The CW’s latest supernatural drama Nancy Drew recently began its third season, but it came with a lot of history -- more than 90 years of it, in fact. The CW’s Nancy follows a long tradition of mystery solving for the teen character, which began with the Carolyn Keene novels in 1930. She also follows in the footsteps of another girl detective: Veronica Mars.

Nancy was an obvious blueprint for Veronica, which aired on UPN (and later the CW) from 2004 - 2007. Any mystery solving teen could be said to fit the Nancy Drew mold, but Veronica (played by Kristen Bell) shared distinct similarities with her predecessor. Beyond being bright, clever young women, they’re both raised by supportive single dads. Many of Nancy’s cases came from her father’s clients, the respected attorney Carson Drew. Veronica also picked up cast-off cases from her dad’s (​​Enrico Colantoni) private eye business (in one episode, Keith Mars even introduces the pair under the aliases "Carson" and "Nancy").

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With decades and decades of mystery novels attributed to the pseudonym Carolyn Keene, there have been many permutations of the character. However, the CW’s Nancy (played by Kennedy McMann) might share more in common with Veronica than any of them. Both girls were depicted pre-series as popular and well-liked; Veronica was previously a member of the "Spirit Squad" while Nancy was awarded the equivalent of homecoming queen as a senior. Tragedy forced a reversal of fortunes on them both: Veronica was outcast from her friend group of wealthy elites after the murder of her best friend Lilly Kane (Amanda Seyfried), while Nancy deferred from college and isolated herself following her mother’s death from cancer. As a result of these events, both girls became hardened and cynical -- traits that were never present in the original Nancy Drew novels.

While Book Nancy frequently traveled to solve mysteries outside her town of River Heights, a sense of place is central to both television shows. Veronica’s southern California hometown, Neptune, is pivotal to her story. Though she dreamed of getting out, she never quite managed it -- in her own words, "The hero is the one who stays." Similarly, Nancy struggles to escape the orbit of Horseshoe Bay. This dynamic is underlined in the Season 3 premiere when she’s denied acceptance to Columbia and resigns herself to "growing where [she’s] planted." On top of that, both towns happen to be coastal tourist attractions with some serious class disparity problems (although Horseshoe Bay has a lot more supernatural entity issues than Neptune ever did).

RELATED: 'Nancy Drew' Season 3 Is Finally Utilizing Bess, the Show's Secret WeaponOne of the biggest parallels between Nancy and Veronica -- and the biggest departure from the source material, as far as Nancy is concerned -- is the question of paternity. In Veronica Mars Season 1, our protagonist briefly wondered if she might be the biological daughter of corrupt tech titan Jake Kane (Kyle Secor) after she discovered his affair with her absent, alcoholic mother, though a DNA test eventually proved otherwise. Nancy’s tale, meanwhile, is like the road not taken on Veronica: she discovers she is the descendant of the wealthy, corrupt Hudson family, having been secretly adopted by the Drews at birth. While Veronica approached her town’s class war from the side of the have-nots, Nancy grapples with suddenly becoming an heiress and worries about how it might change her for the worse.

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Image Via The CW

There are notable differences between the two series, like Nancy’s ghosties contrasted with Veronica’s gritty realism. There are also more superficial similarities (the premium on romantic drama probably has more to do with both airing on the CW than anything else). It’s clear from the inextricable links between the two, though, that both characters had a profound influence on each other.

We know that Nancy Drew could exist without Veronica Mars, because she has for decades with great success. But it’s hard to imagine that this version of Nancy would look the same if she didn’t exist in Veronica’s shadow. Nancy may have paved the way for teen detectives like Veronica, but Veronica has undoubtedly paved the way for the kind of noir heroine that Nancy has become.

KEEP READING: 'Nancy Drew' Season 3: Nick and George's Relationship Needs to Slow Down