What’s in store for the final four episodes of the first season of The Vampire Diaries? Don’t worry, there won’t be aliens, though star Matt Davis, who plays vampire-slaying history teacher Alaric Saltzman, did recently have a close encounter of the strange kind.
I spoke to the elder statesman of The Vampire Diaries (at almost 32, he’s technically the oldest series regular) about Alaric’s relationship with Damon, his reunion with Isobel, getting killed off, and a very elaborate alien prank someone on the set is pulling on him.
According to Davis, the final story arc centers on Uncle John as the bad guy against the unlikely team of Alaric and the Salvatore brothers. “Alaric is in the process of helping Stefan and Damon. Now that Uncle John has arrived, he’s our new nemesis, so he’s after this invention that this whole storyline involves.” However, Davis added that he couldn’t talk too much about what the invention might be.
Fans can also expect more of the complex dynamic between Alaric and Damon, the vampire who turned Alaric’s wife. “You’ll see moments where you find that they have respect for each other and then you’ll find moments where they don’t. They’re unlikely allies bound together by searching for a woman who left them.”
While Davis couldn’t talk in details about Alaric’s impending reunion with Isobel, he described it as “one of those moments where you’ve dedicated your life to a purpose or a cause for a number of years and then you find yourself confronted with it. It’s shocking. I feel, like with all things in life, it never really goes the way you expected.”
Davis also described the sense of camaraderie on the set by explaining that there are constantly little pranks going back and forth. He described one very elaborate prank involving cell phones and aliens someone pulled on him, and it’s best to let his explanation speak for itself. If you’re interested, Ernesto Riley is Matt Davis’ Twitter alias, a name he just randomly came up with to use online.
“About a month ago I got two missed calls on my cell phone from my cell phone number which I thought was very odd because I didn’t remember calling myself. I didn’t even know you could. There was a voice-mail that I checked from this very bizarre, disembodied, androgynous voice that said:
‘Hello Matthew Davis, or should I refer to you as Ernesto Riley? I am an alien. You’ve been trying to contact me through your subconscious. I think it’s time we meet. I’m intrigued. It’s very important that we talk. I do not have a cell phone from this planet or this galaxy, so I’ll be using your phone number to contact you.’
And sure enough, in the next three days I had this ongoing conversation with an alien. I have gone through everyone on the set, everyone in the cast, everyone in my personal life. I have no idea who is pranking me with this alien phone call.”
I’m fairly certain that takes the prize for Strangest On-Set Prank Ever.
Catch Matt Davis in The Vampire Diaries Thursdays at 8pm on the CW.
(Image courtesy of the CW)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
