"The Vampire Diaries" has just wrapped up the second season on Thursday, May 12 with a big bang, and showrunner Julie Plec is already prepared to answer questions as well as to talk about the new season. [Spoiler Alert] In an interview with TV Line, Plec explained among others why Vicky and Anna are back, how it impacts Jeremy, and whether the tender moment between Elena and Damon will lead to something.
First of all, Plec gave the reason of bringing back the dead through ghost form. "That is something we'd had in the works for a really, really long time - in fact, almost back to beginning of this season - and it was born out of two things: Kayla [Ewell] was so much a part of the Vampire Diaries family in the beginning and we missed her terribly, and Malese [Jow] made such an impact last year as Anna."
She also said that Bonnie's decision to bring Jeremy back to life against the law of nature will have consequences and his exes' return is "the beginning of what those might be." In other words, the character would develop next season because he now has experienced something supernatural.
Regarding Damon and Elena's teary goodbye, Plec said, "It felt very much that it was earned for Damon to finally get some kind of acceptance and compassion and reciprocation to the feelings he's made very clear. He needed it, and Elena needed to give it to him. She obviously cares about him in a lot of ways, and that's going to be a big struggle for her next year - for all three of them, actually."
Paul Wesley films 'The Baytown Disco' in Louisiana
Paul Wesley's "Vampire Diaries" character went on a bloodthirsty bender in Thursday's season 2 finale, but Wesley himself is spending the summer in a much more productive manner. He's currently in New Orleans playing a decidedly human character in "The Baytown Disco."
Wesley's casting was first reported by Deal Central, and he's already well into filming alongside Eva Longoria and Billy Bob Thornton. The film follows three redneck brothers, the Oodies, who agree to help a woman rescue her son from his abusive father.
Wesley -- who recently married "Pretty Little Liars" star Torrey De Vitto -- plays Anthony Reese, an FBI agent who arrives in the Oodies' small Southern town to investigate their misadventure. We're looking forward to seeing him step outside his teenage vampire gig to play a more authoritative adult role.
The film, directed by Barry Battles, is set for a 2012 release.
*Not Vampire Diaries related, but I'm glad the entire cast is staying busy for the summer!*
Victoria's Secret What Is Sexy? List 2011, The Bombshell Summer Edition
Sexiest Actress – Emma Stone
Sexiest Summer Style – Beyonce Knowles
Sexiest Legs – Julianne Hough
Sexiest Smile – Dianna Agron
Sexiest Eyes – Mila Kunis
Sexiest Lips – Amanda Seyfried
Sexiest Curves – Sofia Vergara Sexiest TV Cast – Vampire Diaries
Sexiest Songstress – Rihanna
Sexiest Beach Body – Minka Kelly
Sexiest Sense of Humor – Chelsea Handler
Sexiest Chef – Giada De Laurentiis
Sexiest International Import – Malin Akerman
Sexiest Beach Waves – Vanessa Hudgens
Sexiest Sun-Kissed Glow – Jessica Lowndes
Facebook Fan's Choice: Sexiest Up & Coming Bombshell – Jennifer Lawrence
Facebook Fan's Choice: Sexiest Tweeter – Ashley Greene
The Vampire Diaries: The Show's Greatest Plot Twists
16. Matt Learns About Vampires and All Manner of Supernatural Beasties
Given the fact that sweet Matty was dating a vampire for a while (completely unknowingly) and his dearly departed trashy sister was a vampire for a while and his ex-girlfriend left him for a hot vampire and his best frenemy is a werewolf, it's sort of a marvel that he was able to ignore all the odd happenings around him for as long as he did. Caroline gave him some blood in order to save his life and vamped out in front of him, finally letting him in on the big Mystic Falls mystery. He then teamed up with Caroline's sheriff mom to find out who exactly the big baddies are in town and even "acted" like he had his mind wiped. Good for him, though he still doesn't seem to be a big fan of wolfie Tyler Lockwood.
15. Jenna Gets Turned Into a Vampire
Jenna also was finally clued in to all the fanged secrets this season. But just when she was coping with her niece dating a vampire and her sometimes boyfriend being possessed by one, she was kidnapped in an elaborate curse-breaking plot and turned into a sacrificial vamp... so to speak. It looked like Elena was the one who was going to be hiding from sunlight, so to have Jenna turned was a major twist. Even more major was having her unceremoniously killed off mere minutes later by a power-hungry Klaus.
