We’ve known for a while that Nina Dobrev would be leaving the CW’s The Vampire Diaries, but the news hasn’t really sunk in until today, because in tonight’s big episode, Elena will finally be saying her goodbyes. Since we know The Vampire Diaries will be coming back next season, there has been a lot of speculation regarding what next season will look like. As it turns out, the show has major plans to focus on Damon and Stefan. Here’s what the CW’s Mark Pedowitz had to say about the prospect during today’s upfronts:
It's going to be much more focused on the brothers, Damon and Stefan.... Most of this year has been getting to a point where we would have a reset, knowing that Nina was leaving, so they've done a great job.
The show has had a few cast changes over the years, but the Salvatore brothers have always been a part of the drama, going through ups and downs as vampire siblings, as well as in relationships. In fact, according to E!, during the upfront presentation, Pedowitz favorably compared the new version of The Vampire Diaries to Supernatural, another show with supernatural elements based around two brothers that has been very successful for the network and is heading into Season 11 next year.
We have a show for 11 years based on two brothers called Supernatural... it's possible this could happen the same way.
The difference, I think, is that Supernatural was conceptualized around two brothers, while The Vampire Diaries has first and foremost always had loyal fans who have tuned in for Elena and her interactions with Damon and Stefan, as well as the other individuals in her life. It’s hard to tell exactly how Season 7 will look, especially since The Vampire Diaries hasn’t even aired its Season 6 finale at the time of the writing of this article. Still, turning TVD into a bromance seems like a bit of a long shot, especially considering the show’s tone.
In other news, showrunner Julie Plec also told the news outlet today that the Season 6 finale of The Vampire Diaries will be "grieving and hopeful," whatever that means. We’ve seen some pretty brutal deaths on the series before, and while we don’t know exactly how Elena will be exiting, apparently it’s going to make for an exciting episode.
You can tune in for The Vampire Diaries’ big Season 6 finale tonight at 8 p.m. ET on the CW. Also, be sure to check out everything the CW has coming up next fall with the network’s full schedule.
