The Vampire Diaries brought teen vampires to TV at just the right moment. Hot on the heels of Twilight’s big-screen dominance, the series became a reliable hit for The CW and helped launch numerous stars to promising careers. And the show’s many romantic entanglements left fans divided over how The Vampire Diaries ended. As it turns out, a season 8 deleted scene would have fleshed out the finale further.
How ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Season 8 finale ended in 2017
Over the course of The Vampire Diaries, the show featured numerous popular couples. But the biggest question was who would end up with Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) by the time the finale rolled around. Throughout the show’s eight-season run, she paired up with several characters. But in the end, Elena got her happy ending with Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder).
The Vampire Diaries series finale, which aired in March 2017, also controversially ended with the death of Damon’s brother, Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley). This bittersweet development brought peace to the character but in a tragic way. Overall, the show’s finale seemed to please most fans, but co-creator Kevin Williamson revealed a deleted scene adds more context to the story.
1 deleted scene in ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Season 8 changed Damon and Elena’s story
In a conversation with TV Guide about the series finale in The Vampire Diaries Season 8, Williamson addressed the wedding ring Elena wears in the episode, “I Was Feeling Epic.” In particular, the question pondered whether viewers were ever close to seeing Elena and Damon’s wedding on screen. In fact, Williamson addressed that fans of Damon and Elena’s romance nearly got to witness a pivotal moment in their romance.
“We actually had a moment, which we didn’t have time for. Everything got cut,” Williamson told TV Guide. “I think the first cut came in 18 minutes over. And there was a moment in the show where he proposed, and she responded after medical school. And the whole point of that moment was just to show that she became a doctor. And so we thought, ‘Oh, we’ll just put her in scrubs and we can cut that piece.’”
Why didn’t Elena and Stefan didn’t end up together as originally planned?
The original plan for the series finale was for Elena and Stefan to end up together. But when Dobrev left the show following season 6, The Vampire Diaries had to pivot. Even though Dobrev reprised her role in the final season, it still didn’t work out for Elena’s storyline to end up with Stefan. So the ending that had been in place since season 2 had to change course.
“I thought that by the time we came back to the end of the series, whenever it was, that Elena would’ve found her way back to Stefan, and Damon would’ve found a different path,” co-creator Julie Plec said.
Instead, Stefan sacrificed himself to save everyone, and Elena wound up tying the knot with Damon.
