Episode stills from 3x21 "Before sunset"

source The Hollywood Reporter

Ian on Good Day LA - 19.04.12

Episode synopsis for 3x22 "The departed"

THE SECRET HERO — Determined to protect his sister, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) makes a decision that will change everything. In the harsh reality of the present situation, Elena (Nina Dobrev) longs for simpler times when her parents, Grayson (guest star Jason MacDonald) and Miranda (guest star Erin Beute), and Aunt Jenna (guest star Sara Canning) were still alive and her biggest concern was her relationship with Matt (Zach Roerig). Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) leave Mystic Falls together on a mission, but soon split up when Elena needs one of them. Caroline (Candice Accola) and Tyler (Michael Trevino) are forced to make a life-changing decision. Finally, Bonnie (Kat Graham) makes a secret deal that has heartbreaking consequences. John Behring directed the episode with story by Brett Matthews & Elisabeth R. Finch and teleplay by Julie Plec (#322).

Via TVD addictions

Julie plec talks to E! online about Elena's choice and Alaric's future

"Four episodes of the choice!"

Yes, Plec says Elena will make a decision between Stefan and Damon (can't she just have both?!) before season's end, but it will be an arduous road to get to that game-changing moment—a road that is romantic and heartbreaking all at once!

"Stefan and Elena and Damon and Elena fans can each look forward to an exploration over the next four episodes of where Elena stands with each of these brothers and where their relationship, both as a love triangle and as people who have been through a lot together, all stand," Plec explains. "There's a lot of romantic moments coming up on both sides and there's some heartbreak coming up on both sides."

Of Elena's exploration of her feelings over the final string of season-three episodes, Plec says, "I hope what people see when all is said and done is we're really been trying to let Elena, as Stefan so kindly encourages her, to figure out where she is in her life—who she is and what she wants and who she wants—to let her honestly and truthfully make that decision for herself."

But will fans see any hot lip action between Elena and either of the Salvatore brothers soon? It's kind of been a while, no? "I'll never tell, but I'm not saying no!" Plec teases.

While some fans are biting their nails over Elena's version of Sophie's Choice, we think it's safe to say all TVD fans are stressing over fan favorite Alaric's future on the show ever since news broke that Matt Davis had landed the lead role in the CW's drama pilot Cult, which recently wrapped production in Vancouver. So if Cult is picked up to series by the CW in May, what will it mean for Davis' future on Vampire Diaries?

"My hope is that Matt Davis gets everything he wants in the form of this new show, but also that we get everything we want and he wants, which is an eternity of Alaric in our world," Plec says. An eternity of Alaric?! Wheeee!

Unfortunately, we'll probably have to get used to watching everyone's favorite (most likely alcoholic) high school history teacher/semiretired vampire hunter suffer. We're hearing this Thursday's episode is going to be a super-dark one for Ric as we get another glimpse of his serial killin' alter ego. "He's got a lot of good stuff coming up and he's doing it really well," Plec says of Davis.

The Vampire Diaries airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. on the CW.

source E! online

Julie plec's interview with Hitfix on season finale and season 4

HitFix: The actors are all talking about what a HUGE, big, massive finale y'all have coming. How big is it going to be?

Julie Plec: Well, I tell you that it was huge, big, massive endeavor to shoot and I think it'll probably end up on the screen sorta like, "Oh. What's the big deal? What's the fuss?" No, but we had an underwater unit, a movie-sized underwater unit. We had massive, massive stunts involving an automobile. We have a huge fight sequence. We have a huge horror sequence. And then we have probably the biggest and most substantial series of emotional moments that the entire season has had. So it has definitely paid off a long journey for all these characters and hopefully -- I haven't seen it yet, so it's too soon to tell -- but hopefully it won't disappoint.

HitFix: The actors are also all talking about this as a "full circle" finale. Do you feel like all finales are, to some degree, ideally full circle finales? Or did this feel feel like a particularly good time to bring the full journey around?

