Top 10 Behind the Scenes Secrets About The Vampire Diaries
#10: Jeremy Gilbert’s Age vs. Steven R. McQueen’s Age in Real Life
Jeremy was a character created just for the shows. In the books, Elena has a kid sister named Margaret. But on screen, her sibling is supposed to be a brother that is barely younger than her. Many fans agree that on the show, the pair have one of the greatest on-screen sibling dynamics ever, but Steven R. McQueen isn’t actually younger than Nina Dobrev. The actors are only 6 months apart though, so McQueen is definitely still believable as the younger brother. Aunt Jenna on the other hand is slightly less believable. She is supposed to be 29 at the start of the show. In reality, actress Sara Canning was 22 when the series started airing, which is only 12 months older than McQueen.
#9: Some of the Heretics’ Deaths Weren’t Well-Received
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The show's creators had a huge hole to fill in the story when Nina left. And they decided to fill it with Salvatore family drama and the heretics. Many fans were understandably disappointed to see the new season without Elena or Katherine, but quickly fell in love with Mary Louise and Nora. The girls played the show’s first lesbian couple, which seemed like a big win for inclusivity. But almost as quickly as the girls showed up, they were killed off. The CW has a reputation for bringing diverse characters onto their shows just to have someone to get rid of. Fans were not happy with their deaths and honestly neither were we.
#8: The Role of Katherine Pierce Was Changed for Nina
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A lot had to be changed when adapting the book series for the small screen. And casting Nina Dobrev in the role of Elena/Katherine sparked some major changes. In the books, the antagonist vampire is a German girl named Katherine von Swartzschild. When casting, the creators eventually picked an Elena that could do the part justice for 8 seasons. But Nina does not have the blonde hair blue eyed combo her book counterpart does. Her look and fluency in Bulgarian pushed the creators into making her doppleganger a Bulgarian girl named Katherine Pierce, born Katerina Petrova. The actress had to play many different doppelgangers and she nailed every single one.
#7: Everyone Wanted to be Damon Salvatore
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Auditioning for a show can be an extremely long process. Co-creators Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson said they had a lot of pressure to cast the right actors because the story already had a large fan base. When it came to transforming the story, the character of Damon was one of the most sought after roles. Paul Wesley initially came in for the role of Stefan, but was told he was too old and should try for Damon, before they realized that no one could play Stefan as perfectly as Paul. Zach Roerig and Michael Trevino also auditioned for the role of Damon before Ian Somerhalder ultimately landed the role.
#6: Delena Was Not Supposed to Be Endgame
Anyone who has read the books knows that the story goes in a very different direction in the show. For fans of Delena, it felt like the series’ finale tied up their story with a nice little bow. But that was not always the plan. During the filming of season 2, the creators had come up with an emotional finale involving the brothers’ ultimate fate, while Elena would continue her life by perhaps pursuing medicine or falling in love with Matt Donovan. Kevin Williamson even said that he always imagined that Elena and Stefan would end up together. When Nina left however, a lot of ideas with Elena/Katherine story lines went right along with her. The creators had to regroup and come up with an ending just as emotional as the original plans.
#5: Love Was Often in the Air
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Teen drama shows seem to like making their main cast members take turns dating on screen, like Caroline dating Matt who dated Elena who dated Stefan who eventually marries Caroline. It all seems so unrealistic, but it appeared to have set a dating pool for the actors. Almost everyone knows about Nina and Ian’s off screen romance, but they were reportedly not the only ones. Candice King supposedly dated Steven R. McQueen, and Zach Roerig before settling down with her musician husband. Zach later went on to date Nathalie Kelley, who played Siren, Sybil. Paul Wesley was married to Dr. Meredith, played by Torrey Devitto, and dated Phoebe Tonkin - who played Hayley - on and off after their divorce. Then Klaus’ Joseph Morgan married Persia White, who played Bonnie’s mom, after meeting on set. We love all the love.
#4: Ian Somerhalder Liked Being Bad
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No one could have portrayed Damon Salvatore quite as well as Ian Somerhalder did. The character starts as antagonistic and rides the line between evil and alluring. So when fans started to like Damon, the creators ran with it and started to give him a redemption arc - because everyone loves a good redemption arc, right? Well, everyone except Ian. In an interview, he stated that he was really unhappy about his perceived gentleness in the scene with Rose. But eventually he came around, and we were left with a completely well-rounded character.
#3: L. J. Smith Was Not Involved in the Making of the Show
When a movie based on a book is received poorly by fans, a question that often comes up is “Why don’t they turn books into shows instead of a movie?” You might be able to include more details from the books and perhaps even produce a more accurate portrayal of the story. Well, The Vampire Diaries shows that this is not necessarily the case. The author of TVD books stated in an interview that she was not actually consulted in the making of the series at all, meaning the show is all the creators’ interpretations of her books. Many fans were upset about some of the book-to-show changes, but LJ Smith herself said the show is an “incredible” interpretation of her story, and we’re going to have to agree with her on this one.
#2: Stefan Salvatore’s Opening Voiceover Was Added at the Last Minute
There is no mystery as to what the show is about: it’s in the title. But in the intro to the pilot episode, Stefan does a voiceover announcing he is a lonely old vampire and this is his story, before the scene cuts to a couple on the road. The creators of “The Vampire Diaries” initially did not include the voice over, and the pilot just made this seem like a typical teen drama with nothing special about it. But when presented to test audiences, the episode didn’t capture watchers’ attention until something supernatural happened, which was over 8 minutes in. When they added the voiceover announcing Stefan as a vampire at the beginning, and showed the pilot to new test audiences, it captured their attention right away. We get it: who doesn't want to know more about the lonely vampire?!
#1: Both Salvatores Were Supposed to Die
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There are so many ways this show could have ended and still be satisfying to the fans. As previously mentioned,, the creators came up with a gut wrenching finale in just the second season of filming. What we didn’t mention was the fact that it would have also seen both Salvatore brothers die to save the girl they loved. But with six seasons standing between them and the finale (though they didn’t know that at the time), there was too much room for change, so that idea was scrapped. Between fans loving Delena no matter what Damon did, to Elena leaving the show 2 seasons before its end, the original ending just couldn't be brought to life. But we still get a glimpse of the idea when Damon eventually reunites with Stefan in the afterlife.
