The Vampire Diaries

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***The Vampire Diaries*** is an American supernatural–fantasy horror/drama television series developed by Kevin Williamson & Julie Plec, based on the book series of the same name by L. J. Smith. The series follows the life of 17-year olds Elena and Evelyn Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), who Elena falls in love with a centuries old vampire named Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) and his brother Damon Salvatore (Chace Crawford), also a vampire. As a result, this draws Elena, Evelyn, and their friends into the supernatural world of Mystic Falls, where it is plagued by vampires, werewolves, witches, doppelgängers and Original Vampires. As a result, Elena, Evelyn, and their friends have made enemies including the Original Vampires/THE Mikaelson Family and Katerina and Liliya Petrova and later on Silas and the Travelers. The series also focuses on the lives of Elena and Evelyn's friends and other inhabitants of the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia. The series is a mix of teen drama and the supernatural.

When The Vampire Diaries premiered on The CW Television Network, on September 10, 2009, it attracted the largest audience of any series since the network began in 2006. Due to strong ratings, the series was given a full, 22-episode first season on October 21, 2009. The show's first season finale aired on May 13, 2010.

On February 16, 2010, The CW announced a renewal for a second season of the show that began airing on September 9, 2010.

The series main stars are Nina Dobrev as Evelyn Gilbert/Elena Gilbert/Katherine Pierce/Lily Pierce, Paul Wesley as Stefan Salvatore, Chace Crawford as Damon Salvatore, Steven R. McQueen as Jeremy Gilbert, Kat Graham as Bonnie Bennett, Candice Accola-King as Caroline Forbes, Zach Roerig as Matt Donovan, Michael Trevino as Tyler Lockwood and Jensen Ackles as Alaric Saltzman.

## Main Cast and Characters

* Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert/Evelyn Gilbert/Katherine Pierce/Lily Pierce/Amara
* Paul Wesley as Stefan Salvatore/Silas/Tom Avery/Ambrose
* Chace Crawford as Damon Salvatore
* Steven R. McQueen as Jeremy Gilbert
* Sara Canning as Jenna Sommers
* Kat Graham as Bonnie Bennett
* Candice King as Caroline Forbes
* Keke Palmer as Diana Adair-Collins
* Michael B. Jordan as Benjamin Adair-Collins
* Selena Gomez as Veronica Lockwood
* Hunter Parrish as Henry Forbes
* Zach Roerig as Matt Donovan
* Kayla Ewell as Vicki Donovan
* Michael Trevino as Tyler Lockwood
* Christian Serratos as Sofia Lockwood
* Melanie Liburd as Brenda Bennett
* Margot Robbie as Eleanor Forbes
* Jensen Ackles as Alaric Saltzman
* Joseph Morgan as Klaus Mikaelson
* Chance Pedromo as TBA
* Michael Malarkey as Enzo St. John

## Production

Initially Kevin Williamson had little interest in developing the series, finding the premise too similar to other vampire tales. However, at Julie Plec's urging, he began to read the novels and started to become intrigued by the story: "I began to realize that it was a story about a small town, about that town's underbelly and about what lurks under the surface." Williamson has stated the town's story will be the main focus of the series, rather than high school.

On February 6, 2009, Variety announced that The CW had greenlit the pilot for The Vampire Diaries with Williamson and Julie Plec set as the head writers and executive producers. On May 19, 2009, the series was officially ordered for the 2009–2010 season.

On the morning of May 10, 2012, a fire broke out in the building on Clark Street in Covington that was used as the setting for Mystic Grill on the show.

The series was given a full, 22-episode order on October 21, 2009 after strong ratings for the first half of the season.

On February 16, 2010, The CW announced that it had renewed the show for a second season, which premiered on September 9, 2010. On April 26, 2011, The CW renewed the show for a third season that aired in the 2011-2012 season. On April 2, 2012, the series was renewed for 4th season with 23 episodes.

President of The CW Mark Pedowitz said in an interview at the summer TCA's that The Vampire Diaries didn't receive an extra episode order [for third season] at the request of Kevin Williamson. "Kevin Williamson felt to do the best show possible he would rather do 22. I'd rather have a great 22 than a good 24 if Kevin couldn't do it," he explained. It has been confirmed to be moved to Fridays. The CW has renewed the series for an eighth and final season.

During its run, a cast member had directed a total of five episodes.

* Paul Wesley had directed *Resident Evil*, *Woke Up With a Monster*, *Things We Lost in the Fire*, *Requiem for a Dream* and *Detoured On Some Random Backwoods Path to Hell*.

**Productions Codes**

* Season 1 - (Pilot: 296766) (1x02-1x22: 2J5001 - 2J5021)
* Season 2 - (2J5251 - 2J5272)
* Season 3 - (2J6001 - 2J6022)
* Season 4 - (2J6651 - 2J6673)
* Season 5 - (2J7501 - 2J7522)
* Season 6 - (2J7851 - 2J7872)
* Season 7 - (3J5701 - 3J5722)
* Season 8 - (T27.13301 - T27.13316)

### Seasons

* Season Two - 22 Episodes
* Season Three - 22 Episodes
* Season Four - 23 Episodes
* Season Five - 22 Episodes
* Season Six - 22 Episodes
* Season Seven - 22 Episodes
* Season Eight - 16 Episodes

*It has a total of 171 episodes.*

* Season Two - 22 Episodes
* Season Three - 22 Episodes
* Season Four - 13 Episodes
* Season Five - 13 Episodes

*It has a total of 92 episodes.*

* Season Two - 16 Episodes
* Season Three - 20 Episodes
* Season Four - TBA Episodes

*With Season 3, it'll have a total of 52 episodes.*

*With Season 3, the universe has 315 episodes.*
## Filming Locations

The pilot episode was filmed in Vancouver, British Columbia, but the rest of the episodes have been filmed in Covington, Georgia (which doubles as the fictional small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia) and various other communities around Greater Atlanta, to take advantage of local tax incentives.

## Notes

* Every season since its debut, it has been paired with a different show on The CW (except for seasons 5 and 6). During Season One, it was paired with *Supernatural*, during Season Two with *Nikita*, and during Season Three, it was paired with its sister show, *The Secret Circle,* which was cancelled after one season. During Season Four, it was *Beauty and the Beast*. During Season Five and Season Six, it was paired with *Reign*. It was paired with *The Originals* during Season Seven. During the final season it was paired with *Crazy Ex-Girlfriend*.
	+ Both the first seasons of *The Originals* and *Legacies* were also paired with *Supernatural*.
	+ *The Originals* has also been paired with *Reign*, but it was during its fourth season.
* Stefan and Damon are the only characters to appear in every episode.
	+ Both have functioned as an antagonist at some point in the series.
* *Arrow* and *The Flash* share similarities with *The Vampire Diaries* and *The Originals* in the fact one show is the spin-off of another, and the protagonist(s) in the spin-off are far more physically powerful than the ones in the original show.
* *The Vampire Diaries* left streaming giant Netflix on March 1, 2019 due to an expired license.