The Ending Of Legacies Season 2 Explained

There may still technically be four episodes scheduled for the second season of Legacies, but, as the show is on a filming hiatus for the time being, episode 16 served as the impromptu season finale. Thankfully, the episode delivered all the drama and twists of a traditional climax. Even series creator Julie Pec approved of the surprise final installment, telling a fan on Twitter, "It's actually a fun accidental season finale with a good cliffhanger, so it will be temporarily satisfying until we're able to go back and finish the rest."

So, while this wasn't supposed to be the point at which we look back on the ending of the second season of this The Vampire Diaries and The Originals spinoff, now seems as good a time as any given that there's long break before we get the last few episodes. If you already caught episode 16 and want to make sure you got all the details right, then read on as we dive into exactly what went down on Legacies' temporary season 2 ending.

Students at Salvatore Boarding School for the Young and Gifted have been terrorized by a possessed Josie Saltzman (Kaylee Bryant) for a while, now. After she demanded that the merging ceremony with her twin, Josie (Jenny Boyd), be moved up to their 17th birthday, it seemed like the corrupted teenager might become far too powerful for her own good. Thankfully, Hope (Danielle Rose Russell) had a plan to put an end to that. After the merging ceremony was completed, we learned that Hope traveled into Josie's subconscious, which presented itself as a fairy tale land.

Once there, Hope met a rude pig (literally), who later revealed himself to be ... none other than Josie in disguise. It seems that, once Dark Josie took over control of the young woman, Josie's consciousness found a way to hide from her own malevolent forces. Josie explained all the lessons she had internalized from hearing fairy tales when she was a child, including her fear that having strength would intrinsically result in her being taken over by evil. Hope, in turn, told Josie there was no need for her to continue to live according to those outdated rules, and that she could possess her own strength without becoming corrupted by it.

Then, Dark Josie, personified as an archetypal fairytale villainess, crashed the pep talk. With her newfound personal strength, Josie was able to defeat her dark self and regain control of her body. After her ordeal, she imbued a coin with her siphon powers, until such time as she feels ready to wield it properly.

Meanwhile, outside of Josie's brain, things were still in total disarray following Lizzie and Josie's merging ceremony. Lizzie played dead to remain under the radar, while Hope tried to deal with Dark Josie, while Rafael (Peyton Alex Smith) was continuing to live with the guilt of not only becoming the puppet of the Necromancer (Ben Geurens), but also killing his brother, Landon (Aria Shahghasemi).

Itching to make use of Dark Josie's powers without having to actually deal with Dark Josie, herself, the Necromancer was putting together a scheme of his own. He made a deal with Alaric (Matthew Davis) and Lizzie: Lizzie would cast a spell transferring Dark Josie's powers to the Necromancer and, in exchange, the Necromancer would bring back everyone who had died under his watch. This meant that Rafael would no longer be under the Necromancer's control, and that Landon would be resurrected.

Without a better plan, the two agreed to temporarily join forces with their ghoulish foe. Lizzie performed the spell and the power was transferred, resulting in a happy ending for all involved. Just kidding! In a move that surprised nobody, there was one crucial twist to the Necromancer's plan.

First, the good news: Rafael and the other students who had died and been made puppets of the necromancer were brought back to life, in keeping with the Necromancer's deal. Now, the bad news: Even after the transfer of Dark Josie's energy was complete, Landon remained dead. And, that wasn't all. Even after helping Josie defeat her dark self, Hope still hadn't regained consciousness.

So, how did all of that happen? Sadly for our heroes, Landon's continued death may be a result of not reading the fine print on their deal with the demon. Although the unbreakable covenant spell the group made with the Necromancer meant that whatever terms were agreed upon had to be followed through, Rafael made a critical mistake during the negotiation stage. When he tried to include Landon in the resurrection deal, he asked the demon, "Can you bring Landon back, too?" The Necromancer said that he could, which was not a lie. He could have brought Landon back to life, but he clearly chose not to do so and, because of Rafael's poor wording, Landon remained dead.

As for Hope, we'll have to wait until the next episode to see exactly why she has yet to regain consciousness. It's possible that she's still trapped within Josie, or that, when Josie transferred her powers into the coin, Hope became stuck there, too. While we're dying to know what will happen to the show's protagonists, we do have to admit that Julie Pec was right: This did turn out to be a cliffhanger worthy of a finale.