Davina Clarire - Tumblr Posts
The Originals was a waste, New Orleans was whitewashed and so much was retconned just to make it work lol. Anyway, the spinoff should've been about Bonnie who has family roots in NOLA, the Bennett Coven as a powerful matriarchy + she and Tyler both go there to be leaders of their respective factions, and their interactions with Marcel and the supernatural politics and Southern Gothic aesthetics. But, I still want Tristan, Aurora and Lucien there + The Originals as antagonists maybe
Did Bonnie have roots in New Orleans? I don't remember that, but I never actually watched the last two seasons of the show so I could have missed something. I could have sworn early seasons said that Bonnie's ancestors (post Qetsitah and Ayana) were from Salem (probably an allusion to Tituba), though if I remember correctly, I thought the Martin Family (Jonas, Luka, and Greta) came from Louisiana originally.
All that aside, you're completely right when you talk about them completely whitewashing New Orleans. That city has a huge African-American presence, and we saw a grand total of maybe three or four characters that were black that had any prominent presence in the show? Everything else, including the city's founding being attributed to those viking vampires instead?
Yeah, I call bullshit.
And that's not even getting into the missed opportunity of the native Creole and Cajun populations, something that is unique to that area.
That entire show was a missed opportunity.
And I agree with you regarding Bonnie and Tyler. Hell, throw in Matt and Jeremy, too and we could have built up an entire show around those four, given their unique roles in the Mystic Falls Gang and how they were all criminally underused on TVD. Tyler in particular, especially given what we later found out about werewolves and their origins being in New Orleans. They could have very easily kept Klaus in Mystic Falls to creepily stalk Caroline and Stefan, while making a spinoff show about the supernatural community of The Big Easy.
Let's just set this up here...
The Originals started after season four of The Vampire Diaries, so after the MFG graduated high school. That right there would have been the perfect opportunity to do a clean break rather than keep the same group together after high school when generally everyone goes their seperate ways. So after graduation, Bonnie's still alive because fuck you, Plec! Jeremy's alive, too, and everything else is pretty much the same. Matt goes off on his Eurotrip with Rebekah to get it out of his system and Tyler has been exiled from his own home by Klaus' neurotic paranoia. What next?
Well, rather than everyone going to Whitmore for college, let's say that Matt was accepted on a scholarship to Tulane or something, actually give the poor boy a chance, so when he comes back from Europe he heads off for New Orleans right away. Or hell, even have him be an O'Connell, because by that point we still had no idea who his dad was, maybe even have him work as a bartender or something at Rousseau's. Let's say Tyler is already there, having been kicked out of his own home, exploring his ancestral roots and bonding with the local werewolf pack - we could explore what it means to be an actual leader of a pack (something Tyler did voluntarily rather than being forced into it like Hayley... werewolf queen, my ass). Bonnie goes on her road trip with her mother before hearing about the witches of New Orleans and decides she wants to know more about her craft so she heads there. And Jeremy, he left home because of his Hunter's instinct, chasing down rogue vampires that kill people for fun, hunting one to New Orleans. Maybe even have him explore the myth of Rayna Cruz.
So many possibilities!
Boom, we have four characters right off the bat, and can then introduce characters like Marcel, Vincent, Keelin, Jackson, Davina, Sophie, etc. We could get into the politics between the different supernatural factions of the city and see how they test the friendships of this people who have known each other since childhood, rather than have everything revolve entirely around the Mikaelsons and their borderline-incestuous drama.
I should be a showrunner. I'd do a better job coming up with a story than Plec or Narducci ever did.