‘Legacies’: Hope & Josie Had the Potential To Be the Greatest ‘TVD’ Universe Romance
Despite its promising premise and some strong characters — the exception being Alaric (Matthew Davis) — I had quite a few issues with Legacies during its run. Yet, none stood out to me more than its reluctance to give Hope Mikaelson (Danielle Rose Russell) the romance she deserved. The Vampire Diaries next-gen spinoff spent four seasons trying and failing to make the tribrid’s romance with Landon (Aria Shahghasemi) epic when it should’ve been giving that treatment to Hope and Josie Saltzman (Kaylee Kaneshiro).
Overall, The Vampire Diaries universe couples are largely toxic. As much as I love Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Elena (Nina Dobrev), I’d be lying if I said they didn’t lose me here and there before Damon’s character development kicked in. (It’s hard to root for the girl to end up with the guy who snapped her brother’s neck — even if he survived.) While they weren’t always making the best decisions or acting in the healthiest of manners, Legacies’ Hope and Josie never lost me like other TVD ships did.
In fact, they had the potential to be the best couple in The Vampire Diaries world — and certainly the least toxic — if only Legacies had committed to them. We’re still thinking about Hosie’s potential on the eight-year anniversary of the Legacies premiere.
What makes it more painful is that Legacies even teased the possibility of a Hope and Josie romance, confirming that each of them had feelings for the other at one point. In Season 1, Josie confesses to accidentally lighting Hope’s dorm on fire when they were younger. Josie left Hope a love letter, but tried to burn it when she was scared of her sister, Lizzie (Jenny Boyd), finding out. It takes almost a full season to find out that the crush wasn’t one-sided: Hope’s bisexuality is acknowledged in Season 2 when she admits to crushing on Josie briefly when they were 14.
Mark Hill / ©The CW Network / Courtesy Everett Collection
It’s the first instance of a main character in The Vampire Diaries universe not being straight, but Hope never has a relationship with anyone who isn’t a man in four seasons. Not that she has to, of course, but it could’ve been a great moment of representation in a franchise that’s seriously lacking it. Plus, Josie is right there. The slow-burn friends-to-lovers arc could’ve been legendary, à la Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) and Josie’s own mother, Caroline Forbes (Candice King). With Hope and Landon, grand moments and gestures don’t make their romance swoonworthy or memorable in the slightest. They also don’t make up for their severe lack of chemistry.
Josie and Hope, on the other hand, could’ve had a gradual, subtle slow-burn that burrowed itself into viewers’ minds. The show seemed like it was planting even more seeds throughout. In Season 1, there’s an episode that explores at alternate timeline created by a genie, and Hope and Josie have a blatantly flirty dynamic. During Season 2’s “Dark Josie” plotline, Hope never gave up on trying to save Josie, and the reverse was true when Hope turned her humanity off. There were countless instances of them seeing the best in each other and bringing out their best qualities. Their scenes together are a respite from the Hope and Landon ones and the Josie and Finch (Courtney Bandeko) ones.
Even the actors were on board, which should say it all. “I love it,” Kaneshiro told Buzzfeed. “Danielle and I loved the idea of Hosie starting from Season 1, and we kept asking and asking and asking for it. So it’s kind of funny and full circle that now the fans have kind of taken our side with things, and now they won’t stop asking for it. All we want is this beautiful, dynamic relationship. And I think that the fans want that as well.”
Maybe Legacies was headed that direction had it not gotten a premature death, or had Kaneshiro not exited Season 4 at the mid-way point. Either way, though, when the show knew the end was coming, they should’ve made Hosie canon. At least Hope doesn’t end up with Landon and Josie doesn’t end up with Finch, but that’s even more reason for Hosie to have at least been hinted at being endgame. There’s a reason viewers still talk about Hosie all these years later and none of the other romances, after all.
Legacies, Seasons 1-4, Streaming Now, Netflix
