Caution: Minor spoilers ahead for Legacies season 4.
The chances of former Legacies heroine Hope to regain her humanity are essentially doomed thanks to the exit of series regular Josie. For better or worse, The Originals spinoff Legacies season 4 feels far more like its parent show and The Vampire Diaries than its earlier seasons did. As well as Legacies borrowing The Vampire Diaries’ recurring gags, the spinoff has also abandoned its lighter, campier tone in favor of the dark melodrama preferred by the ‘00s hit.
However, while this change has been welcomed by many fans of Legacies, it does come at a cost to the spinoff. Ever since Legacies season 4 killed off Landon and turned Hope into the Tribrid, the once-sweet series heroine has been a ruthless, killer villain who is nigh on unstoppable. While this was initially a welcome change from her harmless persona in seasons 1-3, Legacies is now running the risk of overplaying its hand and making its former heroine too unbeatable and evil to be interesting.
In Legacies season 4, everyone is growing except Hope, something that is not likely to be helped by series regular Kaylee Bryant departing the show. Bryant has played Josie, the more empathetic and kind of Alaric’s daughters, since Legacies began, Her character repeatedly appealed to the better nature of Hope even as the Tribrid relentlessly rebuffed her attempts at emotional connection. Even her meaner mirror version Dark Josie was always willing to give Hope another chance and the benefit of the doubt, despite the vicious villain repeatedly maiming and attempting to kill her former friends. With Josie gone from the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted, it is unlikely that anyone will be able to stand between Alaric’s more hot-headed daughter Lizzie and Hope killing each other, leaving the restoration of Hope’s humanity feeling less likely than ever before.
The fact that Legacies season 4 had Hope switch bodies with Aurora was already a concerning development for the show as, while it was fun to see a familiar face return to the franchise, the plot was clearly padding designed to drag out Hope’s villainous turn. However, it always seems more likely than not that Hope’s humanity would be turned back on before her antics could get too out of hand, something that seems less likely now that Josie is no longer around to remind her erstwhile friend of their shared connection. Lizzie has no interest in patching things up with Hope and has now been killed (albeit temporarily) by the Tribrid, meaning she’s unlucky to care about restoring Hope’s humanity and more likely to want her dead for good.
Even before Josie left, the Super Squad’s plan to take down Hope was one of the most brutal and inhumane torture methods in the Vampire Diaries universe. With the ostensible pro-Hope voice of reason now gone, the group has no reason to stop themselves from launching an all-out assault on the Tribrid. Whether this ends with them being wiped out or finally taking down Hope, the odds of her regaining her humanity seem slimmer with each passing episode. The former Legacies heroine could still return to the side of good, but she has lost one of her biggest allies and defenders with Josie’s exit.
New episodes of Legacies air Thursday nights at 9 PM ET on The CW.