Legacies boss says season 1 finale is an 'emotional roller coaster'

In the penultimate episode of Legacies season 1, Landon (Aria Shahghasemi) found out the truth about his father. Spoiler: His father is none other than Malivore. And agent Clarke (Nick Fink)? He’s Landon’s brother. Talk about a complicated family dynamic. But with both Clarke and Triad trying to get their hands on the final key to Malivore, things are heating up as we head into the season 1 finale.

For starters, Triad is bringing the fight to the Salvatore School. They want that third object, and they want it now. And for the first time all season, the entire school will get in on the fight. In other words, Hope (Danielle Rose Russell) will have more help than ever before.

“The arc of the season for both Hope as an individual and all these kids as a group was to make her realize that she didn’t have to be in this alone and to open up her world to the realization that she has friends, and that all this burden that she’s been taking on herself for years can be lifted by sharing that burden across a group of people who are, in a lot of ways, just as special as she is,” showrunner Julie Plec tells EW. “We really wanted to get to the finale with Hope finally understanding, ‘Oh, I’m part of something. I’m not just the isolated girl alone in her room watching Cutthroat Kitchen anymore.’”

And seeing as how this is the first season finale for Legacies, Plec understands the pressure that comes along with finales in the Vampire Diaries universe. Need we mention that the season 1 finale of The Vampire Diaries featured the unforgettable Katherine twist? Or how the season 1 finale of The Originals saw Hayley die and come back to life, and ended with the resurrection of Esther and Finn? Over the years, Plec has built a universe that excels in finales, and she hopes Legacies will do the same.

“I always put huge pressure on myself for season finales because I feel like I have, with very few exceptions, really done well by the finales on my shows, and I love that,” Plec says. “I love, as a fan, getting to the end of a season and having your mind blown, and you can’t wait for that show to come back the next season. We always want to make sure that we have surprised our audience and taken them on as epic of an emotional roller coaster as we can in our finale, and this episode is no exception.”

Legacies airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET on the CW.

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