At San Diego Comic-Con 2018, OMFGTV sat down with the star of the upcoming CW series, “Legacies,” Danielle Rose Russell, to discuss the journey of her character of Hope Mikaelson over the course of “The Originals” and now this new spinoff, while also previewing the series’s upcoming October 25 premiere.
“Hope has had a lot of tragedy strike in her life,” Russell began. “That doesn’t necessarily go away. I think Hope just has a much more mild way of expressing that. This show is much lighter and so far, much less tragic than either of the shows preceding it.”
Russell also delved into Hope’s guilt over the role that she played in her mother Hayley’s death in “The Originals.” “Hope is kind of a walking case of PTSD and I don’t think that will ever leave her. She’ll always miss her mom.” Russell also disclosed that “Legacies” picks up two years after the series finale of “The Originals.” “It’s not as fresh and not as traumatizing,” Russell added.
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“Hope definitely has a little more normalcy,” Russell continued. “The school is kind of a home for her because there’s no place in the world, not even with her own family, that can tame what she is. She doesn’t even know how to handle it. She gets a little more sense of home and where she belongs.”
When asked if she sees Hope as a good person, Russell emphatically said, “Never! I don’t think I’ll ever see Hope as a good girl! I think Hope is good natured. I don’t think she’s evil, but she makes a lot of mistakes that have cost her a lot and will cost her a lot.”
Russell also gave her thoughts on the influence of Klaus and Hayley on Hope. “I think Hope has an equal mix of both. I think she shows a lot of the nicer qualities of Hayley, but when we pick up in ‘Legacies,’ she has a little more Klaus in her. She has this attitude of, ‘I am undefeated and no one can touch me. Don’t ever victimize me.'”
In the series, Hope will be a student at the Salvatore School along with Alaric and Caroline’s twin daughters, Josie and Lizzie. “That’ll be a fun dynamic,” Russell said. “The twins are focused on what skirts they’ll be wearing tomorrow and Hope kind of laughs at it so much. They’re polar opposites and they do not get along. There’s sort of a ‘Mean Girls’ dynamic, but Hope is not a victim by any means. No one will ever bully Hope Mikaelson!”
Finally, Russell discussed Hope’s Mikaelson lineage and how that impacts her personality. “I don’t think her Mikaelson roots will ever leave her. I think she’ll always be the stubborn, ‘Do not touch me’ Mikaelson. We’ve seen Hope for like a season and she’s already had so much tragedy!”
“Legacies” premieres October 25 on The CW.