‘Vampire Diaries’ spinoff casts its witch

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The potential upcoming Vampire Diaries spinoff has cast a witch.

Daniella Pineda (Fitzgerald Family Christmas) has landed a regular role in The Originals, a series that will be receiving a backdoor pilot on the April 25 episode of The Vampire Diaries. The spinoff stars TVD alums Joseph Morgan, Daniel Gillies and Phoebe Tonkin, each reprising their roles from the parent series. The Originals will center on (what else?) the Original family of vampires, as Klaus (Morgan) returns to the French Quarter of New Orleans, which he helped build centuries ago. Upon being reunited with his menacing ex-protégé Marcel, Elijah (Gillies) must help his troubled brother find redemption, siding with Marcel’s enemies in order to keep Klaus from self-destruction. Pineda will play Sophie, a witch whose magic has been diminished but not entirely extinguished. Described as a leader and a sexy, sharp-tongued social force, Sophie is a figure that is subtly sowing the seeds of revolution among her cohorts. Pineda was mostly recently seen in a guest-starring role on Showtime’s Homeland.

Now, I say “potential” spinoff because the series is not set in stone for the 2013-2014 TV season, but it’s almost inconceivable that they won’t order this pilot to series, given that The Vampire Diaries is one of the few bonafide hits The CW has remaining, and it stands to reason they’d want to expand the franchise. The only question left is if the show will be any good. We’ll get the chance to see for ourselves on April 25, when The Vampire Diaries airs the episode that will serve as a the unofficial first episode of the new series.

Full story: Deadline