The Vampire Diaries is joining the list of shows saying goodbye after next season, and as BuddyTV found out from executive producer Julie Plec at San Diego Comic-Con, they’re hoping to deliver as happy an ending as is possible with this show.

[WATCH] The Vampire Diaries Ending with Season 8, Get Ready to Meet Evil Herself>>>

Watch the video interview with executive producer Julie Plec:

Here are the highlights:

  • Plec is excited, happy, nervous and sad that TVD is ending. “It’s been a big, big part of my life for a long time.”
  • “The goal is not to try to make the fans happy because of some small thing they’ve latched onto that they consider important to them, but to make the experience resolve itself satisfyingly, to make sure that your characters are being true to themselves and true to each other, finding closure in relationships, letting people come back together to be happy, answering those questions of where will these people be, these are immortal beings, how long will they live and what will their life look like at the end, and really delivering on a good, happy ending, as much as that’s even possible for each character.”
  • Plec feels confident they’ll end the show in a way that makes people happy, even if something, like a particular ship, doesn’t go the way they want.
  • The EP couldn’t say much about the new evil because explaining the origin of who she is would make it clear what they’re doing. “What’s fun about it is she’s creepy and crawly,” she shared. “She clearly has a firm hold on 2 of our beloved heroes and so she’s definitely a force to be reckoned with, and there’s a mystery surrounding her origins that dates back thousands and thousands and thousands of years.”
  • Caroline and Stefan finally have a chance to try and be happy even while everything around them is chaotic and distressing. “They need each other now more than ever.”
  • “Bonnie, of course, is going to great lengths to save not just her best friend Damon but the love of her life Enzo and she’s not going to lose both of them, is she? That would be terrible, although it is The Vampire Diaries, so come to think of it, that’s still an option.”
  • “Alaric lost so much and has never been able to find love in a way that can be forever for him,” Plec said, wondering, “Do we finally give that to him? Or do we keep him for all eternity as the guy who’s unlucky in love?”
  • There’s a lot for them to work with romance-wise, and since it’s the last season, they “get to really deliver on relationships completely in a way” they haven’t been able to before.
  • There won’t be any crossovers. “The timelines are separated,” the EP explained. But that doesn’t mean that the show will end without an acknowledgement of the shared universe. Her hope is for The Originals to keep going and to see some of these characters end up there.
  • They are “very much aware that” Klaus and Caroline’s history “exists out there.”

The Vampire Diaries season 8 premieres Friday, October 21 at 8pm on the CW.

(Image: Meredith Jacobs)

Meredith Jacobs

Contributing Writer, BuddyTV

If it’s on TV — especially if it’s a procedural or superhero show — chances are Meredith watches it. She has a love for all things fiction, starting from a young age with ER and The X-Files on the small screen and the Nancy Drew books. Arrow kicked off the Arrowverse and her true passion for all things heroes. She’s enjoyed getting into the minds of serial killers since Criminal Minds, so it should be no surprise that her latest obsession is Prodigal Son.