The Vampire Diaries – Picture: The CW
The Vampire Diaries was expected to leave Netflix in the United States in March 2022 having been on the service since 2014 and coming to the end of The CW contract. With that said, we’ve now received official confirmation from Netflix that the series will remain on Netflix US for a bit longer.
One of the most popular shows The CW has ever produced, The Vampire Diaries adapts the L. J. Smith books following two vampire brothers who return to their homeland of Mystic Falls, where supernatural beings live among the residents, and who are obsessed with the same girl.
As per The CW contract (which ended in 2019) shows in the US will stay on Netflix for five years following the final season being added.
The final season of The Vampire Diaries arrived on Netflix on March 18th, 2017. That means those five years are about to be up. The Vampire Diaries was therefore expected to depart Netflix in the United States on March 18th, 2022.
When February 18th and 19th came around, no removal notice was present on the title. Fast forward a few days, Netflix didn’t include the title in its PR removal list.
We reached out to Netflix who confirmed that the series is not due to leave Netflix in March 2022 but noted that we should keep an eye on future listings for if and when it leaves.
Netflix did not expand as to why the show isn’t leaving as to when it was expected to but it is out of the ordinary, especially with Warner Brothers and Paramount (formerly ViacomCBS) wanting to reclaim their top licenses for their own streaming platforms.
The eventual departure will see 171 episodes depart in total representing roughly 128 hours worth of content leaving.
One scenario we were keen to stress every time we’ve covered the removal is that Netflix could renew the show (or the removal prediction was wrong). There is precedent given Netflix had renewed the show in the UK with having left in November 2020 before returning a few months later.
It also looks like Netflix managed to renew the rights to the series in Australia at the start of 2022 too given throughout December it was showing a removal notice but didn’t eventually come to fruition (something that can’t be said for the other regions that saw it removed).
Long term, we still expect the show to eventually be removed in favor of a new home. Given the show’s availability internationally, you can almost guarantee that the show will be headed exclusively to HBO Max. In Latin America and Europe, the show is already exclusively available on HBO Max.
Will The Originals leave Netflix?
The Originals is expected to eventually leave the service too as will another spin-off Legacies. When that will be is completely blown open with this removal date not being in stone.
The Originals, by our calculation, should be leaving Netflix in August 2023 while Legacies won’t leave until 2027 at the absolute earliest because it’s still ongoing.
Are you glad The Vampire Diaries will be staying on Netflix for a while longer? Let us know in the comments.