Following the pilot of The Vampire Diaries spinoff The Originals, The CW has picked up the drama for a full season!

Only last night we were introduced to the ensemble cast of The Originals, the Klaus-centric spinoff of The Vampire Diaries, which takes place in New Orleans.

And now The CW has announced they will be adding the series to their fall 2013 lineup. The network has also renewed existing dramas Beauty and the Beast and Hart of Dixie.

This is a relief to fans, who were beginning to worry following TV Fanatic‘s report that the episode had just 2.2 million viewers, which is 31 percent below the recorded season 4 ratings average.

We are very happy that this series will indeed be happening, and that Julie Plec and her team will be allowed to develop these enigmatic characters further.

(Spoilers for the pilot episode beyond this point.)

The sibling rivalry between Klaus, Elijah and Rebekah has never been more engaging than in last night’s episode, and the new leader of the supernatural underground/potential villain Marcel made a very strong, memorable first impression.

However, while every fan of The Vampire Diaries seems to have an opinion about this episode, it’s not all positive.

We’ve been following your reactions to the spinoff, and it seems thatwhile most fans embrace the spinoff concept and the new characters, Hayley’s surprise miracle pregnancy really seems like a deal-breaker for some people.

Some fans are so invested in the Caroline/Klaus ship that they refuse to accept that he could have a baby with anyone else. Some feel it was a bit too much of a Twilight rip-off, while others just think it was one complication too many in an already complicated new set of character dynamics.

Other fans welcome the twist, believing that Klaus having to deal with fatherhood will give the character a chance to expand and grow, and will also allow other characters (especially Rebekah) to gain a new appreciation for the all-important concept of family.

But of course the possibility remains that Hayley isn’t really pregnant – that Sophie (Daniella Pineda) and her sister used magic on her at the beginning of the episode to simulate a life inside of her in a convoluted plot to take down Klaus, not Marcel.

Now that The Originals is indeed going to be airing on a weekly basis, we can’t wait to see this storyline develope further, and to find out what will ultimately cause Rebekah to follow her brothers to New Orleans.

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