Julie Plec: Certainly if you're thinking it through, you always want your beginning to have led directly to your ending. We try really hard at the beginning of the season, even in the limited amount of time that we have, to make sure that we know exactly where we're going, so that every choice we make is getting us there and that we're not just making up as we go along, which is, by the way, easy to do. When you're doing 22 episodes, it's really easy to just make it up as you go along. This particular episode, we started this year, it was senior year, it's still senior year and we've got our human character, Elena, who at the end of last season lost her guardian. She's lost her parents. She's a girl who has been struggling with her own innocence and growing up and turning 18 and wondering if her parents would be OK with her, with who she is and if they'd be proud of her, in spite of the fact that she's fallen for not one, but two vampires. As she's really reflecting on this kind of dreadful and horrible emotional year that she's had, we take her back to a time when life was just a lot simpler, when her parents were alive and she was a cheerleader dating the quarterback. Everything we've been doing all season with Elena's journey has been leading up to this episode and leading up to this choice that she has to make between these two brothers.

HitFix: Before I get to my next real question... Has Elena been doing homework this year?

Julie Plec: She's actually got an IQ of 140 and she doesn't need to study.

HitFix: But she has been attending classes at least semi-regularly?

Julie Plec: Yes. She has been attending classes. Her guardian is a history teacher, so she's got someone on the inside looking out for her and her current non-boyfriends are vampires who can compel and get good grades. I'm sure there's a little bit of trickery going on there, but yes, our kids, they go to school and they've got surprisingly good attendance records. It's just that we don't show them in school very often, because it's not as interesting, frankly, as the other stuff they get themselves into.

HitFix: Excellent. Now back to the real questions! When you approach a "big" finale, obviously viewers will be waiting for some characters to live, some characters to die, etc. How hard is it for you guys to create stakes -- pun, unfortunately intended, I guess -- for characters on show where anyone who's dead can return if the circumstances are right?

Julie Plec: It's a question that we debate a lot in the writers' room. There's the argument to be made of, "Seal up the other side, never go back to ghosts, never have flashbacks with older characters," because you want the stakes of death to be that powerful. But then there's something so emotional and profound about revisiting a character that you love and I think that there's something so bittersweet about seeing them again, knowing that they're never gonna be part of the day-to-day life of our heros, but that they're still out there somewhere. Certainly there will be stakes attached to the end of this season wherein there are characters that we might not see again when all is said and done. That will always be true.

HitFix: When you think back on characters from the show's past, how many would you describe as "Totally off-limits, off-the-table, never-coming-back, definitely really dead"?

Julie Plec: That's a good question. I think that any human who's ever died, we won't see again. Our rules of the other side are strictly about supernatural beings. Who else? Well, we'll get a little clue into Aunt Jenna's whereabouts in the next couple episodes and then, of course, we'll see Sarah Canning in the finale, just in a nice little flashback, back when everybody was normal and human. So... Yeah.

HitFix: I think that last question was really just my veiled way of asking what it's gonna take to have Vicki come back...

Julie Plec: [Laughter.] You know what? We almost put Vicki in the finale because we love Kayla Ewell so much. She's part of our family. Half the time, I've gotta be honest, the struggle is: Do we stick to our guns, creatively, and say, "That character will never be seen again?" or do we really want these wonderful members of our "Vampire Diaries" family to get to be able to come back and play with us a little bit every now and then? Kayla, I don't think we'll ever see Vicki again. We brought her back. She played her storyline and she said good-bye. She moved on. Matt said good-bye to her, so he closed that door. So I can't definitively say "never," but surely no plans to.

HitFix: You're gonna make me write fan-fiction about this, aren't you?

Julie Plec: Yes! Yes, I think you should! Absolutely.

HitFix: You talked about charting out your course at the beginning of the season and knowing where you're going at the end. But how much do you guys let yourselves be steered by discovering supporting or guest actors you simply want to work with more than you had expected to? Like if you have somebody like a Joseph Morgan or a Claire Holt and you see how well they mesh with things, how much can you let the story move and adapt around them?

Julie Plec: A lot. We definitely have learned great lessons and hard lessons. I won't tell you who the hard lessons were, but I will tell you who the great lessons are. Daniel Gillies is, for sure, the perfect example. That's a character that was introduced strictly with the intention of just bridging the season between the mention of Klaus and the introduction of Klaus. He was never meant to be an Original brother. He was never meant to be anything other than a lackey of Klaus'. But Daniel characterized Elijah with such magnificence and grace that he has become deeply, deeply embedded in our canon and, really, us wanting to keep Daniel Gillies as Elijah is what led us to the immortality of the Originals, the fact that they could not be killed, but for the stake from the white oak, all of these things that were never part of our original Klaus mythology. The entire Original family originated from Daniel Gillies being so good at his job.

HitFix: What was the original concept for Klaus?

