Real life and reel life have blended for Legacies star Jenny Boyd. She plays Lizzie Saltzman on The CW's Legacies, a spinoff of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals. Lizzie's mother is Caroline Forbes-Salvatore, played by Candice King across all eight seasons of Vampire Diaries and the final season of The Originals.
Caroline was never shown on screen in Legacies Season 1, but she was name dropped often, and Lizzie and Josie Saltzman visited her in Europe. It turns out, Jenny Boyd became friends with actress Candice King in real life shortly before joining The Vampire Diaries Universe herself. Now they have something of a mentor-student dynamic off-screen.
Jenny Boyd told MEAWW how and when she met Candice King:
This is a really crazy story. Candice joined the same acting class that I was in like a month before I got the role so she and I were seeing each other every week and were friendly, and then I got cast to play her daughter. Literally the next night I ambushed her in class, I basically jumped out of the bushes and was like, ‘Candice! I’m playing your daughter!’ Ever since then she has been such a great mentor, I go to her for advice, it’s just been really wonderful having her as a contact and as a friend.
That's awesome -- especially since Lizzie clearly takes after Caroline in so many ways.
The first reference Legacies Season 1 had to Caroline was when Josie (Kaylee Bryant) tried to explain that Lizzie was acting out because she missed their mother Caroline. When the twins' biological mother Jo briefly came back from the dead, she bonded with Josie, since Josie takes after Jo the way Lizzie takes after Caroline. The similarities extend beyond their looks into some of their behaviors. It's interesting to think of the advice Candice King may have given Jenny Boyd on playing Caroline's daughter. Maybe she just suggested Boyd enjoy the experience?
Caroline was often neurotic and insecure in the early days of The Vampire Diaries, which sounds a lot like Lizzie at the Salvatore School in Legacies. Caroline matured with the show, though, and hopefully Lizzie will have the same kind of journey.
Caroline was also known for her love interests, including Legacies' current headmaster Alaric, but also eventual husband Stefan Salvatore, and Hope Mikaelson's father Klaus. The Klaus-Caroline Klaroline love story was referenced in Legacies when Lizzie actually gave Hope the dress Klaus had given Caroline to wear to a Mikaelson family ball. Hope wore it to the Miss Mystic Falls pageant and won -- just like Caroline won Miss Mystic Falls in Vampire Diaries Season 1.
Speaking of romances, though, Jenny Boyd told MEAWW there have been talks of Lizzie possibly having a romance in Legacies Season 2. We'll have to see how that turns out (fingers crossed that it's with MG) when Season 2 premieres this fall on The CW.
The writers will be digging into Legacies Season 2 in June, showrunner Julie Plec recently said, and they'll start taping the new season in late July. Caroline is supposedly in Europe right now trying to find a way to help the twins avoid The Merge when they turn 22. We all hope Caroline (and Uncle Kai, and maybe some others) will join the party in Season 2, but if that doesn't happen, Lizzie, Josie, and fans will just soldier on together.
