The Originals to End After Season 5

Showrunner Julie Plec announced The Originals will end after its upcoming fifth season

By Tierney Bricker Jul 20, 2017 5:48 PMTags
Watch: Phoebe Tonkin Teases "The Originals" Season Finale

The Mikaelsons are ready to say goodbye.

The Originals is set to end after season five, creator and showrunner Julie Plec announced on Twitter on Thursday, just ahead of the CW hit's panel at San Diego Comic-Con. Season five is set to air in 2018.

The news of The Originals coming to an end comes just one year after The Vampire Diaries announced it was ending its eight-year run. The Originals premiered in 2013 as a spinoff series to TVD, starring fan-favorites Joseph Morgan, Daniel Gillies and Phoebe Tonkin.

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"I'm packing my bags for Comic-Con, realizing it's been a year since we announced the end of The Vampire Diaries," Plec wrote. "It feels only fitting to use this anniversary to make a second farewell announcement: This year, we invite you to help us say goodbye to The Originals, which begins shooting its fifth and final season on Monday."

She continued, "It's both a gift and burden to be able to control the ending of a series. Many shows are not lucky enough to have a hand in deciding when the end has come. Being able to celebrate the completion of The Vampire Diaries was a joyful and deeply emotional ride, a luxury gifted by Mark Pedowitz at The CW and Peter Roth at WBTV, who, as TV fans themselves, knows what it means when a fan is able to say a true goodbye. Ending a show is always bittersweet, but for me, it's a true blessing to be a part of making that choice.

I want each actor to play their last scene as their character, and to put their character to bed with grace and care. For each craftsman to take a final walk on the sets they built, the lights they've hung. To choose the final song or score the final scene. To turn out the lights at the end of the last day, knowing that they can take a moment to be proud of all that they've created, and to say goodbye before they walk out the door for the last time. And I want the fans to be able to go along on that ride with us."

 

Plec finished her emotional note with a message to fans: "So please, join us at Comic-Con and as we move ahead with our final season of The Originals. Celebrate with us, cry with us, visit with us, watch us next spring when we air...and know that in a show about an immortal family who believes in "Always and Forever," it's never really the end of a story...With love, Julie."

In its final season, Steven Krueger, who plays Josh, has been upped to a series regular, while TVLine reports that Candice King will reprise her Vampire Diaries role of Caroline in the premiere. (And the Klaroline fans go wild!)

Plus, Danielle Rose Russell, 17, is set to take over the role of Hope, Klaus (Morgan) and Hayley's (Tonkin) daughter, after a massive time-jump. 

The Originals' fifth and final season will air in 2018 on The CW.