Julie Plec: Well, Klaus was a villain in the books, so we were borrowing from that. We knew that he was going to come in and be this figure that nobody had ever met and nobody knew if he was real. He was going to have a Keyser Soze vibe and we would believe him to be the oldest living vampire, but in fact he would be a hybrid. He was going to be flying solo. It wasn't until we fell in love with Elijah that we came up with the idea that he had a family and that everything he did was, in its own way, either to punish or to rescue the people in his family.

HitFix: So then it just kinda happened that you were able to have the Originals as this kind of ultimate dysfunctional family this year to make us see how hypothetically functional Damon and Stefan could be if things got bad enough?

Julie Plec: Yeah. It's a nice counterpoint to the Salvatores. We thought they had problems, but they are totally functional in comparison.

HitFix: OK, so I desperately don't want to ask you to insult the shippers here, but how overly cautious have you had to get about the central love triangle? And has it become sorta a more delicate creature over three seasons than you might have originally planned or hoped for it to be?

Julie Plec: You know, it's funny. I think the answer is "Yes and No," weirdly. I can't lie and say that we aren't completely embedded in the shipper culture, just by nature of being on social media and being Twitter whores ourselves and not being able to tear ourselves away. So there's an influence and a passion that gets directed at us very, very aggressively that you can't ignore. But in a way it makes our jobs a little bit harder because we have to try to separate: Are these our creative instincts? Are these the instincts that are right for these characters? Or are we being influenced without even realizing it? So it makes us think more. It makes us really dig deeper into character more, which is a good thing. And then when we make decisions that we know are not going to be popular, we just sit in the writers' room and stare at each other in horror knowing what's in store, knowing that certain things are not going to go over very well with certain people and that we just might need to stay off Twitter and avoid the death threats for a while.

HitFix: You've talked about how there's a big choice that Elena has to make in the finale. How totally are you guys bracing yourselves for what's going to come from certain circles when we get to May?

Julie Plec: I might have to leave the country. [She laughs.] No, the choice that Elena has to make and the choice that she does make, for us it's really, really important that we took a good, strong look at Elena, at her character, at her wants and her needs, where she is in her life and that the way that she makes the decision after everything she's been through and the way that she expresses that decision to others, that it's honest and pure and real. Hopefully people who are fans of the show and fans of Elena and fans of real human behavior will understand and respect the choice that she makes, in spite of a percentage being very sad and another percentage being happy, it's where she is right now in her life and it's where we've been leading to all year for her. So we shall see, but it is not going to be pretty, I'll tell you that.

HitFix: The phrase you used a couple times there, "where she is in her life" implies that you don't view where she is in the finale as being necessarily the endgame, right?

Julie Plec: No, absolutely not! Here's the thing: This show can, and probably will, go on for many more years. This show is a journey of a teenage girl finding her way back to life through the love of one vampire and discovering maybe other elements of life through the love of another vampire, growing up, graduating high school, moving on. There's a whole road for her still to travel and our brothers are in the middle of their journey as well. For us to say that this is the one and only choice and no other choice will ever be made would be premature. We're just in the middle of our journey and I hope ultimately that people who ship one way or the other can understand. In the same way that we had to convince Ian Somerhalder that Damon being a good guy was part of a long road that he was traveling and that it was OK, you want to convince the fans that this is the midpoint of the story.

HitFix: Back to the nuts-and-boltsy stuff for a second: Are these guys going to college next year?

Julie Plec: No, not next year. Next year will be the completion of their senior year. We like to drag things out over in our world.

HitFix: You like to drag some stuff out, but as many of us have observed, the show burns through plot at a rather ridiculous rate. Does that ever concern you guys? Or at this point, are you convinced that you can go at this pace for ever and ever?

Julie Plec: When Kevin [Williamson] and I first started the show, we didn't have any time to think globally about the series. We just dove in and started. When you have six act breaks and a teaser -- which amount to seven act breaks over 41 minutes -- you've gotta burn through story, because you've got impress and you've gotta wow and you've gotta shock the audience with twists and turns every four-and-a-half minutes. I think that it was TV Guide who, in the middle of our season said, "We'd give this show an 'A,' except there's no way they can keep this up, so therefore they get an 'A-.'" We sorta looked at it and we were like, 'Hmmm. Well, that's a challenge." And every year we think, "Oh God, there's nowhere to go" and then we start... I've just been in the writers' room for Season 4 for the last three weeks with a small group of writers and we had this moment, the other day, when we looked around after two weeks of talking and realized that we have more emotional stuff, character stuff and mythology stuff going down in Season 4 than maybe we've ever had. And then, in talking Season 4, we said, "Oh no. That's gotta wait for Season 5." So suddenly it's an embarrassment of riches. For whatever reason, this genre and our characters and this world, it keeps organically creating more stories. Thank God!

