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The Vampire Diaries

The Vampire Diaries is an American supernatural teen drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, based on the book series of the same name written by L. J. Smith. The series premiered on The CW on September 10, 2009, and concluded on March 10, 2017, having aired 171 episodes over eight seasons.

This article is about the television series. For the book series, see The Vampire Diaries (novel series). For the unrelated film, see Vampire Diary. For the media franchise, see The Vampire Diaries Universe.

The Vampire Diaries

The Vampire Diaries
by L. J. Smith

Michael Suby

United States

English

8

171 (list of episodes)

Julie Plec

  • Michael Karasick
  • Darren Genet
  • John Smith
  • Datan Hopson
  • Rob C. Givens

41–49 minutes

The CW

September 10, 2009 (2009-09-10) –
March 10, 2017 (2017-03-10)

The pilot episode attracted the largest audience for The CW of any series premiere since the network launched in 2006;[1] the first season averaged 3.60 million viewers.[2] It became the most-watched series on the network before being surpassed by Arrow. The show has received numerous award nominations, winning four People's Choice Awards and many Teen Choice Awards.


In April 2015, lead actress Nina Dobrev, who played Elena Gilbert, confirmed that she would be leaving the show after its sixth season. Dobrev returned to record a voice-over for the seventh-season finale and returned as a guest star in the series finale.[3] In March 2016, The CW renewed the series for an eighth season,[4] but in July of that year announced that the eighth season, consisting of 16 episodes, would be the show's last.[5] The final season began airing on October 21, 2016, and ended March 10, 2017.


The concepts and characters developed in the series served to launch a media franchise that includes other television series, web series, novels and comic books. The television series The Originals (2013–2018) – which also aired on The CW – was the first major entry in this collection of connected works, followed by a spin-off of The Originals entitled Legacies (2018–2022), which aired on The CW as well.

Series overview[edit]

The series is set in the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, a town charged with supernatural history. It follows the life of Elena Gilbert, a teenage girl who has just lost both parents in a car crash, as she falls in love with a 166-year-old vampire named Stefan Salvatore, who she thinks is just a normal human. Their relationship becomes increasingly intricate as Stefan's mysterious older brother Damon Salvatore returns to Mystic Falls with a plan to bring back their past love, Katherine Pierce, who is Elena's doppelgänger. Although Damon initially holds a grudge against his brother for forcing him to become a vampire, he later reconciles with Stefan and falls in love with Elena, creating a love triangle among the three. Both brothers attempt to protect Elena as they face various villains and threats to their town, including Katherine. The Salvatore brothers' pasts and the town's history along with its secrets are revealed through flashbacks as the series goes on.


Additional storylines revolve around the other inhabitants of the town, most notably Elena's younger brother Jeremy Gilbert and aunt Jenna Sommers, her best friends Bonnie Bennett and Caroline Forbes, their mutual friends Matt Donovan and Tyler Lockwood, Matt's older sister Vicki Donovan, and their history teacher, vampire hunter Alaric Saltzman. The town's politics are orchestrated by the Founders' council, comprising descendants of the founding families: the Fells, the Forbes', the Lockwoods, the Gilberts, and the Salvatores. They guard the town mainly from vampires and other supernatural threats such as werewolves, witches, hybrids (werewolf/vampire), and ghosts.

Nina Dobrev

[6]

Paul Wesley

[7]

as Damon Salvatore,[8] Stefan's malevolent elder vampire brother. He is mostly thought of as selfish and manipulative, using humans for his own gain with no regard but later on begins to display a more caring side. Throughout the series, Damon is able to repair his relationship with Stefan, and becomes best friends with Alaric and Bonnie. Though his love for Elena is initially one-sided, she begins to develop feelings for him as they work together to save Stefan after he's given in to his Ripper side. They begin dating in the fourth season, after Elena transitions into a vampire, and continue to have an on-and-off relationship until a now human Elena is put into her deep sleep at the end of the sixth season.

Ian Somerhalder

as Jeremy Gilbert (seasons 1–6; guest season 8),[9] Elena's younger brother, later revealed to be her biological cousin. He later becomes a member of The Five, a vampire hunting group giving him supernatural strengths. Jeremy is killed in the fourth season after Katherine throws him onto Silas, who drains his blood. He is resurrected by Bonnie Bennett, his love interest, in the fourth-season finale. In the sixth season, he leaves Mystic Falls to hunt vampires, unbeknownst to everyone other than Alaric. Jeremy returns to Mystic Falls in the final episode after Elena's curse is broken, and begins working as a teacher at the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted that Alaric and Caroline open.

