The CW has been very successful with its crossovers as of late, as evidenced by last December's "The Flash" and "Arrow" crossover. This year, the network will give fans of "The Vampire Diaries" and "The Originals" what they've been waiting for -- a crossover event that will happen in the current seasons of the vampire-centric shows.
CW president Mark Pedowitz announced the crossover at the Television Critics Association press tour on Sunday, Jan. 10, in Pasadena, California.
"You will see, organically, a crossover this year," said Pedowitz (via Entertainment Weekly). "Not of the size and scope of we do for Arrow and Flash."
Executive producer Julie Plec told EW that a crossover between the two shows is something that they have always wanted to do, but they never could find "the organic way" to do it and that they never wanted to force it for the sake of having a crossover.
Plec gave some details about the special episode in an interview with Variety at the TCA, saying that it all started when she and the writers tried to figure out how to get :TVD's" Stefan (Paul Wesley) safe as he was being pursued by magic. The solution that they came up with was to get him to a place without magic, and Plec said that she remembered that such a place existed, and it was situated in "The Originals" world.
"And I was like…'St. James Infirmary! There's a place where there's no magic that can work in New Orleans!'" Plec added that the whole writers' room rejoiced at the idea since they've been waiting for a long time for that opportunity.
The crossover will span two separate episodes, one for each of the shows and both in episode 14 of the respective series. The showrunner said that Stefan will go to New Orleans in a "Vampire Diaries" episode and he will remain in New Orleans in "The Originals" to help Klaus (Joseph Morgan) deal with a problem that could be important to Stefan's survival.
"The Vampire Diaries" and "The Originals" return Friday, Jan. 29 at 8 p.m. and 9 p.m., respectively, on The CW.
