It’s been a long road to the screen for The Librarians: The Next Chapter, the latest project in a franchise that has been alive for 21 years.
With the continued challenges facing the TV industry in recent years, the sequel series was largely disadvantaged, so it’s great to have the franchise back in some capacity.
The Librarians: The Next Chapter Season 1 Episode 1 wastes no time delving into the who, the why, and everything else necessary to create a compelling new story.
We’ll start with Vikram because he was the character who would decide the fate of this new era of The Librarians.
Finding someone with the charisma and charm to lead a team is a challenging endeavor, but Callum McGowan is perfect in the role of this man who has been transported to present-day Belgrade from the 1800s.
He’s a fish out of water and has quirks that will surely rub the rest of the team the wrong way. He’s hapless and can’t help but get under the skin of the others because of his old worldview.
The Librarians: The Next Chapter Has a Charming Lead
Callum’s scenes with Christian Kane’s The Librarians alum Jacob Stone were some of the best of the premiere because their characters are such polar opposites.
Sure, they’re both librarians, but coming from very different periods changes the game considerably, and I’m already counting down the minutes until they cross paths again.
Bringing Jacob in to help usher in this next chapter was an inspired choice. I’m sure many fans of The Librarians are still upset about how TNT handled the original series.
Its cancellation was unjust, so The Librarians: The Next Chapter presents a way for longtime fans to get answers while watching some of the newer adventures.
Vikram has his work cut out for him because, although he has all the makings of a great leader, he’s getting a bit of a culture shock. After all, the world has changed so dramatically over the 200 years he’s lost.
His sunny outlook is really the only way forward because, from his perspective, he’s lost everyone he loved and the way the world was.
My best guess is that the series will chart his attempts to repair the ripples from the magic. He’ll be faced with the opportunity to return to his previous timeline and will have to choose between it and the present.
Despite only meeting him for less than an hour, it’s evident he’s the type of person who won’t rest while evil still exists in whatever realm he’s in.
The Series Has a Stellar Overarching Villain
The premiere effectively kicked off this war between Vikram and Gregor, and now that the latter has found a way to inform the future, they will cross paths before they know it.
The big question, though, is how Vikram will be able to explain the truth to Lysa. She’s obviously a descendant of Anya, and given her affiliation with Gregor, it doesn’t look too good.
Anya has probably dabbled with darkness if she was in a relationship with one of the most wicked men in history, but maybe she’s not as bad as Gregor.
At least, that’s what I’m hoping. Still, it will be fun to see Gregor’s reaction when he inevitably crosses paths with Lysa because there’s so much we don’t know about his relationship with Anya.
Lysa will be key in this battle against the evil forces, but she might get tired of being told things on a need-to-know basis. At some point, she may feel like a tool in this battle, and that’s never good.
Her family history aside, Lysa is a crucial character to the success of the overall mission, so there’s a lot to like about her.
The same can be said for Connor, who will be able to clue Vikram into the changes in history during the 200-odd years he’s missed out on.
The message of the show should be that everything happens for a reason. Lysa and Connor’s being in the right place at the right time is a large part of how the Drekavac was stopped from killing anyone in Belgrade.
The only team member I’m unsure of is Charlie because Jacob threw her into the mission, whereas everyone else miraculously came together.
There’s much we don’t know about Charlie’s past, and if her conversations with Jacob and Vikram are anything to go by, she’s done some things that she regrets.
Beyond that, it’s hard to get a read on her, so the next few episodes will be crucial in determining whether she can blossom into a character who meshes more naturally with the team.
All told, The Librarians: The Next Chapter is a convincing direction for the beloved franchise, and I can’t wait to see what happens next.
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