Steven R. McQueen

as Jenna Sommers (seasons 1–2; guest seasons 3, 5 & 8),[10] Elena and Jeremy's aunt and legal guardian after the death of their parents. Though she is young she strives to be a role model to Elena and Jeremy and look after them. She dates Alaric after he moves to town in the middle of the first season. Jenna was killed in season two during Klaus' hybrid ritual after being turned into a vampire.

Sara Canning

as Bonnie Bennett,[11] Elena and Caroline's best friend and a very powerful witch. She has died numerous times but always found a way to return. She develops and controls her powers with the help of her grandmother, Sheila or "Grams", another witch in the Bennet family. She is often able to use her magic to help the group, and while she initially hates vampires, particularly Damon, she ends up warming up to them; she and Damon become best friends after being stuck in a prison world with him for four months during season six. Bonnie has lost and regained her ability to do magic multiple times throughout the show. She spent the second through fifth seasons in an on-again, off-again relationship with Elena's brother Jeremy and later became involved with Enzo. In the seventh season, Bonnie faces the challenge of having received Rayna Cruz's hunters' curse, which puts all her vampire friends at risk. In the series finale, Bonnie breaks the sleeping spell on Elena and leaves Mystic Falls to travel the world.

Kat Graham

as Caroline Forbes,[12] Elena and Bonnie's best friend, who was insecure and often jealous of Elena at first for the attention she got over her, often feeling second best, but after becoming a vampire in the second season becomes more caring and sympathetic. Neurotic but lovable, Caroline has been the love interest of many of the male characters. Initially serving as Damon's plaything in the first season, which she hates him for, though they later become friends, she has serious relationships with Matt, Tyler, Alaric, and Stefan, and was long the subject of Klaus's adoration whom she sleeps with in season 5. Caroline gives birth to Alaric and Jo's twin daughters after becoming pregnant with them through a spell cast by the Gemini Coven and becomes their mother as Jo is killed in season 7. She married Stefan shortly before his death in the eighth season and repaired her relationship with Damon. Caroline raises the twins with Alaric, who she views as her own; she opens the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted with Alaric.

Candice King

as Matt Donovan,[13] Vicki's younger brother and Elena's childhood friend and ex-boyfriend, who became romantically involved with Caroline in the first and second seasons. They remain good friends even after breaking up during the second season. Matt wants no part in the supernatural events in his town and later is at odds with the vampires as he becomes a police officer and tries to protect the town from them. He becomes the sheriff in the eighth season and plans to run for mayor.

Zach Roerig

as Vicki Donovan (season 1; recurring seasons 3 & 8; guest seasons 2 & 5), the drug-addicted older sister of Matt. She appears to be dating Tyler but is also interested in Jeremy. She is quite insecure about herself, being poor and an outsider. She is turned into a vampire by Damon and is killed by Stefan shortly after due to her getting out of control and attacking Elena. Following the destruction of the Other Side, the supernatural limbo where she resided after her death, Vicki was sent to Hell.

Kayla Ewell

as Tyler Lockwood (seasons 1–6; guest seasons 7–8),[14] a werewolf, later turned into a hybrid by Klaus, Matt's best friend, and the son of the mayor of Mystic Falls. His family carry a lycanthropic trait, being descended from an ancient werewolf clan. His father, the mayor, had the gene but did not trigger the curse. His uncle Mason was also a triggered werewolf, who was killed by Damon in the second season. He was turned into the first successful hybrid by Klaus. In the fifth-season finale, he is returned to being just a human. He reactivates his werewolf gene and leaves town at the end of the sixth season. He appears in a couple episodes of the seventh season, protecting Elena's coffin.

Michael Trevino

as Alaric Saltzman (seasons 1–3, 6–8; guest seasons 4–5),[15] a history teacher, vampire hunter, and Jenna's love interest in the first two seasons. Davis left the show at the end of season three after Alaric was killed. His character returned as a regular from the sixth season onwards, after he was resurrected in the fifth season.[16] His vampirism is stripped away by magic, turning him into a human again after being saved by Josette Laughlin; the two begin dating. Jo becomes pregnant and they plan to marry, but she is murdered by her brother Malachai at their wedding. The Gemini coven, Jo's witch family, was able to transfer the babies to Caroline's womb, and she gives birth to their twin daughters - Josie and Lizzie named after their biological mother Josette and Carolines' mother Elizabeth. Caroline and Alaric move to Dallas together and begin a relationship, but end it when Caroline decides to be with Stefan after his return at the end of the seventh season. Alaric establishes the Salvatore Boarding School for the Young & Gifted with Caroline, with whom he raises the twins, as Jo watches over him from the afterlife.

