SDCC: Nina Dobrev On Elena’s Changes In Vampire Diaries Season 4

When we last saw Nina Dobrev‘s Elena Gilbert on the Vampire Diaries season finale, she drowned… and then reawakened as a vampire. We caught up with Nina at the Vampire Diaries interview roundtable at this year’s Comic-Con International in San Diego to talk about her reaction to it, how others will react to it, and what else is coming up for Season 4.

Obviously, spoilers follow. You have been warned!

“I’m actually kind of sad,” Nina says about her reaction to Elena now being a vampire. “I liked being both. I walked around set, bragging about how I got to be a human and a vampire, the best of both worlds. And now have no bragging rights,” she says, referring to her dual role between human Elena and vampire Katherine. Nina was aware that Elena turning into a vampire was “always a plan” and it was “just a matter of when.”

“It happened in the books, so it was definitely going to happen in the show. At one point, there was talk of it happening in Season 2, and I’m glad that they waited,” she says. One character that won’t react well to Elena’s change is Katherine. “She’s going to be pissed,” Nina teases. “She is not going to be happy. She was hoping that the Salvatore brothers would get over the fad of Elena for one lifetime, and then she’d be back on track with the boys, but now she’s screwed,” she says. The rest of the gang might learn to accept this evolution. “Caroline was accepted by the group as a vampire,” Nina points out. “I think everyone’s just going to be sad. They’ve just spent three years — or three seasons, I don’t know how long that is on the show — but they’ve just spent all this time doing everything in their power to protect her, and now she’s a vampire. So I guess now she can protect herself.”

“I’d like for her to become, as a vampire, realize that now she’s independent and she can go do her own thing. It’s almost like a college experience. You go to high school, and you’re finally let out of the house, and you have an interesting, fun college time, and this is going to be her coming of age,” Nina says. Even though this change might be liberating, Nina is sure to point out that Elena didn’t want to become a vampire.  “I imagine she’ll be sad that she’ll never be able to have kids. She’ll never get married and have a normal life, or just go to college… she’ll never have that ever again. She was constantly trying to hold on to her humanity, and now it’s gone forever,” she says.

Some of Elena’s human traits will now me magnified after her change. “Your emotions are heightened, and your characteristics are heightened as a vampire. One of her biggest characteristics was that she was compassionate, caring and selfless, so to her detriment, as a vampire, she will never let anyone get hurt,” she teases.

The Vampire Diaries season 4 begins October 11, 2012 on The CW. Come by our forum to join the countdown and if you haven’t pre-ordered the Season 3 DVD or Blu-ray yet, here’s where you can do it! The sets hit stores on September 11.