WARNING: If you have yet to watch Thursday’s The Vampire Diaries, avert your eyes now. Everyone else, you may proceed….
The Vampire Diaries inched nerve-wrackingly closer to its big Season 3 finish with tonight’s episode, in which Esther attempted to remake Alaric’s dark alter ego into the ultimate vampire killer by turning him into the thing he hates the most — a vampire! When he came to as his normal self, Elena and Jeremy’s only remaining pseudo-guardian chose not to complete the transition, which led to a poignant, beautifully-staged scene featuring all the characters paying their respects to him. But Bonnie’s “sisters” on the other side had different plans and got her to feed him her blood, giving us Alaric the Vampire Vampire Slayer.
Below, executive producer Julie Plec and the cast answer your burning questions about the episode and tease what the future holds for Alaric, Elena, Jeremy, Tyler and the rest of the gang.
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What’s next for Alaric? |“He’s very clearly a badass vampire killer with a pretty magnificent, deadly and unburnable stake, so I definitely think he’s going to be a conflict provider,” says Plec. “He’s going to be pretty hardcore, which is going to be equally exciting and devastating.” His quest to kill the Originals kicks off in next week’s episode with “Alaric in the high school where Caroline and Rebekah are having a little post-dance clean-up. … It’s a very extreme, hardcore episode of Alaric on a tear, and no one is safe.” Uh oh, should we be preparing ourselves for more deaths? Over the next two episodes, there will be “a lot” of characters whose fate will be murky. “You’re not going to be sure if they’re going to make it to Season 4,” is all Plec would say.
Was Bonnie possessed? | “She was very clearly under some sort of witchy influence,” says Plec. But the bigger concern for Ms. B. will be having yet another group of people bossing her around. She’ll start to ask herself, “’Where’s my free will? And where’s my choice?’ That’s going to impact her character moving forward,” teases Plec.
Will Jeremy avoid the dark side? | Now that we know Alaric was being molded into a killer by Esther every time he crossed over, Elena’s brother is a little bit safer from meeting the same fate. “The stakes of death and resuscitation are possibly not as intense for Jeremy as they were for Alaric because he had something happen [to him] on the other side,” explains Plec. “But there’s still always going to be a concern of consequences for cheating death one too many times. It might just not come in the form of a Jekyll and Hyde alter ego.” And as Jeremy hinted when he replied, “When my sister stops hanging out with vampires, I’ll take it off,” the magical piece of jewelry is not going anywhere. “The ring’s going to stay in play for a while,” confirms the EP.
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Is Elena leaning toward choosing Stefan? | Losing yet another loved one will only make Elena’s decision between her ex and his brother, Damon, more difficult. “How do you choose in a moment like that?” muses Plec. “The last two episodes of the season are really going to be about her asking herself that question and really trying to understand how she could possibly let one of them go when she’s already lost so much.” But when she does finally make her pick, “It will effect everything.”
Did Tyler break the sire bond or not? | A hint might be found in the following quote from his portrayer Michael Trevino: “In these last two episodes, if not next week’s episode, we might see him actually take some action against Klaus and maybe not follow his orders when it comes to Caroline.” Meanwhile, his sire will do something heroic and then naturally follow it up with something absolutely heinous.
Will Matt ever love again? | After losing Elena and Caroline — and being warned to stay away from Elena — will Matt ever catch a break in the romance department? Maybe with Original vamp Rebekah? Teases Plec: “Should he be so lucky to survive Season 3” and “should Rebekah be so lucky to survive Season 3, there’s a little crush brewing on her side there, so maybe there’s some story there to tell.”
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