The Vampire Diaries writers like to drop bombshells on us just when we think we know what’s going on! Julie Plec talks in new interviews about the recent surprises and their consequences.
Following last night’s shocking episode of The Vampire Diaries, showrunner Julie Plec has given a number of interviews in which she lays out the new questions that arise for the characters when they learn there’s a potential cure for vampirism, as well as what we can expect from Jeremy, April, the love triangle, and much more.
Plec participated in an interview with TV Line, TV Guide and Zap2It, and a lot was revealed!
What does the cure mean for the show?
Speaking of the cure, Plec explains that finding the cure may not be as straightforward as just making Elena human again and moving on with the story from there. The characters will begin to ask important questions, such as, “‘Wait a second. Klaus, this immortal hybrid who’s been relatively indestructible, is there somehow a way to suddenly make him destructible?’ There’s going to be a whole lot of questions asked about what could happen,” Plec says. She also hints that the question of whether curing an original also cures their bloodline is a valid one.
The April of it all
She also talks about April, who you’ll remember Connor saying had “everything” to do with what was going on! She’ll be, “our vessel to start getting some answers about that really surprising twist of events at the end of the [season’s] first episode.”
Meanwhile, her friendship with Rebekah will continue to develop, and it’ll “pay off down the road with a vengeance.”
Tyler’s new role
On the Tyler/Caroline/Hayley triangle, which took an unexpected turn when we learned that Tyler had in fact not cheated, Plec says, “We like to introduce a trope, where you think you know where it’s going, and then everyone gets all up in arms, because ‘Oh, here comes the slutty little victim into the show, and Tyler’s a cheater, and that’s how they’re going to break up Caroline and Tyler and get Caroline to Klaus, oh, hack hack hack,’ because we’re masochists.” But that’s not the end of it, because “then we like to be like ‘No, that’s not at all what we’re doing.”
It’ll give Klaus a bit of a swagger in his step though, and allow him to make some moves on Caroline. But Hayley is “there for a reason,” Plec reveals, and it’ll allow Tyler to step up and become more of a hero. “Hero Tyler,” Plec raves, “I’ve got to say, man, I just saw episode eight … Michael Trevino. Just on fire. [He has a] strong point of view about Tyler stepping up, becoming a man and really taking a stand, and it’s good for him, and he’s doing a really good job at it.”
Bonnie and the hot/ambiguously evil teacher
Jamie who? (No really, who’s Jamie again?) Bonnie and Shane really hit it off during their seven-hour long hypnosis session last night (and who knows what they were really doing in all that time?), but this guy may be all nice and witch-friendly, in a time where Bonnie needs a friend, but he has an agenda. “We just don’t know if it’s in her best interest or not. A lot of that will start coming to light over the next chapter,” Plec previews. “[He] starts to cross paths with our group next week with some answers. Whether they’re legit or not remains to be seen.”
The death of Connor and Jeremy’s tattoos
Jeremy of course began his transformation into a Hunter (and a map) this week. “Right now, it’s just the beginning of [Jeremy] being awakened,” Plec says. “Connor told him he was a potential, and this is a hint that Connor was speaking the truth.”
But don’t expect Jeremy to be alone in all this! TV Line speculates that the recurring character Vaughn (who is currently being cast) will be another member of the Five who enters the fray later this season. He’s described as “ruggedly handsome, charming, built and tough as hell,” so we’d say that fits the bill!
Finally, we get a preview at what Elena killing Connor will bring about. “The consequences of that first kill are pretty profound,” Plec says. “We [also] learn for the first time that killing a hunter comes with a price and there’s a weird Dostoyevsky consequence of it all that takes her to some dark, dark places.”