Legacies is the joint spinoff of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, and what legacy could be more relevant to fans than the one left by Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) and Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder)?
Klaus Mikaelson's The Originals daughter Hope is the main character of Legacies, with Alaric Saltzman and Caroline Forbes-Salvatore's Vampire Diaries twins Josie and Lizzie Saltzman as fellow regulars. Wouldn't it make perfect sense to add Damon and Elena's daughter Stefanie to the story in Season 2, after her name-drop in Season 1?
Elena and Damon Salvatore ended up together in The Vampire Diaries finale, and we know they lived long, happy lives. Dr. Elena Salvatore set up a practice in Mystic Falls, and Damon appreciated life as a human again. Legacies Season 1 also thrilled fans with mention of their children.
Sure, the two mentions of their kids -- and specifically of a daughter named Stefanie Salvatore -- happened in alternate timelines. But The Vampire Diaries Universe ruler Julie Plec acknowledged Damon and Elena's kids, and she even weighed in on featuring them in Legacies:
As many fans replied, the kids wouldn't have to be supernatural to appear on Legacies. But they could be.
Since Stefanie got a shoutout in Legacies Season 1, in honor of her late uncle Stefan Salvatore, here are six ways The Powers That Be could let us meet Damon and Elena's daughter in Legacies Season 2.
Stefanie Salvatore Manifests Supernatural Powers And Attends Salvatore School
Let's assume in this scenario that Stefanie Salvatore starts showing some kind of supernatural power, whatever it might be, so she ends up attending Salvatore School as a student. How would this power manifest? Would Damon and Elena raise her to be aware of supernatural abilities, or try to protect her by keeping that hidden?
Maybe if Stefanie does have some kind of power, let's say a witch, that would force the issue and the family would have to address an entire world of supernatural abilities -- plus the existence of the Salvatore family school down the road. Damon gave the Salvatore boarding house to Stefan's widow Caroline, figuring that's what Stefan would've wanted, and she and Alaric have been running the Salvatore boarding school ever since.
Julie Plec tweeted that the Salvatore School was founded when the Saltzman twins were under 5. "Right when their powers started manifesting in dangerous ways." So they are at least that many years older than Stefanie Salvatore, considering Damon and Elena started having kids after he became human again at the end of The Vampire Diaries.
As we saw with Pedro, the Salvatore School isn't necessarily just for high school-aged kids. What if Stefanie starts manifesting powers at her current age (9-11, maybe?) and ends up at the Salvatore school, under the tutelage of family friend Alaric Saltzman, and under the guidance of longtime family friends Lizzie and Josie. Would they be like older sisters to Stefanie? It would be interesting to see.
As fans have pointed out, Stefanie could be carrying magical blood on both sides. As one CinemaBlend commenter wrote:
A Salvatore kid could definitely be a witch. Elena descends from travelers and if Stefan descended from family of Silas, then so does Damon. Combining their bloodlines could once again activate witchblood even if their parents never outwardly showed signs of being potent in magic before they first became vampires.
Here's one fan's suggestion to Julie Plec:
Elena is a doppelganger and they both were vampires and Damon still has the cure inside him. So his cure blood passed down to a kid could easily make them supernatural. Balance, Hope can make hybrids, Stefanie can cure them. ?
Another fan had a suggestion on the same track:
If I may, I have a suggestion: what if the children had the cure of vampirism in the blood? It's an idea that I think it can work, never no vampire in the world took the cure and tried to breed but Damon Salvatore yes.
Stefanie Salvatore carrying a cure in her blood could certainly make for an interesting plot point. First of all, how would we know this? It would have to come up in some fashion, when she manifests a supernatural power. There are any number of directions the story could take if Stefanie Salvatore has supernatural powers. But, honestly, I prefer the scenarios where she doesn't.
Lizzie And Josie Saltzman Babysit Stefanie Salvatore
Let's say Stefanie is just a regular kid, a family friend of the Saltzmans. In the alternate universe of that Legacies Season 1 episode, Josie addressed Damon as "Stefanie Salvatore's dad." Considering the age difference between the girls, it seems unlikely they'd be close friends. It's more likely the twins would be called in to babysit Stefanie (and maybe her siblings) if Damon and Elena were out on a date night.
Josie is a sweetheart and seems like she'd be great with kids. But Lizzie showed with Pedro that she might only really get along well with kids. I'd love to see Lizzie bonding with young Stefanie, and talking to her like any other person her age -- i.e. venting to her about her latest complaints. I see Stefanie either being like a patient young friend to her, close to Elena with Caroline, or maybe going in the snarky direction befitting Damon's daughter.
Either way, a babysitting storyline could accidentally introduce magic to Stefanie, if Lizzie blows up in some way or if the twins start talking about The Merge or some other supernatural term and curious Stefanie wants to learn more.
It's also possible that Jeremy Gilbert could come back into the storyline after his Legacies Season 1 cameo and he could be the one to babysit Stefanie. But in the interest of being practical, I'd say have the twins do it. They are already main characters of Legacies, so it wouldn't require convincing Steven R. McQueen to return again on top of casting a new character and scenario for Stefanie. It seems more doable to give that storyline to the Saltzman twins. But hey, anyway to get Jeremy back works for me.