HitFix: With that burn rate, are there any storylines that you think back on from the first two or two-and-a-half seasons that you really wish you could have spent more time on?

Julie Plec: I'd have to go back and really dissect it to be able to answer that. I think that there are things that may have worn out their welcome, ironically, a little bit. I think that there are stories that we meant to make more of that we pulled the plug on for various reasons. Again, I can't really say, because it would be rude. I think that it would have been really nice to explore more of the Bonnie and Grams relationship before we killed Grams, because that was untapped. One of the reasons that it was so nice to bring Grams back this year in the ghost episode was to give Bonnie another glimpse of that mentor figure in her life and that paved the way to Bonnie's storyline with her mother, which is still in line. So I have no regrets, for sure. I think we have a weird sense of rhythm where we kind of know when a story needs to come to an end.

HitFix: Do you ever look back at those first handful episodes and do you ever miss the crows and the fog and the vampire football?

Julie Plec: [Laughter.] No, we don't miss the crows and the fog, for sure. It's funny, because in hindsight, Kevin and I have both read a lot of people in the press and bloggers and fans alike who say that the show didn't really click in for them til about episode six. Yet for us and the actors, we always look back at the first five episodes of the series and say, "Gosh, that was a time when things were simple and clean and very, very based in tension and mystery and character and didn't have to rely so much on frills and action and stunts and visual effects and witch craft." We get very sentimental, as storytellers, for those early episodes. But then I remind everybody that nobody actually liked them very much, so it's OK that we've moved on.

HitFix: You mentioned how simple and clean things once were. Who's the person in the writers' room who keeps track of what everybody's supernatural status is, of whose parents and grandparents we've met, of who has what secret talisman?

Julie Plec: We have our PA Amy and our script coordinator Jeane [Wong], they keep the show bible, which is updated on episodic basis with family trees, with props and magical talismans. But mostly everything's right now in my head. One of the biggest struggles of the second half of Season 3 is I realized that my head is full and if I'm the only one that knows all this stuff that well, then we're screwed. So we started delegating and trying to pay more attention to the details. There's nothing worse than making a mistake and not realizing until a fan point points it out that a mistake has been made. That is a devastating occurrence.

HitFix: And I know that you're going to be speaking at the NAB Show in Las Vegas on Monday (April 16). What are you going to be talking about and what drew you to that event?

Julie Plec: Dave Perkal has been our DP this year and he's a great guy and very cool and he and I get along famously and he came up to me a month ago and he said, "Hey, you want to go to Vegas? And talk? In front of a bunch of people?" And I said, "Talk? People? Vegas? Yes! I'm in." Our show, we strive very, very, very hard to make it look like a movie on a weekly basis. Our DP is as important of a storyteller as any of our writers and as any of directors and as any of our editors. We push each other really hard to get as much beauty and cinematic quality as we possibly can every episode and we fight a lot, in good ways, and we inspire each other a lot. So this is an opportunity to just kinda show some examples of different risks we've taken, different choices we've made in the storytelling process, visually, and to show off some of our work. So we're excited.

HitFix: Has that mandate changed since those early fog-and-crows episodes? How you've wanted to make the show look?

Julie Plec: No, when [director] Marcos Siega and [DP] Paul Sommers started the series, they said that they didn't want it to look like any other show on The CW or, frankly, any other show on network television. So it was just about finding our way into that, which includes a lot of long lens, really long lens, dropping the camera back 100 yards, when you can, to get a great long scope shot. Paul Sommers had a bunch of tricks-of-the-trade to make it not look like video. And then the better the cameras get, the sharper and more pristine the images get and the more television starts to look like a soap opera from another country, so we're combating that. We're combating technology.

Source Hitfix

Ian and Nina at coachella - Burton pool party

via Just jared

Spoiler : Julie plec on Elenas decision between the brothers in the season finale

Vampire Diaries executive producer Julie Plec has confirmed that the upcoming season finale will see Elena (Nina Dobrev) make a choice between the Salvatore brothers.