14. Bonnie Becomes an Uber-Witch and Fakes Her Death
Bonnie spent a large part of Season 2 in a power struggle with Elijah's guy witches while she was on Team Salvatore. So we were thrilled that she got something awesome to do at the end of the season. Damon finally uncovered the secret burial ground where 100 vampires were buried (though we're not sure how a big abandoned plantation wasn't the first place people looked) and then did battle with Klaus. With Klaus knowing that taking down an original, even in her suped-up state, would kill her, she played dead. Then she came back during Klaus's curse-breaking attempt to surprise him with her mighty powers. It's not her fault that Elijah screwed everything up.
13. The Sister Witch Everyone Thought Was Dead? Yeah, She's Evil
Oh, Greta. Elijah's two male witches were dead set on finding their long lost sister/daughter who had been kidnapped by the evil Klaus. They both died before she finally showed up, happily announcing that she was firmly on Team Klaus. In fact, she was practically giddy about breaking the spell that all the good witches of yore had so fiercely fought to protect.
12. Original Vampires Can Just Take Over People's Bodies
Because bringing back Klaus when Katherine and Elijah knew what he looked like would have been boring. Having his blood or something infused into Alaric with a spell so that he could walk around like a naughty professor was much more fun. Next time, we want to see Klaus as Matt. Make it happen.
11. Original Vampires Can Also Be Werewolves
Why not combine all manner of supernatural beings into one? This show took original vampire Klaus and gave him some latent vampire tendencies, which, if unlocked, would create one fairly unstoppable evil monster. In other words: someone who makes Damon look like a kinder, gentler bloodsucker.
10. John Gilbert Finally Does Something Redeemable With His Life
We sort of loved to hate Uncle John, so for him to do something selfless was a twist we really didn't expect. And in the process, we learned about this cool new magical spell that allows a human being to bind themselves to another person in order to save their life. It's like a kidney transplant, except the donor dies in the process. Dr. House would be all over this.
9. There's Something Strange About Those Lockwoods
We always knew there was something sinister about Richard Lockwood and something slightly douchey about his son Tyler, but when John Gilbert set off his vampire-immobilizing device at the Founder's Day massacre and both Lockwoods fell victim to it, we knew there was also something supernatural about both of them. That something turned out to be lycanthropy, and it was a game-changer for not only Tyler, but all our beloved vampire friends as well, when we learned that werewolves are capable of killing vampires with just one bite -- and that they are pissed off and lurking everywhere.
8. The Smoochy, Stabby, Tricky Return of Katherine
Many a shipper's heart was set on fire in the Season 1 finale when Elena made out with Damon on her front porch, but that was extinguished pretty quickly when she went into the house and promptly started stabbing the crap out of John Gilbert, who recognized her as Katherine in an Elena disguise. We knew we'd get to see Katherine eventually, but incorporating her into the story so soon was a hugely unexpected payoff, stabby or not.
7. Caroline Turns
By the end of the first season, Elena's frenemy Caroline had been on a direct path to one-note side character town, bouncing between being the victim of b-story kidnappings and comforting more important characters when they got sad. Luckily for her, that all changed in the beginning of Season 2, when Katherine decided to send a message to Elena by killing Caroline after she'd received a blood transfusion from Damon, thus upgrading her from a boring auxiliary human to a badass newborn vampire who could actually be useful in the supernatural storylines.
6. The Sun and the Moon Curse and All Its Implications
Season 2 brought with it the story of the Sun and the Moon Curse, which was placed on all vampires and werewolves in ancient times, keeping the former in darkness and the latter slaves to the moon. Good news is, there's a way to reverse it in the vampires' favor (or the werewolves' favor, but who cares about them?). Bad news is, Katherine plans to do it by killing her doppelganger (Elena), a witch (Bonnie), a vampire (Caroline), a werewolf (Tyler) and a moonstone (just some rock). Katherine later claimed to have changed her mind about killing off half the cast, but seeing as she's a compulsive liar, stakes remain slightly high here.
