The Originals is a spin-off CW show, inspired by characters first introduced in The Vampire Diaries. The title refers to the fact that the family of vampires (and witches and hybrids) it follows are the original vampires. All other vampires in The Vampire Diaries are distantly descended from them. Think of them like blood-sucking royalty.
Being so old, the original vampires have special powers that regular vampires don’t—and are much harder to kill. As such, their rivalries and fights go back literal centuries because you best believe they don’t play nice.
Much like a supernatural version of Fast and Furious, The Originals is focused on family, with the original line-up of vampires made up of five siblings: Elijah, Finn, Niklaus, Kol, and Rebekah. Their parents are also introduced in The Vampire Diaries, the original witch and another original vampire, designed to hunt down and kill his children. Can you say daddy issues?
All in all, there’s a lot of family drama but when faced with other threats, the Mikaelsons do tend to band together. To watch their entire turbulent adventure, here’s a recommended watching order for The Originals, paired with seasons of The Vampire Diaries to make sure you get the full timeline in chronological order.
Recommended watching order for The Originals
For full background, you’ll want to watch at least from the beginning of season 2 of The Vampire Diaries—but for a true introduction to the wonderful world of Mystic Falls, you might as well go back and watch the first season too.
The first original vampire is introduced in episode 8, but the story begins to focus on them from episode 6. From there, you’ll want to watch all the way through until The Vampire Diaries season 5, episode 1, with characters from The Originals dipping in and out. They play the biggest roles between seasons 2 and 3.
Before The Vampire Diaries season 5, episode 2, you’ll want to switch over and watch the first two episodes of The Originals season 1. From this point on, The Vampire Diaries and The Originals are taking place simultaneously, with occasional visits from characters from each series appearing in the other show.
You could watch two episodes of each show alternately, but this might interrupt some of the storylines. Personally, I’d recommend alternating between seasons. Essentially, watch The Vampire Diaries season 5, then The Originals season 5, and so on.
This will change once more when you reach The Vampire Diaries season 7, episode 22 and The Originals season 3, episode 22, where you should start alternating every two episodes until the beginning of season 8 of The Vampire Diaries. This would look like, for example, TVD season 5, episodes 3 and 4, then The Originals season 1, episodes 3 and 4, and so on.
The Vampire Diaries season 8 can then be watched as a whole, followed by The Originals seasons 4 and 5. To continue your journey through this world, you’ll then want to settle in for Legacies, of which there have been four seasons.
(featured image: CW)
