The Originals is an American supernatural drama television series created by Julie Plec for The CW.

[1] The show is set in New Orleans which the Mikaelson family and Original vampires helped to build.

In the first season, the focus is primarily on Klaus (Joseph Morgan), Elijah (Daniel Gillies), and Rebekah (Claire Holt), who discover in the series's backdoor pilot – which aired on April 25, 2013, as an episode of The Vampire Diaries – that Hayley Marshall (Phoebe Tonkin) is pregnant with Klaus' child.

Having fled the city many years ago, they return to find Klaus' former protégé, Marcel (Charles Michael Davis), in control of the French Quarter.

The critics consensus reads, "The Originals may overwhelm casual viewers with its myriad twists and bevy of supernatural beings, but this is a sleek, atmospheric Vampire Diaries spinoff with potential.