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Here’s the official watch order for ‘The Vampire Diaries’ and ‘The Originals’

Here's how to watch your favorite vampire show episodes in order.

via IMDb

When The Vampire Diaries premiered to audiences on Sept. 10, 2009, fans were immediately enamored with the storyline of Elena Gilbert, a high school student who lost her parents in a tragic accident and moved in with her aunt alongside her brother, Jeremy.

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The Gilbert siblings dealt with the death of their parents in very different ways, but the emotions they felt were the same. They felt lost, alone, and scared, even though they were surrounded by family, friends, and routines — things were no longer normal. It was already a critical time in both of their lives and losing their parents changed everything.

What neither Elena nor Jeremy could be prepared for was that something ⏤ more specifically, someone, ⏤ would soon change everything all over again.

When school starts after summer break, Elena meets someone who impacts her life significantly and opens a door for the Gilberts and all the residents of Mystic Falls that some would have left closed. He’s charming and charismatic, sultry and forbidden somehow, and he looks at Elena like she might have hung the moon and stars within seconds of meeting her. She crosses paths with Stefan Salvatore, and the rest is history.

The six seasons that followed introduced viewers to a world of vampires, witches, hybrids, and werewolves. There were species so far hidden within the town’s history that only a select few knew of their existence, and they were hell-bent on keeping it a secret.

As someone who has watched The Vampire Diaries more times than I can count (or than anyone should attempt to count), I could tell you what episodes to watch if you’re feeling heartbroken: season four, episode 23, season six, episode 14, season two, episode six, and season six, episode 22, and season eight, episode 16 — to name a few. I could also tell you which to tune into if you’re feeling incredibly romantic and in love or which to watch if you want to burn it all down. There are many pieces of the phenomenal story that you can return to at any given time.

In addition to all eight seasons of The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and Legacies both helped grow TVD’s universe. The realm allowed fans to learn even more about the vampiric stories they loved so much. Of course, The Vampire Diaries also introduced a few key players from The Originals, and the same goes for Legacies.

How should you begin your Vampire Diaries Universe watch?

Without vampires, humans, witches, and werewolves forming those initial bonds (or becoming enemies), the other series wouldn’t have been possible. How do the various episodes work in tandem with each other? Whether you’re a fan of TVD who has never ventured into the other realms, are starting entirely from scratch, or just want to rewatch your favorite vampire series, how do you get started?

You most definitely want to begin with The Vampire Diaries. You’ll undoubtedly fall in love with Stefan or Damon, root for Elena to dive deeper into her relationships with them, and understand why her heart is torn. You’ll relate to the characters within the series, and then you’ll get to the episodes where outsiders are introduced, which is where your real journey begins.

You can start by watching the first four seasons of The Vampire Diaries before intertwining TVD episodes with The Originals. If you’re wondering how best to do this, a pop culture fan has laid it out for you in a well-developed and likely time-consuming list.

On Quora, an account named Shivam Upadhyay laid out an episode-specific watchlist for fans of The Vampire Diaries and the series that follow. We’re forever grateful for their contributions, as we’ve watched all of the series on their own, but watching it this way is truly something special.

This list will help all of you navigate the story in its entirety, and it provides a fascinating way to watch the series for new or existing fans:

