by Ryan Downey
Would "The Vampire Diaries" really kill off Tyler Lockwood? Jenna Sommers? Matt Donovan? Jeremy Gilbert? Heck, could they even get rid of Damon Salvatore?
"The loss of life [will] be extreme over the last several episodes," executive producer Julie Plec told MTV News and a handful of press assembled for a private screening of tonight's episode, "The Last Day," at the CW offices on Wednesday. "In vampire shows, the stakes are high and the death count has to match that. Because if we don’t follow through on the stakes that we’re setting out—if you don’t believe that the consequences are life and death—then we’re not doing our job."
As season two of the popular show draws to a close (they recently wrapped shooting on the finale), Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) and his brother Damon (Ian Somerhalder) are racing to save Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) from losing her life in a magic ritual that villainous "Original" vampire Klaus (Joseph Morgan) hopes will release his dormant werewolf side. The ritual requires the death of Elena along with a vampire and a werewolf in order to succeed. Bonnie (Kat Graham) has the power to stop it, but doing so would cause her to lose her life too. Complicated, eh?
"Unfortunately for our characters, this ritual needs a lot of sacrificial elements," Julie explained. "And so if that ritual happens—and when it happens and how it happens—if it goes off without a hitch, there will be a lot of loss of life. We [have] to pay off what we set up."
"Original" vampires Klaus and Elijah (played Daniel Gillies, who was recommended to producers by Paul at some point before he was cast) have been major parts of season two. But Julie revealed that one of them wasn't set to appear in as many episodes at first. She described everyone on the show's "man crush" and "actor crush" on Daniel as he looked on with an embarrassed smile and Joseph, Kat, Steven R. McQueen (Jeremy) and Michael Trevino (Tyler) laughed.
"Elijah was not a character we began the season knowing would be part of the story," she said. Like Nina's alter-ego, evil vampire Katherine, Elijah ended up with more scenes and a larger onscreen role thanks to the actor's impressive performance and the reactions from fans.
The brothers-but-rivals relationship between Elijah and Klaus somewhat mirrors that of Stefan and Damon. "In the beginning, both Joseph and I were trying to figure out which one we were," Daniel said. "Am I more like Damon or am I [like Stefan]? Actually, we're sort of a combination."
"Both of our characters carry aspects of both, for sure," Joseph agreed.
The CW recently picked up "The Vampire Diaries" for a third season which Julie said will be "the year of the Originals," although she couldn't say whether Daniel or Joseph will be added as series regulars. "That is a decision that gets made when we actually break for season three," she said, noting that she'll be drinking margaritas during an overdue vacation in Mexico before that happens.
Tonight's episode brings Damon's emotional evolution over the course of the series to a brand new place and also features two of perhaps the most romantic scenes between Stefan and Elena, one of which draws a huge distinction between the show's central storyline and the love triangle played out in that other book-based vamp drama, "Twilight." And there's plenty of supernatural action, to boot.
When one member of the press asked if even Damon could die this season, Julie refused to rule it out. "Anybody could die. I’ve said it before." With a wide smile, she pointed toward Joseph, Daniel, Michael and Steven. "We've got these beautiful men. Who needs Ian Somerhalder?" she joked.
Regardless of whichever characters won't survive the events of season two, fans can rest assured that series deaths are painstakingly and meticulously planned by Julie and fellow executive producer and "Dawson's Creek" creator Kevin Williamson, who skipped the Q&A to finish work on the pilot for his witchy new series, "The Secret Circle."
"For us, it’s actually the pain of having to let go of somebody in the family, because it has nothing to do with the job they’ve done or who they are; it has to do with story, and it’s a very, very painful decision to have to make for the family," she said. "So we think about that first. And if story still prevails, taking all of the emotional stuff out of it and the personal stuff out of it, then we know it’s the right decision, and we hope that the audience trusts our decision as storytellers to make those right decisions. There will be decisions that are not popular, always. It does not come lightly."
Who do you think will meet their demise by the end of season two? Tell us in the comments and on Twitter!
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