 3, but that doesn't mean we don't have any information about what the new season will hold for Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell) and her friends. Thanks to the Twitter account of series creator Julie Plec, we do have a few bits of information to tide us over until the beginning of the next academic year at Salvatore Boarding School.

Spoilers for Legacies are ahead.

There's some good news and there's some bad news regarding the release date for Legacies season 3. The good news is the fact that the CW greenlit a third season of the supernatural thriller midway through the second season. The new order is a clear indication that the network is standing behind the show, and is enthusiastic about its future. The bad news is that, like so many other shows right now, production on Legacies has been delayed indefinitely by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic (via Bustle). Season 2 completed 16 of its 20 planned episodes before production shut down in March 2020, so before we get a season 3, the producers will still have to finish the second season of the series.

As the delay drags on, it's unclear whether the remaining four episodes will air later this year as a coda to season 2, or whether episode 16 may serve as a de facto season finale, with the final four episodes nixed or rolled into season 3. The longer Legacies remains out of production, the more likely the latter will be the case.

Even with that uncertainty considered, the CW hasn't left us completely in the dark about when Legacies season 3 might debut. For the past two seasons, Legacies has enjoyed a consistent October premiere date. Given the disruption to the TV industry in general, it always seemed unlikely that season 3 would follow suit and premiere in October 2020. According to E Online, we now have confirmation that the CW plans to push its entire fall lineup to 2021. That means we'll likely have to wait until January to find out what new nightmares await the citizens of Mystic Falls. At least the series appears set to retain its plum Thursday night time slot.

Without knowing who makes it to the official end of Legacies season 2, it's hard to say exactly who will be returning when season 3 eventually airs. Still, there are a few faces we're likely to see again. Barring any major shocking twists, fans can expect to see Legacies originals Danielle Rose Russell returning as Hope Mikaelson and Aria Shahghasemi reprising his role as Hope's love interest Landon Kirby. Also don't be surprised if returning The Vampire Diaries characters Josie Saltzman (Kaylee Bryant), Alaric Saltzman (Matt Davis), and Lizzie Saltzman (Jenny Boyd) make it to Legacies season 3.

Legacies has done a thorough job of incorporating characters first introduced on The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, but there are still a few holdouts we're dying to see again. During a Twitter chat with fans, series creator Julie Plec gave some slivers of hope that we'll see familiar faces return. When asked about The Vampire Diaries and The Originals big baddie Mikael (Sebastian Roche), Plec didn't rule out a future appearance, but cautioned "we'd have to find the right story." Plec gave a similarly guarded, but optimistic, response to questions about the return of The Vampire Diaries originals Bonnie (Kat Graham) and Caroline (Candice King): "Maybe one day!!"

As for the chances of original The Vampire Diaries stars Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder returning to play Elena and Damon, Plec had a more pessimistic message to fans: "I mean this with all the love and understanding in the world, don't hold your breath."

Given that we're still waiting to see how the second season plays out in its entirety, plot details for Legacies' third season are pretty slim at the moment. However, in her Twitter Q&A, Julie PLec did drop a few breadcrumbs for us to nibble on while we wait to see how things unfold. Questioned about whether the third season will see a return of the monsters that have been terrorizing Salvatore High, or if we'll get an all new set of villains, Plec replied, "both."

As for the fate of one particular monster, Plec had some exciting news. On season 2's seventh episode, a Sphinx appears in Mystic Falls and wreaks havoc with its ability to see into the future. The Sphinx delivers a mysterious and inscrutable prophecy to our heroes, which fans have already been trying to decipher. When a Twitter fan bemoaned that viewers had yet to see how big of a role this cryptic villain will play in the future, Plec promised, "You will eventually!"

Finally, we got some good news regarding Salvatore Boarding School's headmaster and The Vampire Diaries alum Alaric "Ric" Saltzman (Matt Davis). Fans of the franchise know that poor Ric has had a rough go of it in the love department, starting at the beginning of The Vampire Diaries when his wife was turned into a vampire and was then compelled to kill herself by an evil warlock. One concerned fan posed the question, "Will Alaric ever have a proper date?" — to which Plec emphatically replied, "YES."