Death was a regular occurrence in The Vampire Diaries. It was so routine that there was even a “Wall of Dead” lined with headshots of the characters who had died. However, series co-creator Kevin Williamson revealed he was nervous about killing one central character.
A major character dies in the series finale of ‘The Vampire Diaries’
The final episode of The Vampire Diaries, “I Was Feeling Epic,” left many viewers’ mouths open when it killed a major character no one suspected.
A quick episode recap: The evil Katherine threatens Mystic Falls yet again as she makes her imminent return to burn down the town with Hellfire. Katherine uses Vicki to ring the town bell to summon the Hellfire. Bonnie realizes the secret to saving Mystic Falls is not to stop the fire but to divert it. With the help of the Bennett Witches, Bonnie redirects the fire through the underground tunnels and away from town. Thus, she also breaks the curse preventing Elena from returning to the living world unless Bonnie dies.
Katherine needs to go back to Hell, but for that to happen, a Salvatore brother must sacrifice himself. Each brother has his reasons for being the one to sacrifice himself for the other to live. Because Stefan is now fully human, Damon compels him to leave town and not return until the sacrifice is complete. What Damon doesn’t know is that Stefan took vervain to protect himself from compulsion.
So Stefan returns to Mystic Falls and injects Damon with the cure, making him fully human. Stefan then sacrifices himself alongside Katherine. Before Stefan leaves forever, he says one last farewell: “Goodbye, brother.”
Stefan’s loss was tragic, but The Vampire Diaries still had happy endings. For instance, Elena and Damon got their happily ever after. And Caroline and Alaric took their twin daughters and opened a boarding school for magically gifted children.
‘The Vampire Diaries’ co-creator was nervous about killing Stefan
No one expected to witness one of the main characters die in the final episode. Plus, Stefan died only a few hours after he finally married Caroline. It was a bold move from the creators of The Vampire Diaries.
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Asked about killing Stefan, co-creator Kevin Williamson told TV Guide: “That one’s a little tricky … I hope that the audience understands, though, that the greater good, which is that Stefan — he kind of said it to [Caroline]: ‘You’re not going to put your children in harm’s way ever. It’s always going to be about family. You understand that more than anyone. And because it’s always about family, you’re going to understand what I’m about to do.’”
Williamson added, “And she understood it. ‘It’s always about family.’ And she didn’t like it and life hurts and life is painful, but she understood it.”
The storyline made sense, but The Vampire Diaries has an avid, vocal fan base. And the co-creator was nervous about how viewers would react when Stefan died.
For instance, TVD fans expressed their disappointment in Bonnie Bennett’s storylines. Many believed the character was underused. She’s a powerful witch, and her story should’ve had more screen time. Some fans even thought the showrunners were racist.
However, Williamson was clear that Bonnie could never have been one to die. “It was very important for us not to kill Bonnie,” he explained. “Bonnie should not have to die for Elena’s happiness … She needs a happy ending. So that was important to us, so we couldn’t kill Bonnie.”
They had an interesting way of tracking the dead on the set
Though death was common in The Vampire Diaries, many characters who died returned in another form. Fans became conditioned to assume their dearly departed favorite characters would come back later.
The number of deaths was so immense that the showrunners kept a record of every character who died by displaying a “Wall of Dead.” It included photos of every character they killed. It didn’t matter if the person was a main character or a bit player — their picture went on the wall when they died.
