Candice King Talks Surprise 'Legacies' Series Finale Cameo

Candice King, née Candice Accola, opened up on her surprising cameo appearance in the "Legacies" series finale.

The 35-year-old Houston, Texas native reprised her role as vampire Caroline Forbes, which she originated in the original CW series, "The Vampire Diaries" alongside Nina Dobrev, Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, and Kat Graham.

In a recent conversation with Entertainment Weekly, the mom-of-two opened up about her return to the show, as well as her daughter's secret cameo!

Candice revealed that she and creator Julie Plec had been talking "for a while now" about when Caroline would return to the series, but they wanted to perfect the timing.

Candice said she wanted to take some time off after "The Vampire Diaries" and "The Originals" since she was a new mom to her first baby. By the time she was ready to return to the show, the pandemic hit and she was pregnant again.

Candice said that she was excited to get the call a few months ago to return to the series. However, she had one condition:

"I said, 'I just want to ask you about potentially a featured guest role for a precocious six-year-old,'" she recalled. "So not only was I able to return for the series finale ... Julie was so kind to invite me to bring my six-year-old daughter to be able to be a featured extra in the final scene of the episode."

For fans who haven't seen "The Vampire Diaries," Candice was quick to launch into an explanation about why her pregnancy gave birth to "Legacies" in the literal sense.

"The funny backstory on that is, going into [The Vampire Diaries] season 7 right before Comic-Con is when I called the writers' room and said, 'Surprise! I'm pregnant.' It was quite the curveball, considering I've now learned that they had the whole season and the whole story of season 7 broken already and they had to go back to the drawing board rather quickly. Julie found herself pitching a story of babies going from Jo's belly to Caroline's belly and then trying to protect them and the Gemini curse, but lo and behold, my pregnancy was what brought out the characters of Josie and Lizzie who would go on to be in Legacies."

"Julie always jokes, 'You got pregnant and then you gave birth to a baby and I gave birth to a whole new show.' And so to have my daughter Florence [May King], who was the original Josie and Lizzie in my belly, be there for the opening of the Salvatore School at the closing of the series was really special.

Candice described it as a "very, very full circle" moment.

Even though she was on the set of "Legacies," Candice described "The Vampire Diaries" as "a darker show," saying, "So she hasn't been able to watch it." However, she noted that "she's been asking" to see the show that turned her mom into a household name!

"But between the violence and how many people Caroline dated throughout the series, I'm like, I don't think she needs to see Mommy making out with that many people that she's met before," Candice said with a laugh, before adding, "Maybe one day."

"But she knows about the show," Candice added. "Whenever anyone is kind enough to stop and say that they loved Caroline or The Vampire Diaries, she knows all of these things, so for her to actually see this, she was asking one of the PAs, 'Is this what my Mommy does?'"

"She could actually see it which is nice because I think any working parent can relate to the struggle of always feeling like you're at work when you need to be at home and you're at home when you need to be at work," she continued. "When you can actually show your child what you do, so they have some sort of understanding of when you're gone and why you're gone, I think it is really special."

Although many fans would think that Candice would be comfortable with a character she's played for over a decade, she said that she felt "very nervous" to return to the role.

"I genuinely love the character of Caroline. She has walked me through some formative years of my own life, having the privilege and honor to play her," she explained.

"I've heard so many people who've been kind enough to share their stories with me about how they've rewatched the show, they've now got their kids watching the show and they were a kid watching the show, and so knowing that I have the opportunity to not only selfishly go back home with a lot of crew members I know, a lot of cast members I know, in a city that I know very well, but also knowing that it was going to mean so much to fans of the series, I just wanted them to feel fulfilled by Caroline's presence and return to the show," she added.