Legacies Season 3: Is [SPOILER] Really Dead?

The Necromancer killed Chad on the season 3 premiere of Legacies, but is Chad really dead? The Vampire Diaries (which ran for eight seasons) spin-off was created by Julie Plec and features a new generation of witches, werewolves, and vampires who attend the Salvatore School in Mystic Falls, VA. The series features characters who originated on The Vampire Diaries and its second spin-off, The Originals. The school, started by Caroline Forbes-Salvatore and Alaric Saltzman, serves two purposes: to protect its students from outside threats and to keep them from becoming threats themselves. For two seasons Hope Mikaelson and her friends succeeded in defeating a series of enemies, but the Necromancer promises to be season 3’s biggest villain.

The Necromancer made his first appearance during Legacies season 1 when he emerged from the Malivore pit to retrieve one of the locks Malivore needed to resume his original form (He also revealed Klaus’ fate after his death on The Originals.) In exchange, the monster promised the Necromancer his freedom. Season 2, episode 9 revealed that Malivore made good on his end of the bargain with one caveat: the Necromancer was stripped of his powers, forcing him to live as a human scooping ice cream in Texas. He befriended Chad, a dimwitted co-worker who aided the Necromancer in his quest to regain his powers. Unfortunately for Chad, by the time he realized the Necromancer’s diabolic schemes involved killing kids, he no longer had free will. He was doomed to spend eternity serving the Necromancer like a doltish Renfield.

During the season 2 finale, Alaric negotiated Raf Waithe, Alyssa Chang, and Chad’s freedom in exchange for Josie’s black magic. However, in the season 3 premiere, Chad met a grisly end at his former master’s hands. Vampire Diaries’  characters who died often returned to the land of the living thanks to some magical loophole, so is there a chance fans will see Chad again? According to the show’s executive producer Brett Matthews, Chad’s fate remains up in the air. During a recent interview with TVLine, when asked about the Necromancers go along, get along acolyte, Matthews replied:

“Death is pretty fluid, but at the same time, it did feel like a tragic end to Chad. He’s a small character, but he definitely grew on us. I don’t know if we’ll ever see Chad again, but he’s pretty definitely dead at the end of this episode. His impact on the Necromancer will be felt moving forward. He will live on in other ways.”

The Necromancer’s primary motive for killing Chad is clear: it was an effective way to get Alyssa to agree to eternal servitude. Legacies has been dropping clues that Alyssa is headed down a dark path. The backstory surrounding her parents’ deaths is vague other than she used her magic to burn their house down with them inside. She elevated her status from misunderstood mean girl to burgeoning villain when she vanquished Alaric, Lizzie, and Josie Saltzman (three characters who appear in all three shows) to the Prison World.

How could Chad figure into the Necromancer’s storyline moving forward? He did reveal he had a soft spot for Chad before he killed him the first time, although once the Necromancer regained his powers, he made it clear he was Chad’s master, not his friend. However, Chad was the closest thing the villain had to a conscience, and he’s unlikely to find Alyssa as affable as his former goofy sidekick. Legacies does have a problem when it comes to its monster of the week format. Unlike its predecessors, the show has failed to introduce a complex, charismatic villain like Katherine Pierce or Klaus (Fans shouldn’t expect Klaus to make a cameo in the series.) If the Necromancer feels remorse or suffers some emotional fall out from killing Chad, it will infuse the over the top character with some much-needed complexity.

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