Legacies Star Chris Lee Talks the Responsibility of Honoring the Vampire Diaries in “Salvatore: The Musical!”

Tonight’s episode of Legacies sees The CW series not only go full musical production for “Salvatore: The Musical!” but in the process also pay tribute to the series that started it all, The Vampire Diaries. While the series has made a number of nods to both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals over the previous two seasons, tonight’s episode is the most self-aware yet, with the students at the Salvatore School portraying the very people responsible for, well, their whole story. That means taking on fan-loved characters such as Damon Salvatore, Stefan Salvatore, and Elena Gilbert as well as revisiting beloved storylines. It’s a big challenge, and according to Legacies star Caleb Lee, honoring The Vampire Diaries is something that was very important to not only him but everyone else involved in the episode as well.

Speaking with ComicBook.com Lee, who plays Kaleb on Legacies — and Kaleb, in turn, is playing Damon in the episode — says that getting the tribute to The Vampire Diaries right for the fans was a major factor for him and the rest of the cast and crew.

“Absolutely. I mean, why else do it? I mean, it’s not lost on any of us, I think, in the cast, crew, or creatives, how important The Vampire Diaries is,” Lee said. “I mean, we’re really a part of something that really speaks volumes and continues to have this crazy success for 12 years, generations on generations are like cut every year, there’s a new set of 12-year-old girls who are allowed to watch The Vampire Diaries that freak out. And, at the same time, those girls that were 12 are now 20 and they love it and people that were 20 are now 32, you know, so it’s this beautiful thing that you should honor and should have reverence for.”

He continued, “So, the last thing I wanted to do was go in and phone it in and be like ‘Okay, let me just do what I want to do.’ Like, no let’s honor the style because that’s the thing, Legacies isn’t’ The Vampire Diaries. They have two totally different tones. So, the important part was showing that these characters, Kaleb and Josie, and Jet, that they understand what their predecessors went through, and kind of what life was and dropping into that part of it. And, you know, showing that they have done their fair share of studying and their fair share of work and how much they look up to these people. And they’re the reason they have a school in the first place. So, I think that that’s of where it comes from. I definitely feel a responsibility. And I, as Kaleb and as Chris, you know, to do it justice. And I just hope it is.”

Legacies airs Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT following episodes of Walker.