#alyssachang

[Warning: The below contains MAJOR spoilers for the Season 3 premiere of Legacies, “We’re Not Worthy.”]

There’s good news and bad news in the Legacies Season 3 premiere on January 21: Hope (Danielle Rose Russell) and Landon (Aria Shahghasemi) are both awake, but Josie (Kaylee Bryant) is leaving for a bit. In an attempt to deal with the aftermath of her dark magic binge, Josie is heading to see her mother.

Also, Alyssa (Olivia Liang) finds herself faced with a new role just as she’s leaving the school: the Necromancer’s (Ben Geurens) acolyte. Uh-oh.

TV Insider chatted with executive producer Brett Matthews to find out what’s next.

How will Josie be different when she returns from visiting her mother?

Brett Matthews: Josie, in the early part of Season 3, will make a choice that really does affect the status quo of the Salvatore School and her life and we will get to see that play out.

How is Hope and Landon’s relationship this season compared to others? Their troubles aren’t over just because both are awake now.

It’s very, very true. They will continue to try to define their dynamic. As Hope goes, so goes the show. Hope is the foundation Legacies is built on and her relationship with Landon is very central to her journey. They will face some of their most severe obstacles yet and have to band together in the face of some really formidable enemies and make peace with the risks they are willing to take as a couple and their need and responsibility to face down the darkness that is Malivore and its monsters.

It’s a slippery slope, as always, that they continue to try and navigate. They get on the same page, but in that process, you will also see them grow closer than they ever have been before.

Alyssa clearly doesn’t have a choice when it comes to being the Necromancer’s eternal acolyte. Can she be redeemed?

I think so. We’ll learn more about Alyssa and her very specific origin and how that turns and twists. The question will be, is she stuck with the Necromancer or is the Necromancer stuck with her? Their dynamic may not be exactly what you anticipate it is. She is going to leave Episode 1 of the new season with a very serious axe to grind, and as we all know, Alyssa Chang is not a person you want as your enemy. If the history of all these shows have you taught you anything, everybody’s redeemable. If Josie’s redeemable, Alyssa’s redeemable.

People rooted for Klaus (Joseph Morgan) on The Originals after The Vampire Diaries.

That’s what I’m saying! They made a whole show with him as the protagonist. He was the worst villain of all time. Damon’s [Ian Somerhalder] journey to being somebody you root and cared for. Redemption lies at the very heart of The Vampire Diaries universe, as different as these shows may be a little bit tonally.

The logline for Episode 302 teases “devastating news involving one of their own” for the Super Squad.

The logline does a pretty good job of teasing the type of episode it is. We try to do an episode or two a year that really harkens to our Vampire Diaries roots, not necessarily through characters or mythology, but the style and tone of the other shows, [which] made you cry more than we probably do. It is a visitation to those roots stylistically and the smaller, more emotional stories, filtered into the Legacies universe and how we deal with things like that that in The Vampire Diaries, you might not even bat an eye at, but some of those moves and turns just feel a little different in Legacies. It’s one of those classic throwback episodes and a big one for us.

And Alaric (Matthew Davis) is “getting some timely affairs in order.” What’s he up to? I kept thinking about him dying in the original series.

[Laughs] There’s really no way to tease what Ric is doing without getting too much into the plot. Ric is tied to the central dilemma of the episode and is doing everything he can to resolve it. It’s just not necessarily the usual type of victory he’s tasked with winning. It is a different journey. But he is doing what Alaric Saltzman generally does in Legacies, which is trying to help the kids in any way he can and also as always, fearful they may run into problems he can’t solve.

Alaric wanted the students to be kids, which, of course, didn’t last long. Will we continue to see an attempt to balance the supernatural with normal teenage lives?

That’s always at the heart of Legacies, but Ric is beginning to see them not just as kids or students but as equals or as special because of their gifts. He will only view them more as worthy of hearing their opinions. It becomes more of a collaboration between them than it has been in seasons past.

Executive producer Brett Matthews spills on what's to come in season three of the Vampire Diaries spinoff Legacies, returning Jan. 21 on The CW.

Season three is here, and there are some supes who need to be woken up.

When we last saw the Salvatore School (back in March 2020, a cursed month), the Necromancer (Ben Geurens) had made good on his promise to free acolytes Rafael (Peyton Alex Smith) and Alyssa (Olivia Liang) and bring Landon (Aria Shahghasemi) back from the dead, in exchange for being able to take Josie's (Kaylee Bryant) overflowing black magic for himself. Josie's now back to normal and everything should be well, but it's not.

Landon's still dead for some reason, and Hope (Danielle Rose Russell) never woke back up after her trip into Josie's subconscious. Once again, a season of Legacies is starting off without its hero tri-brid, and her absence is certainly felt, though that cliffhanger was not originally designed as the season two finale.