The love triangle between Elena and vampire brothers Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) has intensified over recent episodes.

In an interview with HitFix, Plec suggested that the episode will provoke a strong reaction from the show's fanbase, many of whom identify themselves firmly as either 'Stelena' or 'Delena' supporters.

She joked: "I might have to leave the country.

"No, for us it's really, really important that we took a good, strong look at Elena's character, at her wants and her needs, where she is in her life.

"Hopefully people who are fans of the show and fans of Elena and fans of real human behaviour will understand and respect the choice that she makes, in spite of a percentage being very sad and another percentage being happy.

"So we shall see, but it is not going to be pretty, I'll tell you that."

Asked whether this would be the final resolution, Plec responded: "No, absolutely not!

"This show is a journey of a teenage girl finding her way back to life through the love of one vampire and discovering maybe other elements of life through the love of another vampire, growing up, graduating high school, moving on.

"There's a whole road for her still to travel and our brothers are in the middle of their journey as well. For us to say that this is the one and only choice and no other choice will ever be made would be premature."

Actor Ian Somerhalder recently suggested that the brothers will bond in forthcoming episodes, despite their shared affections for Elena.

Source Digital spy

Vid : Julie Plec on season 4

Julie plec dishes more on the rest of season 3 to EW

April 19, “Heart of Darkness”: Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Elena (Nina Dobrev) travel to Denver to check on Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen), who has no idea there’s an Original vampire (Nathaniel Buzolic’s Kol) in his proximity, and to ask him to communicate with dearly departed vampire Rose (guest star Lauren Cohan) to find out whose blood turned her. As we’ve seen in the promo, Elena will tell Damon that Stefan (Paul Wesley) thinks she has feelings for him. “We have a very passionate fandom that has very passionate opinions about things like whether Elena should be with Stefan or with Damon,” Plec says. “With Stefan’s encouragement, Elena is trying to understand and explore this relationship that she’s developed with Damon. There is some series-wide epicness that goes down in this episode, for sure.” (Something she and the series’ director of photography Dave Perkal will talk about on that NAB panel is how they strive not to make the best-looking episode of television each week, but the best-looking movie you could see on TV. “We don’t tend to go on the road very often, and we’ve got Damon and Elena in a motel,” she says. “It’s a dive motel by our production office that we called Crack Alley,” she adds. “It’s a very dingy, disgusting exterior, and Dave Perkal and Chris Grismer, who directed the episode, worked together to make it sexy and interesting and visual in spite of the complications of the location itself.”)

Tyler (Michel Trevino) returns to Mystic Falls, and we’ll see a steamy reunion with Caroline (Candice Accola). “Yes. There is a lot of steam in this episode, and a lot of shirtlessness,” Plec says. “As I said at the Paley event when somebody asked me about romance, this whole season has been so sad. Everybody’s broken up, all these love affairs are unfulfilled, and there’s lots of despair and depression and tragedy. We kick a little romance back into high gear with the return of the show next week.”

Meanwhile, Stefan and Klaus (Joseph Morgan) will both be after that missing stake that can kill an Original. “Basically, Good Alaric is trying to be very cooperative and help our heroes find the stake that Evilaric or Alaric Hyde, your choice, has hidden. Unfortunately, they can’t quite figure out how to get Alaric Hyde to come out and spill his secrets, so Stefan is a predicament wherein he might have to go to some really violent extremes to get it out of Alaric — just as Stefan, of course, is trying so hard to really pull himself together and get control over his own dark side. So there’s a little bit of a kindred spirit thing happening between Alaric and Stefan in this episode as they both explore the depths of their individual darker sides,” Plec says. That sounds like an interesting dynamic fans haven’t seen before. “Honestly, it’s almost like a change of pace. They’re stuck in the basement of the Salvatore house in the cell, and Chris Grismer was like, ‘How am I gonna direct nine pages of dialogue in this single room?’ And I said, ‘I don’t know, but figure it out because it’s gonna be awesome,’” she laughs. “He decided you know what, I’m gonna pretend I’m shooting in a U-boat submarine, and just let the actors do their thing. And it’s really good stuff. I’m really happy with it.”

