For returning fans, rewatching Season 1 is a revelation. You notice the foreshadowing of Hope’s future power. You see the tragic irony in Marcel’s early loyalty. You appreciate how every single decision Klaus makes is colored by his fear of becoming his father.
The stakes escalate. The baby becomes the center of a prophecy that says Klaus’s child will be the key to creating a new breed of super-werewolves. The season’s best twist arrives in episode 17, "Moon Over Bourbon Street," when the mysterious witch Genevieve (Elyse Levesque) reveals that the baby is a siphon — a magical vampire-werewolf hybrid that could be the most powerful creature alive. Klaus must also confront his father, the original vampire-hating werewolf, Ansel (guest star), in a heartbreaking flashback.
The legacy of The Originals Season 1 is immense. It proved that a spin-off could surpass its parent show. It established the Mikaelsons as one of television's great dysfunctional families. Moreover, it set up mythology that would fuel five seasons of its own show and directly lead to Legacies , which follows Hope Mikaelson as a teenage protagonist.
Klaus wanted to raise his child as an heir. Hayley wanted freedom from all factions. Sophie wanted the child born to break the curse. And Marcel wanted to either control the baby or destroy it before it threatened his throne.
