The age of vampires on The CW is coming to an end. The Vampire Diaries aired its very last episode earlier this year, leaving the network with only The Originals as the vampire-centric series. Now, executive producer Julie Plec has some very bad news for fans who have been relying on The Originals for their vampire fix. The show has been cancelled and will officially come to an end. Check out her announcement, which she posted on social media ahead of the big San Diego Comic-Con:
It's not all bad news; the latest season of The Originals to air was Season 4, and the show has already been renewed for a Season 5. Fans will get to see the show wrap up loose ends and come to a logical end. The Vampire Diaries was able to map out its final season to build to an epic (if heartbreaking) series finale. If The Originals can do the same, fans could get the perfect ending to the story. Julie Plec's Twitter announcement gives us something to think about during hiatus.
Sadly, the cancellation doesn't come as a huge surprise. Although it was possible that The Originals would score better ratings than ever as Vampire Diaries fans looked for more vampire action on The CW, that wasn't the case for Season 4. The average Season 4 viewership actually did get a boost from the Season 4 viewership, but only from 931,000 to 940,000, which is a small increase of 0.93%. The change in the key 18-49 demographic was more troubling. The Season 3 average of 0.38 was already low, even by CW standards, and it dropped by nearly 15% for Season 4. The final average rating for Season 4 was a mere 0.32.
In some ways, it's good to know that The Originals will be coming to an end sooner rather than later. Fans now won't need to spend Season 5 worrying about the numbers and wondering if The CW will renew for a Season 6. Now that we know a Season 6 will not happen, we can enjoy Season 5 for what it is with minimal stress. Sure, we'll still need to wonder if any major characters will bite the dust, especially after The Vampire Diaries killed off one of the Salvatore brothers in its finale. Only time will tell.
Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for the latest in TV news. We'll have the biggest and best news out of San Diego Comic-Con right here. If you need shows to watch nowadays, check out our summer TV premiere guide and our 2017 Netflix schedule. To plan your TV lineup for fall TV season, our rundowns of renewals and cancellations for network television and cable/streaming can give you everything you need. Finally, our list of upcoming reboots and revivals is worth a look as well.
