Julie Plec Spills Details On Season 4 Of ‘The Vampire Diaries’

At this year’s Comic Con, FanBolt had the pleasure of chatting with Julie Plec, who is one of the masterminds behind CW’s The Vampire Diaries. From where Season 4 picks up to how Elena is going to handle becoming a vampire, Plec spills on a number of details with the new season!

Check out our full interview below!

So can you transition us from the end of the season finale to the beginning of the season? Just the first five minutes or so.

Julie Plec: Well, um no. But I can tell you we pick up, if not right away, within, you know, within several lapsed hours of where we left off. Um, the early, early next morning, and so everything we left hanging is still hanging. And there’s been no off camera resolution to any of it. So we’ll see all these things play out as we pick up. Elena realizing, ‘oh my god, what’s up with me?’ Damon and Stefan arguing over Stefan’s choice. You know, Tyler realizing that, Klaus as Tyler realizing, that maybe his body didn’t burn after all, as was planned and intended. And all those things. So, it just dives right in, hits the ground running, and we go.

So, the characters are seniors in high school this year, is that correct?

Julie Plec: “Yes they are!”

And how is that gonna play out with Elena being a new vampire?

Julie Plec: Well, it’s funny because that’s, to me– one of the most fun parts is always, you know, that road to graduation is all about, ‘who am I? Who am I supposed to be? What am I supposed to be? What’s my future? Is my future here? Is it out, is it away?’ and all those questions that every single high school senior, gearing up for graduation, asks themselves– in a human level, parallels with Elena asking herself on a supernatural level. And we’re really excited this year to be able to have all our characters kind of on that soulful journey of growing up. So that’s fun. It’s going to be fun, to be able to play that.

We saw that tiny little clip at the panel. Damon isn’t too impressed with Stefan’s choices lately. Can you talk a little bit about how the repercussions for Stefan is, because it was kind of his screw up.

Julie Plec: No! I mean, look. He didn’t… Stefan thinks he screwed up, but Stefan didn’t screw up. You know? I mean, the mechanical logistics of it aside: Stefan didn’t screw up. Elena said, ‘help my friends,’ and he helped her friend. Damon would have not helped her friend, we know that, we’ve got three years that we know that. So, that is the fundamental difference between the brothers, and I think that a point Elena will make very quickly is, and yes, that’s why I had a choice to make. When I had a choice to make about who I wanted to be with, that helped inform the choices that I made. You know? Knowing these things about Stefan vs. Damon is that Stefan respects me and my choices and me as an individual. And Damon, Damon loves me, and I know that. Who could avoid giving into that? Except he wouldn’t be the type of guy that would save my friends. I talk about it like, you know. Granted, this is a much more extreme situation, but a woman who’s having a baby, and the doctor comes to the husband and says, ‘It’s either your wife or your kid.’ You know, you can only save one of them, what do you do? And there is no right answer! You save your wife, she’ll never forgive you. You save your kid, you’ll always hate yourself. Never forgive yourself. So, that’s poor Stefan! I mean, there was no good outcome to that. But yeah, he blames himself, profoundly. And he’s not happy with himself, so it’s going to be up to Elena to kind of, lay that out.

Do you have a name for this season, or a long arc that’s going to take place?

Julie Plec: Yeah, I mean, we don’t have the ‘Year of the Originals,’ you know? For me, this season is about sort of it’s a little bit heady, so sorry. It’s the thematic and actual journey to graduation. Is Mystic Falls going to be my home forever, this dangerous, destructive place? These people that I’ve known my whole life. Am I going to stay here, or am I going to get out? And I’m going to grow up and move on. And with that comes a threat that’s going to be placed against the town, in the form of something or somebody threatening, that will eventually make an appearance. And it’s all going to be about protecting the place that is apart of you, even as you, yourself, are ready to move on from it.

Interview By: Dhalyn Warren
Photo By: Emma Loggins