The student body at Legacies' Salvatore School consists of vampires, witches, werewolves and other supernatural beings, all learning to control their various powers and bloodthirsty cravings. Of course, the series that broke ground for Legacies was The Vampire Diaries, as viewers tuned in weekly to follow the love triangle involving Elena Gilbert and the vampire brothers Stefan and Damon Salvatore.
Legacies will revisit The Vampire Diaries and the founding of the Salvatore School in a special musical episode, appropriately titled "Salvatore: The Musical!" One of the most coveted roles in the musical is for Damon, which goes to MG's best friend, Kaleb, played by Chris Lee. CBR spoke to Lee to get his thoughts on playing the Salvatore bad boy, his reaction when he heard Legacies was doing a music-centric episode, Kaleb's character arc through three seasons and a potential romance in his future.
CBR: What were your initial thoughts when you heard Legacies was finally going to do a musical episode?
Chris Lee: Initially, I thought it was a bad idea [laughs]. I didn't want to be corny. And I didn't want it to be thrown together. But it definitely showed my ignorance or lack of faith in the team because they did a phenomenal job. Throughout the process, I became more keen to how great our team is and how diverse and versatile they are with their craft. And I think that they did an excellent job. This is actually the episode I'm probably most excited about today.
How familiar were you with The Vampire Diaries? And what was your research like to prepare for the role of Damon Salvatore?
I was quite familiar, though not to any dealings of mine. I was dating a girl who was such a fan and always watching, and I couldn't really get away from it until I became extremely interested and watched all of it. And then all of The Originals, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. So when I got the Damon role in the first place, I was like, "Oh man, this has come full circle. It's really cool." As far as preparing to play Damon, it was different. Because it wasn't me playing Damon. It was Kaleb playing Damon. So I had to go through an additional filter for the acting, because it's not really about how Chris will do it. It's about how can we do it? What he believes the essence of Damon is and so that was probably the most fun part.
Is there a moment during the musical that really stood out to you, or that you ended up liking more than you thought you would?
Yeah, my favorite part is my part [laughs]. It's the scene with the song titled, "Hello, brother." And it's a duet between Kaleb and Jed, who's playing Stefan, and Josie is playing Elena, who is dancing and she's kind of like in this dream essence. The song is just so catchy, and it's so good. And I think it really captures the relationship between Damon and Stefan very well. It's told from these young supernaturals who, you know who their existence really counts on these brothers. So it's in reference to them. And it was a lot of fun to kind of capture that as Kaleb.
Kaleb has undergone an interesting character arc from his beginnings in Season 1, to now being a full member of the Super Squad. In your opinion, what's been Kaleb's most defining trait?
I think Kaleb's most defining trait is probably his discernment. I think he's a great decision-maker. I think he is very good at seeing what makes sense. I feel like a lot of times in the show, everyone kind of moves from an emotional place, because we're all kids. I think he's probably, I want to say like a year older than most of them. He and Raf are probably around the same age. And I think that most of the characters in the show, if something is hurting them or somebody they love, that kind of becomes the priority.
But to Kaleb, it's about what makes the most sense in the long run, rather than these quick, immediate fixes, these little band-aids to put over situations. He's like, "Here's the fact we're supernatural, we can really fix this problem any way we want to, let's just do that." Instead of doing what you feel is the right thing to do. That could be anything. And I think that it was kind of his downfall. He's learned how to channel it and use it for good and evil.
I have enjoyed watching the relationship between Kaleb and MG just continue to grow and blossom. Especially Kaleb as the jealous brother last season with his sister getting involved with MG, but the two of them still stay close.
Yeah, man, they did a great job. But that's probably my favorite relationship that I have. And one of my favorites to watch on screen because it really does capture these brothers who chose to be that way and what it looks like to go through the disagreements and to come back to the same page and really put the other first. And you'll see way more of it in this season. If anything, you'll see that Kaleb ends up having a hard time balancing, allowing mg to be his own guy, yet still protecting him. It's a great relationship.
Is there a chance we'll get to see more of Kaleb's family as the season continues?
Well, what I can say is that you'll definitely see Kaleb blossom some new, important relationships with current characters that we know. And maybe a little romance that we've never seen before, with a very important character.
Are you Team Stefan or Damon?
Damon all day. No question.
And finally to wrap up, what else can you tease fans regarding Kaleb and your classmates as the Salvatore School continues into Season 3?
There's a lot going on, people being stuck in prison worlds, Necromancer continuing to run rampant, Hope missing and coming back, Landon missing and coming back. A lot has happened. With Kaleb we definitely see this new growth into more of a leadership role, kind of running things. And like I said, his discernment is one of his best qualities. And so he really wants to prove to Alaric that he can be counted. He wants to prove to Alaric that he can trust him when he has to go do something off-campus. Because Dorian isn't on campus at the moment.
And so we definitely see Kaleb figuring out what that looks like, and how he's going to handle it in his own way while still honoring his mentor that he respects so much, but could disagree with on very fundamental things. That's gonna be a huge thing for Kaleb.
Legacies stars Danielle Rose Russell as Hope Mikaelson, Jenny Boyd as Lizzie Saltzman, Kaylee Bryant as Josie Saltzman, Quincy Fouse as Milton "MG" Greasley, Aria Shahghasemi as Landon Kirby, Peyton Alex Smith as Rafael, Chris Lee as Kaleb, Leo Howard as Ethan Mac, Ben Levin as Jed, with Matthew Davis as Alaric Saltzman. New episodes air Thursdays at 9 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.
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