3. IMPACT OF NINA’S DEPARTURE
When Nina Dobrev announced that she’d be leaving The Vampire Diaries, it broke the hearts of numerous fans. Nobody had imagined that the main protagonist would leave the show out of the blue. The actress took the decision in order to focus on other projects, to challenge herself as an actress. She left the show on good terms with the showrunners and the fellow cast members. But her departure forced the showrunners to take the show in a different direction. Even though she returned in the finale episode where she shares a touching scene with Stefan and is reunited with Damon, they live a long and happy life.
But the creators Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson had envisioned different endings for the TVD finale. There was an idea that both the Salvatores would watch over Elena as she keeps living her life. But when Nina left the show after Season 6, the idea was dropped. Had Elena been a part of Season 7 & 8 then Plec would have tried to somehow bring Elena and Stefan back together. Even though it wasn’t set in stone that Stelena would be the endgame, but the love triangle would have been a prominent theme of the final season. Nina’s departure forced the writers to stay with Delena. The show became about the Salvatores in the remaining seasons and Plec dropped the idea of killing off both the brothers.
2. ELENA & KATHERINE
While the personalities of Katherine and Elena are entirely different. Elena is the sweet and compassionate girl whereas Katherine is a manipulative and shrewd vampire. But did you know in the books it was entirely opposite. Katherine isn’t that evil in the books and Elena isn’t that nice. She is the mean girl of the high school. Nina has portrayed four Petrova doppelgangers on the show. She wore a fake wig while playing Katherine, a character she enjoyed playing the most out of all the Petrovas. Both Elena and Katherine have been involved in a love triangle with the Salvatores. While Katherine chose Stefan over Damon, Elena chose Damon over Stefan.
1. LITTLE TRIVIA
- Did you know that in the first few months of the shooting of the show, Nina and Paul didn’t get along well, but their relationship improved as the show went on. They are great friends now.
- Nina Dobrev was paid $40K per episode along with Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, the three main protagonists of the show.
- The finale episode is the only episode to credit Nina as the special guest star. She is reunited with Damon in the episode, but the duo doesn’t share any dialogues with each other.