Stefanie Salvatore Helps Out At Mom Elena's Practice
In the continued interest of practicality, I am assuming Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder are not returning for any Stefanie Salvatore story on Legacies. We'd all love them to, but let's be realistic and assume they will not show up in Season 2. It would be great if we could at least get Candice King to show up in Season 2 as Caroline, so let's start there.
Anyway, I could see young Stefanie maybe wanting to follow in her mom's footsteps as a doctor. In that respect, she could be a young presence at Dr. Elena Salvatore's practice. She wouldn't work there in a child labor capacity, but if Mom was out or busy somewhere, and some Salvatore School/Mystic Falls High kids rushed into the practice because there was an emergency on the streets, I could see a ... 10-year-old, maybe? ... Stefanie in the office rushing to get supplies to help. If Judith Grimes can be such a badass on The Walking Dead at 10, I don't see why the daughter of Damon and Elena couldn't do the same.
Plus, that's another scenario where the world of the supernatural could creep into the show, whether Stefanie knows it exists at this age or not. Supernaturals don't exactly bleed or heal like regular humans, and she'd probably be old enough to notice that in a medical crisis.
We See Stefanie Salvatore Somewhere Else In Mystic Falls
This is the catch-all section for any other way we just happen to run into Stefanie Salvatore out there in a non-dangerous capacity. If we can get Jeremy on screen, maybe Stefanie is out shopping with Uncle Jeremy. It's unlikely that we'd see Damon and Elena on-screen, so any other way would work. If she goes to school locally -- probably not Mystic Falls High School quite yet -- maybe we see her with fellow school kids.
Stefanie would be familiar with Alaric as her dad's friend, so maybe she spots Ric out shopping or something and says "Hey, Mr. Saltzman" and they have a brief conversation giving fans an update on Damon and Elena. It could be something that simple. Or it could get more complicated...
Stefanie Salvatore Is Put In Supernatural Danger
As much as it would be difficult to see a Mini Salvatore in danger, that wouldn't be too shocking for the daughter of Damon Salvatore. There are still supes out there that might want to hurt Damon for things he's done in the past, and what better/worse way than to kidnap his child?
I'm thinking of Kai Parker on this. Uncle Kai was referenced in the Legacies Season 1 finale, when Josie and Lizzie were holding an Ascendant, vaguely recalling it from a long time ago. Bonnie Bennett used the very young twins' Gemini Coven magic to bind Kai in another Prison World. He's there now, but that Ascendant returning to the story suggests he could come back. That's what Julie Plec wants, it's what Josie actress Kaylee Bryant wants, and other Vampire Diaries fans would love it too.
Kai is directly tied to the Gemini Coven Merge storyline, but Kai and Damon have a history too, and I could totally see a revived Kai somehow discovering the existence of Stefanie Salvatore and kidnapping/manipulating her as a power move.
It doesn't have to be Kai, that's just one idea that could fit into where they were already hoping to go in Season 2 if Chris Wood returns. But putting Stefanie in danger as a Gilbert-Salvatore wouldn't exactly be new in Mystic Falls, and we do have a Super Squad of badasses who'd be willing to do just about anything to help her.
Stefanie Salvatore Needs Help When Damon And Elena Are In Danger
Let's say something happens to Damon and Elena off-screen. The supernatural world won't leave them alone or whatnot. It's easy to imagine. Stefanie would probably call her Uncle Jeremy. But Jeremy might call in the folks at the Salvatore School.
The Saltzmans already know of Stefanie, hence the Legacies Season 1 reference, but this would be another case where they'd have to decide whether she already knew about the existence of supernaturals or not. The Vampire Diaries already did the whole Holy Crap Vampires! thing with Elena. And The Originals' Hope is on the other end of the spectrum as a tribrid with multiple powers.
What could Stefanie do that's different? Maybe she's like a Harry Potter squib, like some other Vampire Diaries characters, where she doesn't have powers herself but she's aware of the supernatural world. If she was raised in awareness of the supernatural, would she envy people with supernatural abilities, or be grateful that she gets to be normal? Would she even be allowed to stay normal, considering what usually happens to humans in The Vampire Diaries Universe?
For all I know, Legacies Season 2 will not even mention Stefanie, or any other Gilbert-Salvatore children. But Season 1 planted that hope in fans' minds, and Julie Plec did acknowledge the kids in her tweet. So we know she and the writers are at least thinking about options.
There's a lot to think about when it comes to Legacies Season 2, beyond Damon and Elena's kids. How many past Vampire Diaries and The Originals stars will return this time? Will we finally see Caroline? How about Kai? Any hope of Bonnie or Freya? Will Penelope come back from Europe? How will we get Hope back after her big Season 1 finale sacrifice, now that everyone has forgotten her?
Julie Plec said the writers would be getting back to work in early June, with filming for Legacies Season 2 to start in late July. Season 2 will premiere this fall 2019 on The CW. Meanwhile, Nina Dobrev has her CBS comedy Fam, which may or may not be renewed for Season 2, and Ian Somerhalder will soon release his new vampire drama V-Wars on Netflix.
How would you like to see Legacies introduce Stefanie Salvatore and/or any other kids Damon and Elena had after The Vampire Diaries?