Matt (Zach Roerig) will try to keep Rebekah (Claire Holt) busy organizing the high school’s 1920s Decade Dance, which we’ll see in the following episode. “Poor Rebekah’s plight in life is that every time that she’s enjoying a little taste of being more human than monster, something terrible happens. This episode is no exception to that rule,” Plec says. “We’ll get to see a nice, sweet moment that happens between Matt and Rebekah early in the episode, and then things will start to take a turn for the worst for our poor girl who just can’t seem to find her way to the Decade Dance.”

April 26, “Do Not Go Gentle”: At the end of the April 19 episode, we’ll find out who wants to help vampire-hating Alaric Hyde (Matt Davis) use his stake that can kill an Original. (Our money is on Esther, but all Plec will say is that we haven’t seen the last of the Originals’ mother this season. “She is a woman who is very intent on killing her children and eradicating the world of vampires. She hasn’t achieved that yet, so we will definitely be seeing more of that plan.”) Damon, who’ll team up with Good Alaric’s gal pal Meredith (Torrey DeVitto), will realize he needs Bonnie (Kat Graham), Jeremy, and Matt to help him with a spell — which brings him to the 1920s Decade Dance. Bonnie’s there with Jamie (guest star Robert Ri’chard). Tyler and Klaus both have their eye on Caroline. And Stefan is Elena’s date. “Damon’s arrival at the dance, of course, is gonna come at an inappropriate time. Just as things are going nice and peacefully between Stefan and Elena, in walks Damon with a crisis,” Plec says. “Stefan and Elena have had a lot of beautiful moments together at these decade dances in spite of the chaos that tends to drown them at these events. This episode, they’ll definitely get to have a nice moment or two before the s— hits the fan.” Yes, there is a promo shot of Elena sobbing in Stefan’s arms (pictured). How dark will the show’s annual decade dance be this season? “All I can say is that I’ve watched the episode five times now through the editorial process, and every single time I end up crying like a baby with Elena. I’m not in Stefan’s arms. I’m alone,” she laughs. “But it’s a pretty powerful episode. We’re really proud of it.”

May 3, “Before Sunset”: The farther out we get, the more vague Plec has to be, since the episodes build on top of one another. (Read the official “Before Sunset” synopsis here.) In general, Plec says, “Things get pretty harrowing as we get to the end of the season. We’ve got Klaus [whose plan is to leave town with Elena, whose blood he needs to make more hybrids] stepping up his game and returning to a more villainous place. We’ve got our heroes in dire straits. We’ve got Elena in the center of it all, as usual. We’ve got basically everybody stepping into battle because the enemy, who I can’t define for you at this moment because the April 19 episode tees it all up, is taking some pretty relentless and hardcore extremes against our heroes.”

May 10, “The Departed”: The season finale — which will feature a flashback to the car accident that killed Elena’s parents, when Stefan first saw her and rescued her from the water below Wickery Bridge — will find Elena making a decision about her feelings for the Salvatore Brothers. “It will not be easy. It will be very emotional for both sides because it’s going to be a very honest, very pure, very difficult decision. Hopefully if we’ve done our jobs right with Elena’s character over the season, we’ll understand why she’s making the decision that she’s making and how that decision is meant to be right for where she is in her life right now.” Did Plec cry writing the finale? “I cried many, many times. I haven’t seen it yet. I have no idea if that ended up on the screen. I don’t want to brag,” she laughs. “But it was a very, very emotional experience writing the finale, for a lot of reasons, one of which has already been talked about in the press. We do flashback to a time when Elena’s parents were still alive and when she was a cheerleader dating Matt, the football player, and before Bonnie knew she was a witch and thought she was just uncannily psychically available to predict fashion trends. It’s just a really poignant, sweet and bittersweet reflection back to a time when life was so much simpler for all of our humans and former humans. I hope it turns out as well as we want it to because it’s a really special episode.”

Source EW

Julie plec teases on Delena motel scene

"There's no denying that Damon and Elena haven't been on the best of terms over the last few weeks. He put some walls up after she rejected his big "I love you" at the ball, and she's not pleased with some of his decisions -- particularly his keeping company with Rebekah and the thing where he turned her best friend's mom into a vampire.

Some of those boundaries will come down when they take a road trip together in the next new episode, heading to visit Jeremy in Denver. (Haven't these people ever heard of planes?) Expect a very significant Damon/Elena moment -- supported by, as always, a powerful soundtrack.

I can tease one of maybe the Top 5 soundtrack music placements of all time, for the entire show, if not the world and the universe," Plec says. "It's a Florence & The Machine song that's just sensational.

