‘Legacies’ Season 3 Will Hit Netflix, Just Not Yet

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Wondering when The CW’s Legacies Season 3 will hit Netflix? Don’t worry, the latest season of the hit Vampire Diaries spinoff series will head to the streaming service. Just, not yet.

Normally, new seasons of CW shows head one of two places: either Netflix, or HBO Max. The former are shows that essentially have been grandfathered in to The CW’s expired Netflix deal, meaning if previous seasons were already on the streamer, most likely new seasons will head to Netflix for the life of the show. Shows that premiered after the original Netflix deal expired usually head to HBO Max, the WarnerMedia owned service, instead. So for example, Batwoman, which premiered in 2019, headed directly to HBO Max in 2020; while The Flash, which was airing Season 6 at the same time, headed to Netflix (and will continue to do so).

And on the Netflix front, typically new seasons of CW shows hit the service eight days after their finales air. So Charmed Season 3 (which ended on July 16), All American Season 3 (which ended on July 19), and The Flash Season 7 (which ended on July 20) are all available on Netflix, right now. Meanwhile, other recently finished shows like Nancy Drew Season 2, Batwoman Season 2 and Kung Fu Season 1 are all on HBO Max, while Walker Season 1 and Superman & Lois Season 1 should be headed to the latter streaming service in due time (the delay until CW shows hit HBO Max is a little longer than Netflix).

So given Legacies wrapped up its third season on June 24, well ahead of the other shows mentioned, why hasn’t it joined Legacies Seasons 1 and 2 on Netflix? Particularly given Season 4 will premiere in a little over a month on The CW, on Thursday, October 14 at 9/8c?

The good news is, Decider has confirmed with Warner Bros. TV that yes, Legacies Season 3 will be heading to Netflix. However, they were not able to provide a specific date, or an explanation as to why the show has been delayed. Decider also reached out to Netflix, but did not hear back as of press time.

There are a couple of potential explanations for the delay, but the biggest one is that technically Legacies didn’t finish Season 4. While this is getting into the intricacies of budget allocations that we’re not privy to, The CW made the decision to shift the final four episodes of Legacies Season 3 to the beginning of Season 4. Given COVID delays, the final episodes were being shot while the de facto Season 3 finale aired, leading to what showrunner Brett Matthews called a “frustrating” decision to move the episodes, instead of creating a lengthy hiatus between episodes 3×16 and the rest of the season. This has happened before with several other CW shows during COVID (for example, the last three episodes of Riverdale Season 4 became the first three episodes of Riverdale Season 5), though has seemingly not stopped those seasons from popping up on their respective streaming services.

Is it possible, then, that Netflix is holding off posting the season until it can tell the complete story? Maybe. The CW hasn’t released any specific info about Legacies Season 4, so we don’t know if what used to be Season 3, Episode 17 is now categorized as Season 4, Episode 1. We expect it will be, but even barring that it could change on Netflix.

Another possibility includes some tweaks to the effects, which were potentially rushed (again, due to COVID delays in post-production) for the final few episodes. On that note, Warner Bros. Home Entertainment also hasn’t announced when Legacies Season 3 will be hitting DVD and Blu-Ray, so perhaps finishing the season in style is the priority.

It also could be one of any millions of reasons, from Netflix wanting to delay the supernatural show until the spooky month of October, to The CW hoping a late start for Season 3 could kick interest in Season 4 into high gear. Or maybe someone lost the season in their couch, who knows?

Regardless, expect that you won’t have to wait forever to watch Legacies Season 3 on Netflix… Just a little while longer.

Where to watch Legacies