Matt Davis

[17] as Klaus Mikaelson (seasons 3–4, recurring season 2; guest seasons 5 & 7), the Original Hybrid, who begins to build an army of new "hybrids", which are half vampire and half werewolf. During the third season, Klaus began to develop feelings for Caroline and falls in love with her. Klaus eventually moves to New Orleans where his character is the lead in the spin-off show The Originals.

Joseph Morgan

[18] as Enzo St. John (seasons 6–8; recurring season 5), a vampire formerly under the imprisonment of the Augustine society. He was Damon Salvatore's cellmate back in the 1950s when the latter was captured by the Augustines. He and Damon revived their friendship as he searched for his lost lover, Maggie. In the fifth-season episode "Man on Fire", Enzo shut off his humanity after finding out the truth about Maggie's death and is later killed by Stefan, having his heart ripped out. He was resurrected in the fifth-season finale, and later becomes Bonnie's love interest before coming under the control of the monster in the vault at the end of the seventh season. He is killed by a humanity-less Stefan in the eighth season having his heart ripped out again and watches over Bonnie in the afterlife.

Michael Malarkey

Production[edit]

Initially, Kevin Williamson had little interest in developing the series, as he found the premise too similar to the Twilight novels. However, at the urging of Julie Plec, he began to read the books. He started to become intrigued by the story: "I began to realize that it was a story about a small town, about that town's underbelly and about what lurks under the surface."[19] Williamson has stated the town's story will be the main focus of the series rather than high school.[20]


On February 6, 2009, Variety announced that The CW had green-lit the pilot for The Vampire Diaries with Williamson and Julie Plec set as the head writers and executive producers.[21] On May 19, 2009, the series was officially ordered for the 2009–2010 season.[22]


The pilot episode was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia. However, the rest of the seasons have been filmed in Covington, Georgia (which doubles as the show's fictional small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia) and various other communities around Greater Atlanta[23] to take advantage of local tax incentives. On the morning of May 10, 2012, a fire broke out in the building on Clark Street in Covington that was used as the setting for Mystic Grill on the show.[24]


The series was given a full 22-episode order on October 21, 2009, after strong ratings for the first half of the season. On February 16, 2010, The CW announced that it had renewed the show for a second season,[25] which premiered on September 9, 2010.[26] On April 26, 2011, The CW renewed the show for a third season.[27] The third season premiered on September 15, 2011.[28] The fourth season premiered on October 11, 2012. The CW renewed the show for a fifth season on February 11, 2013.[29] On February 13, 2014, The CW renewed the series for a sixth season.[30] On January 11, 2015, the CW renewed the series for a seventh season.


On April 6, 2015, lead actress Nina Dobrev confirmed that she and co-star Michael Trevino (who plays Tyler Lockwood) would be leaving the show after its sixth season. Dobrev returned to record a voiceover for the seventh-season finale and returned as a guest star in the series finale.[3] Trevino appeared as a guest star in the seventh and eighth seasons.[31][32]


On March 11, 2016, The CW renewed the series for an eighth season,[33] but on July 23, 2016, announced that the eighth season, consisting of 16 episodes, would be the show's last.[5] The final season began airing on October 21, 2016, and ended March 10, 2017. President of The CW, Mark Pedowitz, said in an interview at the summer TCA's that The Vampire Diaries didn't receive an extra episode order for the second season at the request of Kevin Williamson. Kevin Williamson felt to do the best show possible; he would rather do 22 episodes. "I'd rather have a great 22 than a good 24 if Kevin couldn't do it," he explained.[34] The writers first met for the fifth season on April 15, 2013. Filming began on July 10, 2013, and finished on April 10, 2014. On July 23, 2016, it was announced that the show would end after a 16-episode eighth season.[35]

Tie-in material

On October 31, 2013, DC Comics launched a comic book series based on the TV show.[171]

List of vampire television series

Vampire film

Quotations related to The Vampire Diaries at Wikiquote

Media related to The Vampire Diaries at Wikimedia Commons

at IMDb

The Vampire Diaries