Vampire Diaries Interview: Julie Plec Talks About This Week’s Show & The Rest Of Season 3

As you may have seen in previous postings, today, KSiteTV’s Craig Byrne attended a press screening of Thursday night’s Vampire Diaries episode, “Dangerous Liaisons,” that was followed by a Q&A with Executive Producer Julie Plec.

The Q&A went on for a half an hour, and you’ll surely be reading about this at other media outlets as well. Here are some highlights of what Julie was asked by representatives from several of the journalists in attendance. Please do not reproduce this interview on to other websites. Thanks! And of course, beware of spoilers!

In “Dangerous Liaisons,” the Original family decides to hold a dinner party. We get to learn a bit more about some newly-introduced members of the family, such as Kol and Finn, as well as their mother Esther. So of course, the first thing on journalists’ minds was the question of whether or not we’d see an Originals spin-off series. “Well, I mean, look,” Julie replied matter-of-factly. “We love these characters so much and we have a lot of stories to tell for them, so it’s really more a matter of somebody else’s desire to give them their own forum, more than our desire to write for them.”

Julie was asked about two folks who have been absent from the show as of late – Tyler (Michael Trevino) and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen). “Tyler’s still going to be a little while, doing his journey of self-discovery and whatever it is that he’s doing. We’ll see him back in the Spring,” she teased. As for Jeremy? “You know, it’s so funny. I will tell you this. I had calls from some casting directors, basically being like ‘Do you realize that all of your actors’ representatives are putting them up for pilot season?’ And I said, ‘that’s so tragic!’ They’ve all gotten to the point where they’re like, ‘well, you don’t really know how this is gonna go, so we may as well get our backup plan.’ We will see Jeremy before the season’s over. That’s about all I can say on that,” she said.

Fans will see in “Dangerous Liaisons” that Klaus has a sensitive side, which makes us wonder if he’s going to start to become sympathetic as Damon has been. Is he still a villain? “I think that you can define ‘villain’ in a lot of ways, and Klaus certainly is and will continue to be the provider of much antagonism and some very, very extreme jeopardy for our heroes, but no one is singularly just evil,” Julie tells us. “He has got his own demons; his own wants, his own desires, and there are things that he’s never experienced that he wants in his own life, and I think that the two aren’t mutually exclusive, so we could get a glimpse into what makes Klaus tick as a man, without compromising his ability to wreak major havoc in this town.”

As for another person who straddles the line between good and evil, Plec tells us that the interaction between Elijah and Elena will have some “major, major stuff” going down that “will be interesting and surprising for the audience.”

“The whole character of Elijah – and I’ve said this before, but I can’t say it enough – has been such a glorious surprise to us as writers, because it’s really been as much of Daniel Gillies and what he’s brought to the character, that has fed into what we want to give to the character. So of course, when we decided that there needed to be a Big Bad Evil Vampire in the middle of last season, that paved the way to the introduction of Klaus, in a million years, never would we have said ‘Oh! And then one day he’ll have this magnificent and lovely friendship with Elena!’ You know? And yet, that has evolved over the course of a season and a half worth of stuff for Elijah and for Daniel. So we kind of like to watch it as it happens, more than we even like to lay the map for them, because they bring so much to it. And then we are able to play with that a little bit. Next week definitely is very much rooted in the foundation of this compassion that Elena has for Elijah,” Julie explained. The other two vampires in Elena’s life are, clearly, going to continue being an active part of her conflict. “Obviously, we’re at a little bit of a crossroads with Elena and the boys. I think a lot of what we’re going to start to see is the question for Elena, which is ‘here’s this person that I loved, and still love in my mind, so much, and here’s this friend that I have made, that has this friendship that has gone complicated. And at the middle of it all, I’m still that girl who is not entirely sure that she’s supposed to be in love with any vampires, much less two.’ So we’ll really be exploring her point of view a lot for the rest of the season, and certainly I can say that you’re not going to get to the end of the season without all three of them understanding that a choice needs to be made,” Plec told us.

On the subject of Elena’s affections, Plec said that the recently-released Entertainment Weekly Vampire Diaries covers are “hot” but gave a politically correct answer when choosing her favorite. “Even if I didn’t mean it, I would say it’s the one with the three of them on the cover. I am more wise than to open myself up to that,” she laughed.

So what do we have to look forward to tonight, in Plec’s words? “Elena finds herself on the arm of two tuxedoed Salvatores. Klaus attempts a Cinderella seduction. And the Original Mother reveals she has big plans in store for her beloved children.” Tonight’s also a great night for fans who have wanted to see a larger role for Matt Donovan. “Matt’s in a wonderful situation right now, where he finds himself right smack in the epicenter of everybody else’s business. And there he is – the guy that’s always kind of been on the periphery, now finding the fact that he’s the human, the good friend, the nice guy, the gentleman with the varsity jacket… and he’s right there in the middle of a lot of attention from a lot of people, and I think that ultimately, the power of his abiliy to be a friend, and to be there, certainly for Elena, in times that are need that are even yet to come… will keep showing us that part of Matt that, screentime be damned, is one of the fundamentally most important characters in the show, in what he represents, in that he is that guy who is just trying to get through life, and maybe get out of this town one day, and maybe have a normal life, free of vampires, and ghosts, and the supernatural, which essentially, is kind of what we wish for all our characters. It’s just not that all of them are going to be able to achieve it,” she teased.

Does this mean more death is on the way? “Certainly, many of our characters are going to come face-to-face with their maker,” Julie hinted. “At some point before the season is over, and the question is whether they meet and shake the hand and get dragged away with their maker is a whole other question, but there’s going to be a lot of moments where we’re not going to be sure who’s really safe and who’s going to see it through.”

Do they have to kill someone, though? “Well, Kevin is convinced that you always have to kill somebody. He writes about serial killers,” she joked, referring to Kevin’s new pilot. “You know, we don’t kill just because we feel like we should, but we also don’t let people live just because they’re part of the family. That’s one of the great, sad tragedies of our job, not being able to say ‘oh, we love you, and therefore you’ll be with us forever.’ But by no means is there a rule that says ‘oh, in Episode 22 we’re checkin’ one more of these guys off the list.’ But there’s definitely going to be some jeopardy by season’s end.” Two folks who are already in the land of the dead that won’t be coming back are Elena’s parents, the Gilberts. “You know what, this is another of the things that ‘never say never,’ but if it turns out Elena’s parents aren’t dead, that will probably be when I’m in retirement on a beach in Hawaii, and somebody else will be on [the show]. It could happen, I guess. But no. In my mind, Elena’s parents are dead. It was a human accident, and a human tragedy, and as we know, the night that Stefan pulled her out of the water and saved her life. That was kind of the beginning of their love story. I would certainly like to return to that night at some point, and know more about it. So, we’ll see if and when that happens,” she said.

As for other folks from the past, Julie said that Katherine is MIA, and smarter than to “get caught up in this mess.” She also revealed that the Original Petrova is a concept that they have no intentions of exploring this season. “It depends on how many Originals are around to tell the tale when all is said and done. If there are any standing, maybe that’s a story we’ll tell one day,” she hinted.

All in all, “Dangerous Liaisons” is an episode that a lot of people will be talking about, so be sure to watch!

The “Dangerous Liaisons” episode of The Vampire Diaries airs tonight – Thursday, February 9 on The CW! Here are some images and here’s an advance look at some things you have to look forward to. Also be sure to come visit us on our TVD forum!