The CW's The Vampire Diaries is preparing to film a new spinoff series, The Originals. The show will revolve around Klaus (Joseph Morgan) and his return to New Orleans, "a town he helped build centuries ago." Charles Michael Davis—you might know him as Kwan from The Game—has been cast as Klaus' former protege who now runs things in the Big Easy.
The Originals is a backdoor pilot, which means it will air as part of The Vampire Diaries in case it's not picked up. The CW most recently did this with the 80s episode of Gossip Girl where Pitch Perfect's Brittany Snow and Don't Trust the B— in Apartment 23's Krysten Ritter played the teenage Rhodes sisters (Serena's mother and aunt). It wasn't made into its own show, and presumably no one spoke of it ever again. Probably because they realized that at 26 and 31, neither actor should play high school anymore.
Not all spinoffs are as ill-fated as Joey, though: Frasier was an offshoot of Cheers. The King of Queens started on Everybody Loves Raymond. So who knows—maybe The Originals will be just as great as its predecessor. With Gossip Girl at an end, The Vampire Diaries is certainly the channel's most-talked-about show. Although stars Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, and Paul Wesley won't be involved, we'll see if the CW can parlay their momentum into something bigger on April 25!
RELATED: The 25 Hottest Women on Horror TV Shows
[via THR]
LIKE COMPLEX POP CULTURE ON FACEBOOK
