After the most recent installment, it appears that Legacies season 3’s final villain would be Darth Vader-at least, an homage to him. The spinoff of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals revolves around the exploits and relationships of their students at the Salvatore School, a special school in Mystic Falls that operates as a private prep school however is a front for supernatural students. Since premiering in 2018, Legacies has adopted a monster-of-the-week format, with the pupils regularly battling creatures that come out of that the Malivore Pit, an alternate measurement populated with all types of dangerous creatures.
Legacies season 3 has been somewhat bumpy, thanks to the COVID pandemic. The connection saga of Hope and Landon has gotten stale, and it does not have the coherence past seasons have experienced. The show has ever been more goofier than its predecessors, the only show from the Vampire Diaries world to not take itself so seriously. In prior seasons, that is worked thanks to an overarching story holding it together, but because of the aforementioned disruption of COVID, season 3 has leaned even farther into the wacky to mixed results. But this week’s event may prove that the “anything goes” approach to the season was finally smart.
Legacies frequently makes references, occasionally, spoofed certain IP. But when the monster eventually appeared at the end of the episode, it became apparent it was Legacies’ most obvious homage. The new villain that climbed out of the pit was none other than Darth Vader in a fashion. The CW series can’t use the actual Darth Vader, but the monster was modeled to resemble the Sith Lord, with a black helmet, cowl, and cape. He emerged in front of the swirling smoke and striking backlighting that often accompanies Vader in several Star Wars properties, and to menacing music that was reminiscent of Darth Vader’s theme, “The Imperial March.” With only two episodes left in the summer, it’s possible Legacies may break its one monster per week trend and utilize this Darth Vader homage since the protagonist for its finale.
Legacies has experienced a few recurring villains with ongoing arcs-the Necromancer, Ryan Clarke, also Malivore itself, to name a few-but their arcs tend to have a backseat to the one-off monsters that the pupils directly battle every week. If Legacies awakened its regular format and utilized the same villain for the previous two episodes of the season, it may be a fresh take on the random, synonymous swarm of creatures they usually fight. Legacies-version Vader final out season 3 would give the show a few meaningful stakes and a more interesting adversary without the need to give them an ongoing arc, a wonderful balance between the two-dimensional, one-and-done monsters along with the long term antagonists of the series. It could be a powerful end for a third season that has been wildly inconsistent.
It’s potential Legacies just plans to use its version of Darth Vader as a cheeky reference to Star Wars, which will be fine and wouldn’t contradict the show’s canonical format. But it would be a pity to make such a transparent and clear homage to arguably the most well-known literary villain of all time and waste him. If he be easily defeated in one episode, there is virtually no other villain they can fight that could make a better final boss for its season finale. It is difficult to envision Legacies goes through the effort of producing a Darth Vader homage simply to squander the opportunity it presents.
