The Vampire Diaries is about to enter its eighth and final season, and fans are anxiously anticipating how this series is going to wrap up. So many questions are still unanswered and even the creators have had no idea what will and won’t be addressed. Until now. Will co-creator Kevin Williamson pull a Dawson’s Creek and throw fans a curveball ending? Find out what he and showrunner Julie Plec had to say about the epic series finale of The Vampire Diaries and which series finales they liked best.
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What do you want most out of the finale? Probably to find out who ends up with who, right? Will Elena return? Which of the Salvatore brothers will she choose? According to Entertainment Weekly, those decisions have now been made concretely.
“Things are final now,” co-creator Kevin Williamson said. “Decisions are being made. People’s lives are hanging in the balance. Relationships hang in the balance. Who’s going to end up with whom?”
That’s a question Williamson is no stranger to answering. He’s been writing high-profile love triangles since the ’90s. The Dawson’s Creek creator held the fate of Dawson, Pacey and Joey’s complicated relationships in his hands once, and he’s ready to do it again with Stefan, Damon and Elena. If Dawson’s Creek is any indication, he could likely pick an unexpected road that many fans disagree with.
“[I knew] the way it should end and I held true to it,” Williamson said of Dawson’s Creek. “I even wrote it, and it didn’t feel right. Something was wrong, so I rewrote it.”
In case you forgot, many fans felt that Dawson’s Creek should end with Joey and Dawson together. Joey was in love with Dawson from the pilot episode. They dated for a while before breaking up, but the feelings between them were always revisited. The show took a surprise turn when Joey and Dawson’s best friend Pacey started dating. Soon, the relationship teams formed, and you were either Team Pacey or Team Dawson. In the finale (SPOILER), Joey ended up with Pacey. So if you think you know exactly who Elena is supposed to end up with, think again. That answer may not feel right with Williamson either.
“You have to be open to change and be able to evolve and keep an open mind,” he added, “because the next idea may be the best one.”
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Everyone has a strong opinion on the ending, especially the TVD writers. However, showrunner Julie Plec says that they’re all keeping an open mind about it like Williamson advises.
“Fans are always talking about endgame as though endgame has been chosen from minute 1,” she said. “I don’t know that you could talk to a single series creator that would say confidently, ‘Where I started is where I finished and there was no way in hell I was going to stray from that path.’ Dawson’s being the perfect example.”
If you don’t want to look at Dawson’s Creek as an indication of how TVD will wrap up (or maybe you’ve never even seen it, in which case, what did you do in your childhood?), you may want to look at Plec and Williamson’s ideas of a great series finale.
“Speaking only for myself, the ideal finale to me is Friday Night Lights,” said Plec. “Where you have loved and worshiped a show for all these years, you get to come back, celebrate the characters, finish up their journeys, and send everyone out with a feeling of, ‘My god, I’m so grateful that I got to know these people.'”
Williamson went a little darker, looking at Breaking Bad. “I felt complete when that show ended,” he recalled. “It was sad, it was tragic, but I felt satisfied. It was a big thank you.”
“You want to say thank you to the audience and you also want to satisfy them,” he added. “Not just one last time, but for the ultimate time. And you want that last episode to give them such a reward for sticking with you and watching this show all the years.”
Saying thank you to the fans seems to be the common theme with both Plec and Williamson. This is good news, as a thank you would likely mean that the majority of fans are happy with the outcome, as opposed to shocked and outraged, just for the sake of creating controversy.
“My emotional desire when I watch a series come to an end is to be crying and laughing and cheering as the final credits roll,” Plec said. “Feeling like I just got delivered the happy ending, whether the plot ends happily or not.”
What do you think could be a happy ending for The Vampire Diaries where the plot doesn’t end happily? Let us know in the comments below!
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The Vampire Diaries final season begins Friday, October 21 at 8/7c on The CW. Stay updated on all TVD news by following our Vampire Diaries Facebook page.
(Image courtesy of The CW)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
