‘The Vampire Diaries’ Creator Says ‘Everyone Was Supposed to Die’ Except 2 Characters

The Vampire Diaries concluded its eight-season story with two significant deaths — Stefan Salvatore and Katherine Pierce. But according to series co-creator Kevin Williamson, the original plan was to kill everyone off except for two key characters.

Stefan Salvatore sacrifices himself in ‘The Vampire Diaries’ finale

In The Vampire Diaries series finale, Mystic Falls and its residents are saved from Katherine Pierce (Nina Dobrev) one last time. The doppelganger returns to the town with plans to burn it to the ground.

To stop her, Bonnie Bennett (Kat Graham) comes up with a supernatural solution that requires one of the Salvatore brothers to die. Damon (Ian Somerhalder) offers himself up as a sacrifice. But Stefan (Paul Wesley), who wants his brother to live a happy life with Elena (Nina Dobrev), decides to give his life instead.

The series ends with Stefan and Katherine dying. Elena and Damon go on to live long, happy lives, along with Caroline (Candace Accola), Matt (Zach Roerig), Alaric (Matt Davis), and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen).

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The Vampire Diaries’ creators wanted almost everyone to die in the finale

In an interview with TV Guide, Williamson revealed that he and co-creator Julie Plec had other ideas about the finale. And he explained that their initial version included several more deaths. “Oh, everyone was supposed to die,” Williamson said.

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The showrunner noted that the two people who would have survived were Bonnie and Matt. And he explained that it was because they deserved to live happy lives. “It was very important for us not to kill Bonnie,” Williamson detailed.

“Bonnie should not have to die for Elena’s happiness — Bonnie needs a full, rich life. She needs a happy ending. So that was important to us, so we couldn’t kill Bonnie … and we can’t kill [Matt], because if he’s lived this long as a human, he needs to continue on … if we were going to kill him, it had to have been in Season 4. You can’t do it in Season 8.”

‘The Vampire Diaries’ creator reveals why Stefan died in the finale

Many fans of The Vampire Diaries weren’t thrilled to see Stefan die in the finale. But according to Williamson, his death made the most sense because of his Ripper story arc.

“It was really between Damon and Stefan,” he told TV Guide. “There was a conversation that Damon and Stefan both died. And then there was a conversation that it just ended with Damon killing Katherine and saving the town and saving everyone.”

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“For me, where the story was when I came in and got involved, Stefan had just been the Ripper for a long period of time and killed Enzo,” Williamson added. “And the only way for him to come back from that, I felt, was to kill him. That’s why he had to die.”