Production had to shut down last spring with several episodes left unfinished, but as showrunner Brett Matthews explained to E! News, the intended finale is still on its way.

Basically, the first "chapter" of season three is the resolution of season two storylines, and episode four is the finale we would have gotten last year. It had to be adjusted a bit to be COVID-safe and to fit into the middle of a season instead of the end, but Matthews said it's definitely a "larger" episode than usual. Post-COVID Legacies will then actually start with episode five.

For now though, there's still a lot happening before season two can fully wrap up. Here's what Matthews could say about what's to come on Legacies.

E!: How big of a deal is it that Landon and Hope are still dead and/or asleep?

Matthews: I mean, it's massive. Legacies goes through Hope. Legacies is built on the legacy of Hope Mikaelson—and the twins—but what even is Legacies without Hope? So the impact of that is absolutely massive and we certainly look forward to having her back in our world and resuming her rightful place as the lead of our show.

The joy that comes with that challenge is that we get to put some of the other characters in the spotlight, so that's been really exciting but certainly anything going on with Hope in the world of the show is just huge. What does the super squad do in Hope's absence? The monsters don't stop coming just because Hope is sleeping, so how do they rise to the challenge?

E!: Speaking of monsters, would you say this season continues to be about the "monster of the week?" Are bad guys still coming out of the pit?

Matthews: Legacies is very much built on a "monster of the week" model. That's always what it was intended to be. Some people like it and some people don't, but it's very much in our DNA, and that will continue. For us, the monsters are interesting enough in and of themselves, but it always comes from a place of character and I think the monsters allow us to shed light on the sort of thematics of an episode and highlighting a personal journey...That will continue, but I also think you will begin to see the beginnings of new mythology on the show and evolving and growing up a little. The show will grow up, but the tone of Legacies is, by its very design, a lighter, sunnier, more optimistic viewpoint on the world than The Vampire Diaries or The Originals ever were.

E!: Josie literally murdered a classmate last season and tried to kill and absorb her sister, so how are Josie and Lizzie moving on from that? How is Josie facing the rest of the school?

Matthews: You know, I think that is the question. It's exciting to see [Josie] back with the gang, but she has also done some things that have to be reckoned with. And that'll be a big deal for the character, for her role in the show. And of course it profoundly impacts Lizzie, who has always had a very clear dynamic with Josie. I think Lizzie really is at a point where she's gotta decide: is the old bag of tricks the right one, or am I, as a human being, evolving past that? I think that's part of the fun of the premiere is to see Lizzie being there for Josie in the way Josie is typically there for Lizzie.

E!: How are Rafael and Alyssa moving on from having been affected by the Necromancer? Raf had to kill Landon! How are they getting past that?

Matthews: That will have a huge impact on Raf's story and that story will unfold at the beginning of this season. It certainly raises some frightening questions and that will certainly be a very big part of the beginning of the season.

E!: How would you describe the Necromancer's role this season?

Matthews: He's just a character we love. The Necromancer has launched this grand plan, and part of what we love about the Necromancer is, you know, do we call him the Necromancer or do we call him Ted, because now we know his human side? He is obviously up to no good on a scale the likes of which he has never been able to achieve before, so we will be resolving that storyline in the first chapter of season three. That will really be something that puts our characters to the test and have a profound impact on the whole season three. He will certainly be a central figure, but there will also be some new and exciting mythology starting this season as well.

E!: Are you following up the film noir episode with any other fun themes?

Matthews: Early in season three, we will revisit the therapy box, and that will be a Friday the 13th-esque slasher environment that our characters are thrust into, so that's a fun concept episode that we'll be hitting up sooner rather than later.

E!: Will we see Emma (Karen David) and Dorian (Demetrius Bridges) again?

Matthews: Emma's on another show. That makes it difficult. We have such a great relationship with Karen David and she always wants to come back, so I wouldn't be shocked at all. If schedules align...I mean, there's this whole business side to television. When people want to know why this character is [gone], a lot of it's business. But you will certainly see Dorian and Dorian will continue to be a part of our cast. I just think he elevates all the stories he's in, so he'll have an exciting new role in the world and we'll explore that.

E!: I can't help but notice that when Dorian and Emma aren't there, there are not very many adults at this school.

Matthews: Yeah, there's not a lot of adults. You'll see as we begin the new material that, as a result of COVID, the status quo at the school has changed a little bit, which is fine. It's hard to safely do scenes with a million extras the way we normally would. You'll see that that status quo has been written into the show, so if you notice a lack of adults, there's a story reason for it and there's a reason why. But like I said, Dorian will certainly be present in the season and I do think brings that counterpoint to Ric. And we will see some new adults on the show, but the heart and soul of the show is Hope and the gang and the kids.