Tonight’s episode of The Vampire Diaries on The CW began with Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Caroline (Candice King) in bed… but could the reunion of Stefan and Valerie ruin things for the popular “Steroline” pairing?
We spoke with the show’s Executive Producer, Caroline Dries, for some intel on what might happen next.
Warning: If you haven’t seen tonight’s episode “Live Through This” yet, read no further!
While we (and Stefan) learned why Valerie has such a dark persona that feels so weighted, the effects of what she tells him will endure for a while.
“When she drops the bomb on Stefan’s lap, it will basically shake him to his core and define the rest of his season for him,” Dries said, grateful that there are still stories to be told with this group. “Wwith these characters like Stefan and Damon and Klaus and Elijah, they’re just so rich, because they go back so many years, [that] it’s interesting that even for us in Season 7, you can kinda still peel back layers of the characters. We’ve seen so many episodes of them, we feel like we know them so well, and then in Episode 5, Stefan learns this huge news, and then in Episode 6, he kind of admits how this affects him, even in the present day. So, that’s what’s kind of fun about this storyline,” she explained.
Will these revelations affect Stefan’s relationship with Caroline?
“I think it will start to make her feel insecure about where she stands with him. We saw in Episode 4, he’s like'”so, do you want to confront Valerie? Do you want to talk about it?’ And she’s not an insecure character. I mean, she started Season 1 as very insecure, but she’s coming off Season 6 as being like ‘this is what I want. This is who I am. This is how I have to deal with it.’ She comes into Season 7 with the same fire, and then these little things keep chipping away at her,” Dries said.
“Stefan will just be able to continue to struggle with how to be a good guy, to validate his relationship with Valerie and their past together, and also feel like he’s not leaving Caroline in the dust,” Dries promised. “Caroline is going to find an inner strength that she didn’t know that she had. I like the character most when she’s not feeling insecure, but she’s dating somebody who is this, like, emotionally closeted, secretive, internalized guy. For her, she’s just all emotions, all the time. She wears everything on her sleeve, so it’s her finding this middle ground of trying to be there for somebody, but also giving him his space.”
The Vampire Diaries airs Thursday nights at 8PM ET/PT on The CW.
