The Major Vampire Diaries Callback In Season 4 Of Legacies

The CW series "Legacies" has struggled for three seasons to get out from under the shadow of its predecessors "The Vampire Diaries" and "The Originals." Set at the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted in Mystic Falls, the show follows the next generation of witches, werewolves, vampires, and other supernatural creatures as they battle a series of big bads who pose a threat to themselves, their school, and their town.

The second spinoff of "The Vampire Diaries," "Legacies," created by Julie Plec, tries to strike a balance between remaining true to the TVD canon while not relying on appearances of fan favorites from the original series. However, the show plants plenty of Easter eggs, keeping the characters Damon and Elena Salvatore (formerly Gilbert), Bonnie Bennett, Caroline Salvatore (formerly Forbes) very much alive in this expanded TVD universe. The students even pay homage to seminal moments that take place on "The Vampire Diaries" and "The Originals" in Season 3, Episode 3, "Salvatore: The Musical!"

Season 4 of "Legacies" has finally found its footing by taking the focus off Malivore and the monster-of-the-week format, and by introducing a villain whose killer instincts may even rival those of Klaus Mikaelson: his daughter Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell). However, Hope following in Daddy's footsteps isn't the only major "Vampire Diaries" callback in Season 4 of "Legacies."

In "Legacies" Season 4, Episode 2, "There's No I In Team, or Whatever," Cleo Sowande (Omono Okojie) has a vision of the only weapon that can kill an Original; a white oak tree. Fans of "The Vampire Diaries" fans remember that the white oak, one of nature's eternal objects, is integral to the spell Esther Mikaelson uses to turn her children into vampires as well as their only weakness.

In Season 2 of "The Vampire Diaries," viewers learn a dagger dipped in the ash of the white oak, while not fatal, can render an Original powerless until it is removed. In Season 3, it's revealed a stake made from white oak is the only weapon that can kill the otherwise indestructible members of the first family of vampires (though "The Originals" expands the fatal threats to an Original to include the venom from the bite of an Enhanced Original).

With Hope now fully transitioned into a tribrid, she is already proving to be a dangerous and cruel as her father, and so far, Cleo is the only one with the knowledge of the weapon that can end Hope's reign of terror for good. Although Klaus and Elijah Mikaelson used the remaining stake to kill each other in the series finale of "The Originals," a new tree (the product of witchcraft) is flourishing on the grounds of the Salvatore School. Nature always finds a way to restore balance, so are Hope's days as a tribrid numbered?