SheKnows: A lot of people want Elena (Nina Dobrev) to turn her humanity back on, but what do you think of the new, meaner Elena?
Julie Plec: As a writer and as someone who loves doing new things and finding a fresh voice, we love it. We love mean Elena because it's different. It's a fun sparkle. She's nasty, she's uncompromising and unforgiving, and it gets worse before it gets better for sure. Every time I see a cut of the show I feel it's so new and fresh. Now I also know you run the risk of alienating people who are traditionalists and purists who like their heroine to be clean and pure. It's not something that we would leave her there forever. I think it's all part of the journey. When we decided to turn Elena into a vampire we didn't want it to be easy. We didn't want it to be a cakewalk. We needed her to run the whole roller coaster of emotions and of that experience of stuff so she wouldn't just be, "Oh I'm a vampire, now let's party and I'm happy." We knew we wanted to take her as dark as we could take her so that's where she is now, but we do the roller coaster. We end up down one hill and up another.
SK: It's obvious Elena is going to go down a darker path. What's in store for her?
JP: What's in store for her right now is, honestly, you've got these two boys who more than anything want her fixed. In the next episode they recruit some of her friends, as well over the next couple of episodes, in an attempt to get to her any way they can emotionally, whether it's through nostalgia, memories, through sneaky tricks of confronting her with things she has had feelings for in the past. Really building up to a hardcore intervention where they're just grasping to do anything to break through to her.
SK: So far we've seen vampires, werewolves, hybrids, witches and warlocks. Can we expect to see any other supernatural creatures in the future?
JP: You know, we keep trying to think of those and weirdly enough, we find ourselves stumped more often than not. There's our favorite story of Season 1: we tried to make Matt Donovan's mother a succubus and we shot it and we wrote three scripts about it. When we saw it for the first time we realized this isn't right. This doesn't feel like part of our show. It doesn't feel like we're in the right scientific world. I'm not saying we'll not ever see other creatures, but definitely thus far, we are staying grounded in that one zone.
SK: Are any characters who have previously died going to return to the show in a more supernatural way — specifically Jeremy?
JP: Given that the season is about Silas's desire to break down the vamps of the other side and unleash all the supernatural beings back onto Earth, I think I feel pretty safe in saying his plan will not be completely foiled. With luck, our heroes will be able to triumph and not bring on the supernatural apocalypse. I definitely think we'll see a few familiar faces before the season's out. I think that it's possible, as we try to win Elena's humanity back [by] facing some of her past stuff that represents humanity could be glimpsed again.
SK: Elena isn't the only person struggling with a dark side; it appears Bonnie may be going down a dangerous path too. What's in store for her character?
JP: Bonnie is in the middle of a very dangerous path because in her search for a mentor, and someone who could help her understand her magic and how to use her magic properly, she unwillingly got manipulated and controlled by an adjunct of our big bad. What she wanted to do and what she was hoping to do was to be able to overcome that control. When we pick her up on Episode 19 when we come back from our hiatus, we'll see the extent of the control that Silas may still have over her and what that does to her. Ultimately, Bonnie is always going to walk a straight line and do the right thing, and when she's not in control of her own magic and behaviors it really puts her in a place that she's gonna fight really hard to get out of.
Source: Full Interview @ SheKnows
Julie Plec: As a writer and as someone who loves doing new things and finding a fresh voice, we love it. We love mean Elena because it's different. It's a fun sparkle. She's nasty, she's uncompromising and unforgiving, and it gets worse before it gets better for sure. Every time I see a cut of the show I feel it's so new and fresh. Now I also know you run the risk of alienating people who are traditionalists and purists who like their heroine to be clean and pure. It's not something that we would leave her there forever. I think it's all part of the journey. When we decided to turn Elena into a vampire we didn't want it to be easy. We didn't want it to be a cakewalk. We needed her to run the whole roller coaster of emotions and of that experience of stuff so she wouldn't just be, "Oh I'm a vampire, now let's party and I'm happy." We knew we wanted to take her as dark as we could take her so that's where she is now, but we do the roller coaster. We end up down one hill and up another.
SK: It's obvious Elena is going to go down a darker path. What's in store for her?
JP: What's in store for her right now is, honestly, you've got these two boys who more than anything want her fixed. In the next episode they recruit some of her friends, as well over the next couple of episodes, in an attempt to get to her any way they can emotionally, whether it's through nostalgia, memories, through sneaky tricks of confronting her with things she has had feelings for in the past. Really building up to a hardcore intervention where they're just grasping to do anything to break through to her.
SK: So far we've seen vampires, werewolves, hybrids, witches and warlocks. Can we expect to see any other supernatural creatures in the future?
JP: You know, we keep trying to think of those and weirdly enough, we find ourselves stumped more often than not. There's our favorite story of Season 1: we tried to make Matt Donovan's mother a succubus and we shot it and we wrote three scripts about it. When we saw it for the first time we realized this isn't right. This doesn't feel like part of our show. It doesn't feel like we're in the right scientific world. I'm not saying we'll not ever see other creatures, but definitely thus far, we are staying grounded in that one zone.
SK: Are any characters who have previously died going to return to the show in a more supernatural way — specifically Jeremy?
JP: Given that the season is about Silas's desire to break down the vamps of the other side and unleash all the supernatural beings back onto Earth, I think I feel pretty safe in saying his plan will not be completely foiled. With luck, our heroes will be able to triumph and not bring on the supernatural apocalypse. I definitely think we'll see a few familiar faces before the season's out. I think that it's possible, as we try to win Elena's humanity back [by] facing some of her past stuff that represents humanity could be glimpsed again.
SK: Elena isn't the only person struggling with a dark side; it appears Bonnie may be going down a dangerous path too. What's in store for her character?
JP: Bonnie is in the middle of a very dangerous path because in her search for a mentor, and someone who could help her understand her magic and how to use her magic properly, she unwillingly got manipulated and controlled by an adjunct of our big bad. What she wanted to do and what she was hoping to do was to be able to overcome that control. When we pick her up on Episode 19 when we come back from our hiatus, we'll see the extent of the control that Silas may still have over her and what that does to her. Ultimately, Bonnie is always going to walk a straight line and do the right thing, and when she's not in control of her own magic and behaviors it really puts her in a place that she's gonna fight really hard to get out of.
Source: Full Interview @ SheKnows
Streaming Options
