Hope Mikaelson is the powerful heroine of The Originals spin-off Legacies, but why can’t the character use her vampire powers yet? Debuting in late 2018, Legacies is the second spin-off from the massively popular CW hit The Vampire Diaries. Now in its third season, Legacies follows on from its predecessor The Originals by further expanding on the universe of The Vampire Diaries.
The series follows the fortunes of a group of supernaturally-powered students attending the Salvatore School For the Young and Gifted. However, for much of its first three seasons, two of the school’s students received the lion’s share of Legacies’ focus when it comes to the show's primary plotline. Hope Mikaelson and her part-Phoenix, part-Malivore love interest Landon Kirby is the central duo that the action of Legacies centers around, and despite them being the show’s most important figures, Hope’s powers are still not entirely clear as the series nears the close of season 3.
Hope is technically a Tribrid (a triply-powered hybrid gifted with the abilities of a werewolf, a witch, and a vampire all in one). However, she has yet to access any of the vampire portions of her abilities, meaning that this third of her powers has taken a backseat in the action of Legacies so far - which is somewhat ironic, given that show is a spinoff of The Vampire Diaries. However, there is a good reason for this plot choice that makes sense within the lore of both Legacies and depictions of vampires more broadly. Hope has yet to die or be killed, and she can only activate her vampire abilities once that happens since vampires are by definition undead.
As a campier, more humorous show than The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, Legacies treats “death” comparatively lightly, having killed off and resurrected Landon numerous times now. However, despite this Legacies still has not killed off Hope yet, making the vampire portion of her powers inaccessible. Vampire blood may run through her veins thanks to her famous lineage, but she can't access that power until her death and subsequent resurrection as a vampire. Hope may have had a lengthy season 2 plot where she was forgotten by herself and the denizens of the Salvatore School, but she has not actually died and, as vampires are immortal and undead, Hope can’t become one of them until she has been canonically killed off in the first place.
Tonally, the series does not seem to the heading in this direction, judging by the lighter tone of the show’s recent episodes like Legacies’ Midsommar-spoofing outing “This Feels Kind of Cult-y” (season 3, episode 14). However, killing off Hope to activate her vampire powers would be a doubly effective plot device that both injects some real stakes into the series and makes its heroine even more powerful in coming seasons. This recent light, comic tone means the twist would be all the more unexpected, so the upcoming end of season 3 could be the perfect time for Legacies to see Hope finally die (and eventually come back) to attain her vampire powers.