5. Mason's Working for Katherine
Who is the only vampire on earth manipulative enough to have a werewolf on her payroll? And pay him in nothing but promises of eternal love? Katherine Pierce, of course. After weeks of watching Mason Lockwood search for the moonstone we finally learned that he was after it simply because Katherine told him to get it for her so she could use it to break the curse and enslave all his werewolf buddies. Then, he was murdered trying to protect her. It... kind of sucks to be a male character on this show.
4. Katherine Was Never in the Tomb
Throughout the first season, Damon and Stefan knew Katherine had her faults, but they still couldn't help but feel a little bad about how she'd been locked in a subterranean tomb, all desiccated and depressed, with 26 other sad sack vampires for the past 145 years. But little did they know, she was actually a much bigger bitch than they originally thought, as she'd been spared entombment by a guard smitten with her (of course), and had been living it up all over the world all this time, seemingly ignoring the Salvatore brothers completely.
3. Isobel's Alive and Very Complicated
Poor Elena. Not only did she find out that her birth mother Isobel is a vampire -- turned by Damon, of all people -- and that her uncle is her father, but she also learned that Isobel was secretly working for Katherine (who isn't?) in a sort of vampire anti-terrorism unit against her uncle-father, who was scheming to kill all of Mystic Falls' vampire population with the Gilbert device. Because if one side of Elena's family is undead, the other side has to be genocidal. It's like the "FML" meme was made just for her.
2. Elijah Plays Let's Make a Deal
Faced with the prospect of Klaus on his way to town to sacrifice her, Temple of Doom-style, and the peccadillo of Stefan being stuck in a tomb with Katherine and her persuasive lady parts, Elena agreed to let Elijah use her as bait to kill Klaus in exchange for Elijah releasing Stefan from the tomb and promising not to kill any of her friends. Then, she readily accepted martyrdom before finishing her homework and going off to bed. If she were going to live to her college years, that would be one well-rounded application
1. Then They All Stab That Deal to Death (Twice)
ot long after Elena's deal was made with Elijah, John Gilbert gave Damon the key to killing an Original -- a dagger dipped in white ash -- and they all invited Elijah over to a tea party for some scones and Original-murdering. After a few stumbles involving John trying to get Damon killed as well, Damon accidentally bringing Elijah back to life after Alaric stabbed him and Jenna having some trouble preparing the dessert, Elena finally put the whole Elijah thing to bed by stabbing him herself (the right way, this time), and with that, her martyrdom for Elijah was off. Sadly, so was their deal to keep her friends and family safe from Klaus, and Katherine was free to walk out of the tomb and prance around the Salvatore mansion naked. If you're Elena, it's hard to tell which is more terrifying.
I can't with this finale, it was really boring. It was basically a small connection between season 2 and season 3.
However, I'll be looking forward for next season. I'm in love with this show.
And I can already see they're taking away Stefan for a while so that Damon and Elena get a lot closer in the following episodes. It's not like they're gonna keep using Mystic Falls now that pretty much everybody knows about vampires, next season is probably going to be taken to a whole new level.
Next season will be all about the originals. Unfortunately, season 3 Elena will definitely be exploring her new profound love for Damon now that it's been finally introduced.
Next season will be all about the originals. Unfortunately, season 3 Elena will definitely be exploring her new profound love for Damon now that it's been finally introduced.
I used to stan for Delena, but not anymore.
I hope we'll still get such an exciting season again and I hope we'll get to see more witch power.
Beautiful and Talented Kat Graham on the latest issue of Nylon Magazine:
Kat Graham is the full package. A backup dancer for music moguls like Missy Elliott, Gwen Stefani, and will.i.am, Graham was the perfect pick for Honey 2, which finds her stepping into Jessica Alba's dancing shoes. Graham, who also stars on The Vampire Diaries on The CW, has been using her spare time wisely by working on her debut album (check out her single "Sassy".)
How was touring with will.i.am? Such a fun experience. We did one country a day so I was messed up by the time we got to Nigeria. There was one time, I think we had just landed in Russia, that I literally hadn't slept a wink in three days. I was just 18.
