The Originals is an American supernatural drama television series created by Julie Plec for The CW. A spin-off of The Vampire Diaries, the series makes use of certain characters and story elements from the series of books of the same name. The first season premiered with a special preview on October 3, 2013, following the season premiere of its parent series, before premiering in its regular time slot on October 8, 2013.[

Set in New Orleans,The Originals centers on the Mikaelson siblings, otherwise known as the world's original vampires: Klaus (Joseph Morgan), Elijah (Daniel Gillies), and Rebekah (Claire Holt). It was revealed during the backdoor pilot, aired on April 25, 2013, that recurring werewolf character Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) is pregnant with Klaus' child. Now Klaus must take down his protégé, Marcel (Charles Michael Davis), who is now in charge of New Orleans, in order to re-take his city, as he originally built New Orleans. But the Mikaelson siblings were forced to flee the city after being chased down by their father Mikael, while it was being constructed and Marcel took charge. Upon their return, Klaus has but one burning desire: to take down Marcel and reclaim New Orleans for himself.

As of October 6, 2014[update], 23 episodes of The Originals have aired.