The Vampire Diaries may be getting its own spinoff.
Titled The Originals, the potential new CW series would be an offshoot revolving around the Original family led by Klaus (Joseph Morgan) and set up in a season-four Vampire Diaries episode. Executive producer Julie Plec, who will write the episode, is shepherding the spinoff, with Alloy Entertainment's Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo as executive producers.
In the Vampire Diaries episode slated to air April 25, Klaus returns to the supernatural melting pot that is the French Quarter of New Orleans, a town he helped build centuries ago, and is reunited with his diabolical former protege Marcel. The Secret Circle's Phoebe Tonkin, who joined Vampire Diaries this season in a pivotal recurring role, also will star.
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The Originals, the first existing vampires in the world and first seen in season two, have become a major part of the Vampire Diaries, with Morgan proving to be a favorite.
For Plec, this marks her second project in development at The CW. The Vampire Diaries co-showrunner is developing a reboot of Tomorrow People with Arrow's Greg Berlanti, with whom she worked on Dawson's Creek. Plec also is prepping her first foray into writing for films, with young adult book adaptation Tiger's Curse set up at Paramount.
For the CW's part, the project would mark a notable companion piece to potentially pair with the Kevin Williamson vehicle. Last year, the network struggled with witchy drama The Secret Circle, which was axed after one season. This season, the network has slotted freshman Beauty and the Beast in the plum Thursday 9 p.m. slot, but it hasn't become a water-cooler series the way Vampire Diaries has for the network.
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The spinoff, should it go to series, would become the latest Alloy entry at the network after Warner Bros. Television Group acquired the former Gossip Girl producer in June. The potential Vampire Diaries offshoot also is the latest back-door pilot this season; CBS is prepping a spinoff of NCIS: L.A.
Plec is repped by WME.