Aren't you multilingual? I was born in Switzerland and started speaking Hebrew when I was six or seven. Then I went to Lycee Francais and learned French. I know Spanish as well and, in Portugal, I was in love with my ski instructor who didn't speak any English, so I had to learn Portuguese to speak him.
What kinds of fans do you have through Vampire Diaries? When you play a role, it attracts people that are similar to that character. I play a witch, so Wiccans will hit me up. A girl once gave me a bag of chicken bones; I guess she assumed I would know what to do with them. It freaked me out.
With three and a half days to digest everything that transpired in the "Vampire Diaries" finale, I finally feel like I have a grasp on where the very solid season ender leaves us and the characters.
Damon is healthy, but in a precarious place now that he's left to defend The Salvatore name -- and lady love -- after Stefan departed with Klaus, who is keeping his extended family in cold storage ... for now. Meanwhile Jeremy is being haunted (?) by his dead ex-girlfriends after Bonnie brought him back from the dead after Caroline's mom accidentally shot him, who has in turned accepted her daughter's newly undead status.
Ya know, just another day in Mystic Falls. So with adequate time spent looking in the rearview, I wanted to turn our attention to season three -- and this interview with creator Kevin Williamson, that previews what you can expect from "Vampire Diaries" this September!
PopWrap: How do you feel about the season finale?
Kevin Williamson: I was excited that we got to bring a few of the storylines to a close, so not everything was left as a cliffhanger, while also introducing some new threads for next year. Next season there are several places we can pick up, we don’t have to start right where we left off this time.
PW: Do you like that fans are still scratching their heads over the Vicki-Jeremy-Anna cliffhanger?
Kevin: [laughs] Oh, yes. I’m very excited about that storyline in particular. Right now I hope fans see it as a big question mark, because it should be.
PW: Where did that idea come from?
Kevin: Kayla Ewell. I just loved her. When we made the decision to kill Vicki, it wasn’t an easy one, but something I felt was important to the show because it needed to have a different kind of life. A moment to make people sit back and say, “this show is serious about genre storytelling.” And it worked. But I missed her. Right away I thought, “she can come back.” But then I thought, “dead people have to stay dead or we’re ‘Heroes.'" There here have to be consequences. Especially when people die. In that moment I came up with Jeremy being haunted by Vicky, but that felt stupid. But when Anna came around, everyone fell in love with her too – I mean, the Twitter outrage when she died alone proved that. Then we started playing off the idea that everyone in Jeremy’s life was dying, so I thought, “now there’s a story here!” I was waiting for the right time. It had to be earned. We’ve done werewolves, vampires, we’ve tried to keep it really grounded and now we’re in a place after all the witchy-woo-woo of this year that I think the audience will accept this additional element to our world. So now we’re going to do this whole haunting of Jeremy.
PW: Haunting implies "ghosts" -- is that what you consider Vicki & Anna?
Kevin: No. But if you are thinking ghosts, that is the appropriate place to start.
PW: Does it open the door for more people to return, like Jenna?
Kevin: I guess, but we’re not planning anything like that. There still needs to be a consequence to death, even in this storyline we’ve created with Jeremy. It will abide by a set of rules.
PW: Can I ask, how did you keep it secret?
Kevin: For the longest time, only Julie and I knew. Even when we wrote the final script we kept that scene out. We finally engaged Malese [Jow] & Kayla, who were both excited and on board for it – but the thing is, we had to make sure they were not only available for the finale, but also season three to play out the storyline. But we told them, if people see you in Atlanta, here are your excuses.
PW: Which were?
Kevin: For Kayla it was, “I’ve come to visit my best friend Nina.” For Malese, we told her to say that Anna was involved in a flashback. But it never came out, which was nice because we’re a show that relies on those twists and turns to be most effective. I like that the press had embraced that and played ball.
PW: Julie Plec previously called next year, the "Season of the Originals" -- talk to me a bit about where that's going to take us.
Kevin: It was time for a new element. I mean, talk about a spin-off series [laughs]. Elijah explained how Klaus came about being a few episodes back. So we’re going to build from that mythology, but as you saw from the coffins, there are a lot of originals there. And we have a huge twist already planned for the first episode with them that explains why Klaus was so interested in Stefan. There’s another element to Klaus and what he’s about that you don’t know yet.
