‘The Vampire Diaries’ creators reveal alternate series ending

MANILA, Philippines – After 8 years and 8 seasons, The Vampire Diaries has ended.

The CW series finale was aired on Friday, March 10 in the US, and saw many plotlines resolved.

Spoiler warning: If you don’t want to know what happens in the finale, read no further.

On the 3 main character’s stories, Stefan (Paul Wesley) sacrificed himself to save everyone, while Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) got their happily ever after as a human couple.

A few seasons ago, though, this wasn’t the ending creators Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson had in mind for the trio.

The two told Entertainment Weekly that in season 2, when brothers Damon and Stefan were still involved in a love triangle with Elena, they had imagined a more heartbreaking series ender.

Julie told EW about their season 2 plans: “When all is said and done, when this show is over, both brothers should die in the name of saving their girl and then be watching her like ghosts – because we had introduced the Other Side – as she went off into the sunset to live her life and maybe marry Matt Donovan or maybe become a doctor, but that those brothers would be side-by-side watching her live. That was the thing that made us cry all the tears in season 2.”

They decided against that ending, they said, because Nina Dobrev left the show in season 6.

To explain Nina’s leaving the show, Elena’s life was tied to Bonnie’s at the end of season 6, such that she would stay asleep as long as Bonnie lived. Damon then put Elena’s sleeping form in a coffin and hid it, to wait out the years until Bonnie dies, Elena wakes up, and he could be with her again.

Elena returns in the last few episodes of season 8.

Julie continued to EW: “I felt like we had to make a commitment to seeing Damon and Elena through to the end. If Nina had never left, I would’ve loved to have been able to see if Stefan and Elena could’ve found their way back to each other. I don’t know if they could have, but had that departure not been a part of it, the long game would’ve been to see if we could bring the love triangle back around before the series ended and really leave a choice. But her departure sealed the romantic contract between Damon and Elena. In that moment, to me, the show ceased to be about a love triangle and became a show about the power of these brothers and their love for each other.”

The Vampire Diaries ran from 2009 to 2017. It has a spin-off series titled The Originals, which follows the story of vampire Klaus Mikaelson. – Rappler.com