As to what kind of moment the song accompanies, Plec will only say this: "You know, there's a motel. There's some bourbon. There's a little naked shirtlessness, and an epic, epic song moment."

Hell yes this sounds epic i can't wait and my little DE shipper heart is just getting more and more excited each time more news of this episode comes in

Source Zap2it

Episode synopsis for 3x21 "Before Sunset"

A DAY WITHOUT A VAMPIRE — Klaus acts on his intentions to leave town with Elena (Nina Dobrev), but finds resistance from a surprising new enemy. Bonnie (Kat Graham) calls on Abby (guest star Persia White) to help her with a difficult spell. As events spiral out of control, Elena is determined to protect Caroline (Candice Accola), Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley) enlist Tyler’s (Michael Trevino) help, while Bonnie and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) take a terrifying risk to make sure her spell is effective. Damon and Stefan have a surprisingly candid conversation about the future. Chris Grismer directed the episode with story by Charlie Charbonneau & Daphne Miles and teleplay by Caroline Dries (#321).

Ian Somerhalder dishes on Delena in S3 finale

E! online reported in their spoiler chat daily about what is to come for Delena in the season 3

finale.

DamonStan: Is there anything to look forward to for Delena fans in the last episodes of the season? #TVD
Why don't we just let the eternal stud himself, Ian Somerhalder (duh!), answer this one? "I think that Elena is extremely confused, but she's being very honest about it. She's extremely honest about her feelings for Damon and she's extremely honest about her feelings for Stefan," he tells us while promoting his foundation's upcoming Earth Day initiative, Clean Up Where You Live, Work & Play. "I think that her seeking out the way she feels about either one of them, where her heart ultimately needs to be and how it all works is going to make for some really good story telling. I know that the season finale, the relationship between the two of them, you see how much Damon cares about her." Translation: expect some Delena goodness in the finale!

Via E! online

Episode stills for 3x20 "Do not go gentle"

via Zap2it

New promo posters

Meet Elena and Jeremys parents

The Vampire Diaries' flashback-filled May 10 season finale will introduce us to Elena's parents and then kill 'em off. "One of the things we want to do in the finale is explore a time for Elena when life was simpler," says executive producer Julie Plec. "She had parents and no vampires in her life." Along with happy family scenes (that also feature now-dead Aunt Jenna!), the episode includes the accident in which the family car veered off a bridge, killing Mr. and Mrs. Gilbert (played by James MacDonald and Erin Beute). Remember, says Plec, "Elena almost died with them but Stefan saved her." "It's something I hopefully will never have to experience in real life trying to survive underwater while trying to save other people," says Nina Dobrev, who got her scuba diving certification in Bora Bora before shooting these scenes 12 feet underwater in Atlanta. "It was quite intense and a little scary. I'm used to being underwater with a tank, but having to act without the tank is completely different. We were in the water two days for eight hours a day. By the end, I was exhausted and slept like a baby."

Via TV guide

Episode synopsis for 3x20 "Do not go gentle"

WHAT THE WORLD HAS TO OFFER — Alaric (Matt Davis) finds an unexpected ally to guide him on his dangerous new path, while Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Meredith (guest star Torrey Devitto) try to figure out what their next move should be. At the school’s 1920s Decade Dance, Bonnie (Kat Graham) asks Jamie (guest star Robert Ri’chard) to go with her and, at Caroline’s (Candice Accola) suggestion, Elena (Nina Dobrev) asks Stefan (Paul Wesley) to be her date. Caroline is pleasantly surprised when Tyler (Michael Trevino) shows up at the dance determined to sweep her off her feet, but Klaus (Joseph Morgan) does his best to come between them. The dance takes a deadly turn when Damon and Stefan realize they need the help of Matt (Zach Roerig), Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) and especially Bonnie to undo a spell that could prove devastating for everyone. Josh Butler directed the episode written by Michael Narducci (#320).

More new stills from 3x19 "Heart of Darkness"

Via Hollywood life

Episode stills for S3E19 "Heart of Darkness"

Via The Hollywood Reporter

Nina Dobrev reveals some spoilers about S3 finale

Julie Plec EW Q&A

During last night's episode of The Vampire Diaries, EW had a very special guest join them in their live chat. Julie Plec, executive producer of the show, very kindly took time out of her busy schedule to join fans in the chat and answered a few of their questions.