PW: Suffice it to say, those coffins won't stay closed for long.
Kevin: It's one of the big things that’s going to happen next year – this family of originals. We’re going to find out who they are, what they’re about, how The Salvatore’s are intertwined with them – Klaus took Stefan for a reason. There’s a big story here. There’s a whole third season of plot we get to mine through these fascinating characters. They’ll show up and hopefully be just as delicious as Klaus & Elijah turned out to be.
PW: Plus, I'm guessing you'll get to bring in that female element I know you love so much.
Kevin: Right? Mama Original! I can’t wait till the sister and the mother crawl out of their coffins. Well, whoever ... we haven’t exactly figured it out yet. But what The Originals have done for us is make us excited again about a whole new chapter in this story. We got all jazzed about this third season – if we can pull it off [laughs].
PW: The finale also leaves us in an intriguing place for the Stefan-Elena-Damon relationship. What excites you about where that goes in season three?
Kevin: We’re in an interesting place now with Stefan and Klaus – and Damon is in a place where he never wanted to be. If he didn’t like playing hero this year, what’s going to happen when he’s forced to do the right thing and save his brother? [laughs] It’s going to be an interesting journey. It’ll be exactly what we set out for, but of course we’ll twist it and turn it. That’s the goal. I’m excited to see the dynamic shift with those three. For Elena, after two seasons of loving her as a strong female figure, I think the audience will now finally hopefully be receptive seeing her buy into what Katherine said, that it’s ok for Elena to love both Stefan and Damon.
PW: Looking back, what do you feel were the most creatively satisfying elements of season two?
Kevin: Katherine. That is a highlight for me. Watching this character, who we truly planned to never see that much, become so alive and delicious thanks to Nina, suddenly it made us reroute the entire season. Also watching all the supporting characters, who I knew were capable of so much more in the first season, get to shine this year was amazing. Especially Caroline. Turning her into a vampire … I knew Candice had it in her.
PW: That torture scene still gets me.
Kevin: [laughs] It’s very rare that you find an actor who can make you laugh and cry in the same line of dialogue. Candice can do it and when you can do that, you’re gold to me because that’s who I want to write for. People who make me excited to see how they’ll perform the words.
PW: Regrets?
Kevin: I feel like there was too much witchy woo-woo. We put the master witch at the center of this entire curse, so as a result of doing that, I felt like some of the episodes became too much about witchcraft and not enough about vampires. But that was me taking the story there. The writer in me wishes I had dialed back on that a bit.
PW: So ... less witches in season three?
Kevin: Oh, no. Don’t get me wrong, I love the witches – and there’s another whole show I’m involved in about witches. I’m glad we told Bonnie’s story – she is another one who I’m so proud of this season.
PW: That was my next question, do you feel like season two became so witch-centric because they were on your brain given "Secret Circle?
Kevin: No. I came on board with "Secret Circle" towards the end, so it was after both storylines had been developed. I think with witches, you’re always in danger of, “if one spell can do this, another bigger one can do this!” You have to limit their powers, the rules have to be very clear with witchcraft or a spell can undo anything. You have to be careful you don’t get sloppy with it. I don’t want to use a spell to write myself out of a corner, the show always strives to make it be real and hard and difficult and clever. As opposed to convenient.
PW: I know you haven't heard yet, but what are you excited about with "Secret Circle?"
Kevin: [gasps] Brittany and Thomas Dekker are so good! I was shocked because he wasn’t interested in doing a TV show, much less a CW show. He’s an indie, quirky film guy – but Thomas is really, really good on this show. We were on-set saying that he turned out even better than we thought. He and Brittany together have incredible chemistry. It’s fun.
PW: Obviously you'll hear this week -- are you feeling optimistic?
Kevin: I am. I was just reading that “The Ringer” was picked up by The CW ... which is funny because when Julie and I were trying to get Sarah Michelle Gellar to play Rose.
PW: Really?
Kevin: Oh yea. Originally me and my pipe dreams – the ones that led me to tell you I wanted Taylor Swift for Lexi – had us trying to get Sarah Michelle Gellar for Rose. She was very appreciative but just said no. She was the only stunt casting we’d have ever agreed to [laughs].
((( it's about 3 months 
That's included in the article!