The official watch order for The Vampire Diaries, The Originals, and Legacies

  • The Vampire Diaries Season 1
  • The Vampire Diaries Season 2
  • The Vampire Diaries Season 3
  • The Vampire Diaries Season 4
  • The Vampire Diaries Season 5, Episode 1
  • The Originals S1, E1
  • The Originals S1, E2
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E2
  • The Originals S1, E3
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E3
  • The Originals S1, E4
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E4
  • The Originals S1, E5
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E5
  • The Originals S1, E6
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E6
  • The Originals S1, E7
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E7
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E8
  • The Originals S1, E8
  • The Originals S1, E9
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E9
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E10
  • The Originals S1, E10
  • The Originals S1, E11
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E11
  • The Originals S1, E12
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E12
  • The Originals S1, E13
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E13
  • The Originals S1, E14
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E14
  • The Originals S1, E15
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E15
  • The Originals S1, E16
  • The Originals S1, E17
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E16
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E17
  • The Originals S1, E18
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E18
  • The Originals S1, E19
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E19
  • The Originals S1, E20
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E20
  • The Originals S1, E21
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E21
  • The Originals S1, E22
  • The Vampire Diaries S5, E22
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E1
  • The Originals S2, E1
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E2
  • The Originals S2, E2
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E3
  • The Originals S2, E3
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E4
  • The Originals S2, E4
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E5
  • The Originals S2, E5
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E6
  • The Originals S2, E6
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E7
  • The Originals S2, E7
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E8
  • The Originals S2, E8
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E9
  • The Originals S2, E9
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E10
  • The Originals S2, E10
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E11
  • The Originals S2, E11
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E12
  • The Originals S2, E12
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E13
  • The Originals S2, E13
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E14
  • The Originals S2, E14
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E15
  • The Originals S2, E15
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E16
  • The Originals S2, E16
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E17
  • The Originals S2, E17
  • The Originals S2, E18
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E18
  • The Originals S2, E19
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E19
  • The Originals S2, E20
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E20
  • The Originals S2, E21
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E21
  • The Originals S2, E22
  • The Vampire Diaries S6, E22
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E1
  • The Originals S3, E1
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E2
  • The Originals S3, E2
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E3
  • The Originals S3, E3
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E4
  • The Originals S3, E4
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E5
  • The Originals S3, E5
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E6
  • The Originals S3, E6
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E7
  • The Originals S3, E7
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E8
  • The Originals S3, E8
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E9
  • The Originals S3, E9
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E10
  • The Originals S3, E10
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E11
  • The Originals S3, E11
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E12
  • The Originals S3, E12
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E13
  • The Originals S3, E13
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E14
  • The Originals S3, E14
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E15
  • The Originals S3, E15
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E16
  • The Originals S3, E16
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E17
  • The Originals S3, E17
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E18
  • The Originals S3, E18
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E19
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E20
  • The Originals S3, E19
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E21
  • The Originals S3, E20
  • The Vampire Diaries S7, E22
  • The Originals S3, E21
  • The Originals S3, E22
  • The Vampire Diaries Season 8
  • The Originals Season 4
  • The Originals Season 5
  • Legacies Season 1
  • Legacies Season 2
  • Legacies Season 3
  • Legacies Season 4

Wait, what is ‘Legacies?’

You might have clicked into this article anticipating only reading how to watch The Vampire Diaries and The Originals in order, but we decided to talk about Legacies, too, because it’s the final installment in the story that first captivated us so many years ago.

Legacies picks up ten years after the conclusion of The Vampire Diaries and around three years after The Originals with some familiar names and faces that hardcore fans of all things vampiric will know. There are also a slew of new characters that helped flesh out the rest of the exciting story, and Legacies is an important chapter in the still compelling story that started so many years ago with two brothers, an unexpected meeting, and enough romance to keep us all coming back for more. If you’ve never seen an episode of Legacies, you can watch the once CW-housed series now on Hulu.

There you have it⏤the all-inclusive and perfect watch order for your favorite vampire shows, and while there’s so much good to be found in the realm of The Vampire Diaries, we can’t talk about the show without making one general statement: we still wish things had ended differently for Elena and Stefan. We’re hopeless romantics, okay?

We have a thing for romances of all kinds; especially summer love stories and those that involve love triangles — but there’s something about Elena and Stefan that we can’t get over, and while most of our OTPs have finally become endgame by their series end, we didn’t get that happily ever after with these two, and we’re clearly not over it.

However, that doesn’t stop us from watching The Vampire Diaries often, and it’s never the wrong time to start your vampire obsession all over again.