Although Hope could still get her humanity back in Legacies season 4, the character can never be the same again. Fans who found Hope Mikaelson to be too sweet in Legacies seasons 1-3 were in for a shocking surprise with Legacies season 4. Ever since the character turned off her humanity and became the Tribrid, Hope has graduated from heroine to full-blown villain and has never looked.
At this stage, Hope is worse than her father Klaus in many ways, with her lack of humanity resulting in her acting like an amoral monster. Where her father was at least motivated by human (if petty, vindictive, and cruel) emotion, Hope is driven by nothing more than sheer cruelty. This is a big part of why it will be impossible for the Legacies character to ever be the same again after the events of season 4.
Since Hope wasn’t a particularly morally ambiguous heroine in the first place, her Tribrid turn has permanently altered her character—even if her humanity is turned back on. As of this point in Legacies season 4, Hope’s Tribrid form has committed so many atrocious acts that she can never go back to being the mostly heroic figure from seasons 1-3 since viewers now know what she’s capable of. Hope could still have her humanity turned back on, but she can’t un-torture Aurora, she can’t un-attack Alaric, and she certainly can’t undo the many murders she has committed for food, fun, and power.
While it was initially a diverting and unexpected twist for Hope to become the main villain of Legacies season 4, the series needs to find a way to use this darker, more mature version of the character going forward if she does regain her humanity. Lizzie and Hope’s sire bond came about because Hope was such a sweet, well-meaning character that she donated blood to the Salvatore School’s blood bank, and Legacies can’t go back to depicting her as such a charitable and good-natured figure even if her humanity is finally reinstated. However, this could be a good opportunity, however, for some character development.
If there was one major issue with Legacies seasons 1–3, it was that the series often focused on Landon and Hope’s love story over the antics of more interesting ing stars. With Hope now finally having a dark side (and a seriously impressive, murderous one at that), Legacies can return to this plot with a much more morally complex heroine for Landon—who was revived in season 4—to face off against. Landon and Hope’s love story could finally be as messy and complex as Legacies originally insisted it was, and the series could return to this plot with renewed vigor and a fresh intensity. Whether Legacies season 4 will take advantage of this remains to be seen, but what is certain is that the series can’t go back to the old Hope after her Tribrid turn.