The Legacies Season 1 finale heavily teased Malachai "Kai" Parker's return, so it had better deliver in Season 2. In that respect, Chris Wood is the new Candice King -- the latest star under pressure to show up on The Vampire Diaries and The Originals spinoff to fulfill the current storylines. If the pressure works, cool. If not, awkward!
The Vampire Diaries Universe ruler Julie Plec knows what she's doing. She knows it was pretty ballsy to add that scene where Josie and Lizzie found an Ascendant in a box at the Salvatore school. That is a key to a Prison World, and their Uncle Kai is currently stuck in a Prison World.
Julie Plec left fans with that hint to Kai's return in Legacies Season 2 ... even if she can't promise that Chris Wood will appear.
[Laughs] It’s so rude of me and so presumptuous, but I am just going to keep layering in Kai Parker until Chris Wood feels like he’s got no choice but to come back and play in our sandbox. I would love nothing more than to see that character again. I think he’d drop perfectly into this story line, even if we just got to see him in one episode. I’m going to keep my fingers crossed and hope that I can make that work out one of these days.
That's what Julie Plec told EW after the Legacies Season 1 finale. She and Kaylee Bryant (Josie Saltzman) had both previously emphasized how much they'd love to see Chris Wood's Kai on the spinoff. Kai is the twin brother of Josie and Lizzie's biological mother Jo. Kai killed Jo on Jo's wedding day to Alaric. So, yeah, having Kai back in the mix would be high-key drama, and a great addition to the already exciting set-up for Season 2.
TV Guide asked Julie Plec how worried we should be about a visit from evil Uncle Kai, if the twins start messing with the Ascendant relic they found:
I think when a key that would open the lock that is keeping evil Uncle Kai imprisoned shows up on your screen you should always be afraid ... and also super, super psyched — which, by the way, is not me saying that Chris Wood has agreed to come back because I have not gotten any answers out of him yet, but I would love nothing more.
Julie Plec also answered fans' questions on the finale, including this one about Chris Wood's return as Kai:
So she's made it clear that she wants it to happen, but right now the burden is on Chris Wood to finally say -- wait for it -- uncle and cave to her pressure.
In The Vampire Diaries Season 8, Bonnie revealed she had trapped Kai in another Prison World. You need an Ascendant and some Gemini Coven magic to do that, and Bonnie said she got help from Gemini Coven twins Lizzie and Josie. So that's why the twins said they vaguely remembered the Ascendant, because they did all that when they were young.
Do you think Kai is still listening to that Spin Doctors song somewhere? Poor guy. But nah, he deserved it.
While we're asking about character returns, everyone wants to see Caroline Forbes-Salvatore back on screen. Julie Plec was asked about her again, and reiterated basically the same thing, just in reference to actress Candice King this time:
There are so many characters from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals that we'd love to see again. Caroline and Kai are at the top of the list, but there's also Freya, Bonnie, and many more. It sounds like Julie Plec would also like to see them swing by the spinoff series -- even if just for a short period of time (like that cameo from Jeremy, Jo's one episode, and whatever they thought they were doing when they brought back Roman).
Julie Plec teased some tricks up her sleeve when it comes to getting some TVDU originals back on screen:
It has been two years since The Vampire Diaries finale and not quite a year since The Originals ended. So maybe some cast members will be ready to show up in Season 2, especially now that the pressure is on, and it's clear fans would be so excited to see them return.
However, the core Legacies characters have to come first. This is their time. The other shows had their runs. It sounds like Legacies knows what it wants to do for Season 2, in terms of the Salvatore students, and there are definitely ways that Vampire/Originals stars could fit into those storylines. But The Super Squad comes first.
The CW has renewed Legacies for Season 2, but the episode count is not known, and it's not quite time yet for a premiere date. Stay tuned! In the meantime, Legacies Season 1 -- all 16 episodes -- will be available for streaming on Netflix as of April 5.
