Interview with Julie Plec (Season3)

After two very successful introductory seasons, The Vampire Diaries  starts its third season September 15 on The CW -- and it picks up with several of the cliffhangers that were left with the Season 2 Finale Executive Producer Julie Plec spoke with KSiteTV and several other outlets at press roundtables at the recent Comic-Con International in San Diego. She talks about Klaus, Stefan, Damon, Elena, ghosts from the past, what being a supernatural creature does to one's libido, and more.

What can you tell us about the start of Season Three?

I can tell you that we did ourselves and the audience a favor, hopefully, at the end of Season Two, by laying out a little sampler platter of what was in store. And then we'll follow through with it. We've got Stefan having taken a bullet, so to speak, for Damon, as Damon and Elena were reaching an understanding in their own friendship, that was probably a little more profound than either were anticipating. We have Stefan back in the blood and back in the dark side with Klaus. We have strange and curious visitations from characters of the past, that we lost along the way. So we've got a lot of stuff to kick us off, the first of which, obviously, just being "Where is Stefan?" Is he alive? Is he dead? How can we find him? How can we help him? How can we save him? And ultimately, can he be or does he want to be saved?

How did he and Klaus spend their summer vacation?

I think that Klaus and Stefan have been kicking their way through the southwestern states of America, one dive bar at a time.

They've been on a little bit of a journey, and we'll learn a little bit about that. What they've been up to. What Klaus wants. Why he wants Stefan to do it with him. And that's going to be part of the first couple of episodes.

Is Tyler still in town?

Yes. Tyler's around. Tyler and Caroline are friends. Friends - very important, they're friends.

There is a moment in the first episode where they admit that the urges that come along with being a supernatural being - physically - are a little overwhelming. While last year, they were struggling with all of the horrible parts of being supernatural entities, they start to discuss a little bit about the side effects of being a vampire or a werewolf. I think there's a quote - and I haven't said it before - but I think Tyler says "I'm just horny all the time." [laughs]

Are you still having a lot of fun writing the series?

Surprisingly it's getting easier. It's not getting easy, by any means, but I think because we know these characters so well, and the audience knows them so well, there's almost a storytelling comfort, that you'd know that the audience is with you on this ride, and so they're going to be willing to explore things with you, whereas when you're starting a series, you're like "We have no idea if someone's going to like this character or hate them, or if this storys  going to work."

Now we're in the groove and we're all thinking and breathing like one organic storytelling machine. It's not easy, but it's not as terribly nervous-breakdown-inducing painful as it was in the beginning.

Can you say anything about Elijah?

I love him. He might be my favorite character - don't tell anybody else. [Laughs]

We've already said that this is the year where we're going to explore the origins of the Originals. We're going to see more about the original family, and that will involve our friend Mr. Daniel Gillies, at the very least in flashbacks.

Were Damon and Elena brought closer together as a result of fan reaction?

We're trying to tell the story that we started the show wanting to tell. It's a girl who has lost a lot of people in her life, who finds warmth and comfort and solace in one brother, and then ultimately finds herself the object of the affections for the other brother. Elena is growing up. There is definitely a road that can be traveled between Damon and Elena in the life of the series, absolutely, and right now they're alone in Mystic Falls without Stefan, but also, they're trying desperately to help and rescue Stefan. So, their complicated reationship will only become more complicated very early on, and will continue to be complicated all season.

When you killed off certain characters in the past, did you always know you'd bring them back at the end of Season 2 with Jeremy?

No. Actually, that was something that we came up with this year, early in the season, but when we kill people, we usually mean business. We say "Sorry, man, you're done. We love you, but you're done."

It was more about showing the consequences of Bonnie using too much power, and Jeremy, who finally is finding himself in this - I say the word "functional" although it's completely dysfunctional, in that she's a big powerful witch and he's a kid with an eternity ring - but still, there's something nice and safe about Bonnie and Jeremy, and the first thing we're doing is screwing that up by having him confronted with people from his past that he actually loved quite a lot. And his first love. You never forget your first love. You never forget your second love. By the time you get to your third love, you're like "Eh. Whatever." [laughs]

Can you talk at all about the motivations of Klaus?

There's got to be some reason why Klaus wanted to be a hybrid, that's more than just "I'm the only one of my kind." I think what we've already seen in his character, is he has a power complex. And I think, having been rejected by his own family, and taking it out on them one dagger at a time, I think that we'll get a window into his desire to build a new family, so to speak, in the form of "can he create more like him?"

It is creepy. But where one hybrid goes, there certainly are more to follow, I hope, for Klaus's sake.