Who writes all of Damon's great lines?
It's a group effort. Kevin still has the first place trophy though, in my opinion. He wrote "If I see something I haven't seen before, I'll throw a dollar at it." My fave.

Will we ever see dark Elena?
Depends on how you define dark.

I have been trying to figure out who is more insecure and in need of love S1 Vicki or Rebekah?
Vicki's desire for attention and love was born out of an unstable home environment. Rebekah just got 'stuck' as a stubborn teenage little sister who lost her mom too young.
Will Bonnie ever confront Stefan and Damon about their involvement with turning Abby against her will?
Yes, Bonnie is going to (rightfully) hold a grudge for a while

Will there by any acknowledgement from Stefan or anyone else for all the good Damon has done?

Like in the case when he saved Caroline from Tyler, he often goes unacknowledged for his good deeds. Damon's good deeds are acknowledged in the character's ability to love him deeply in spite of his bad deeds.

I love how you can surprise us every week again with another magical episode. I would like to know where do you get your inspiration from? What are you doing if you have a blockade?

I think about what the most logical move the character's would make and then either have them do it or defy it.

Is there a chance for Stefan and Caroline's friendship to be revisited? I would love for Stefan to have a friend outside of Damon and Elena.
We've just seen the beginning of Stefan and Caroline's friendship, in my opinion. Barely scratched the surface. Can't wait to tell more.

It seems to me that you focus more on Damon and Stefan rather than Elena herself. Are we going to see some strong Elena development later on, outside of her bond with the Salvatore brothers? She's the main protagonist, after all.
The rest of this season is very Elena-centric

What about Stefan and Katherine? Any chance you'll explore more their relationship?
Katherine is on the lam. Maybe we'll see her again one day.

Elena and Stefan obviously still have feelings for each other, will the two of them ever talk about those feeling with each other again?
Yes indeed they will.

Have Stefan and Damon, or even Elijah transferred any emotions or admiration from Tatia or Katherine to Elena?
I think it always begins with some transference and evolves into true feeling

Are we ever going to see Damon's birthday? We've seen both Elena and Stefans.
Maybe one day. Although Damon's like some women - doesn't want to share his age

Does Alaric's crazy murdering alter ego have a name? and is it... Ernesto?

hahahaha. YES

Please can u let the Originals stay alive in S4? They are a part of TVD now and we all would miss them so bad.
I'll never tell!

Should the originals be killed off, as the heroes often have to defeat the villains. Would you ever entertain a spin off?
I would, of course. Ya never know!

Will Damon and Elena discuss how they feel for each other in any of the upcoming episodes?
Yes indeed they will.

Will we see Elijah or Kol or Finn again? PLEASE SAY YES, I REALLY MISS THEM!
Yes you'll see both of them again this season

Will we see more heartfelt scenes between Damon & Stefan this season like we saw in last episode? I really would love to see more of those moments between them!
The brothers will keep growing stronger and stronger

What is your favorite Damon/Elena moment so far?
Him in bed with her in 3x08

Will we ever not see Damon hook up with someone that isn´t Elena.
Every time I answer this I get yelled at, but I think Damon, as a grown man with a lot of sexual energy, can separate sex from intimacy.

Is there a particular character you enjoying writing the most?
Caroline and Alaric/Damon

Delena fans are kind of upset at the moment. The DE scene in this ep, Elena was a little harsh to Damon. Is it sexual frustration?
You always get the most angry at those who you care about

Will Damon's "i love you" confession in 2x08 ever be brought up again?
Maybe one day

Do you see any similarities between Damon and Elena like there are in the books?
Yes, both undeniably consumed by love

Does Matt Davis enjoy playing the darker side of Alaric?
He LOVES it!

Are we ever going to see winter in Mystic Falls? I'd die for Damon/Elena college campus winter scenes!
Oooh that'd be fun. Our special effects guy just told me the other day he could make it snow.

Is there a evil spirit controlling him or is really just crazy and evil now?
We call him Alari-Hyde. Like Jekyll and Hyde

I assume there's something more behind the car accident that killed Elena's parents. Can you maybe give us a hint of what that "something more" might be?
Nope, nothing more

I know you love YA novels. Any plans on writing any when TVD is over?
I would love to

Paul said he wanted another love interest besides Elena, what do you think of that? I'm pretty attached to Stefan/Katherine but I agree he does need to move on/explore other options
What Paul wants and what Paul gets are sometimes different