The biggest debate in The Vampire Diaries’ massive fandom could have been settled in a very different way.
Stelena (Stefan and Elena) or Delena (Damon and Elena)? This question has been raised in endless fan discussions hundreds of times. Which pairing would be a better endgame? While in the end, Delena fans got what they wanted, the other half of the huge fandom was left unsatisfied and frustrated, and they still can’t get over it.
“This show would have been much more epic if it ended with Stefan and Elena.”
This fan’s opinion is actually what millions of other viewers thought after watching The Vampire Diaries finale.
While the Salvatore brothers fought over who would sacrifice their life to save Mystic Falls, many diehard fans couldn’t help but root for Stefan to survive and get back with Elena. Even the show’s co-creators admitted to having doubts about which brother had to die.
Kevin Williamson revealed to Deadline that he had always rooted for Stelena and would dearly want for Stefan and Elena to get back together. But he explained that since Nina Dobrev exited the show two seasons before the finale and Elena’s arc broke off, one final episode was not enough to rewrite what have been developing for the first six seasons.
“Maybe if [Nina Dobrev] had come back for the whole season, we could even have warped back towards [Stelena],” Williamson explained.
That sounds about right. Like it or not, Elena had been getting closer to Damon and further away from Stephan throughout her storyline. And when she left, viewers were given a kind of promise that Delena would be reunited one day. Besides, Elena’s departure marked the beginning of Stefan and Caroline’s relationship. So Delena fans would have been furious (and rightfully so) if all that had been undone by one final episode.
As it turns out, there was one more finale plan that would definitely infuriate the whole fandom, including both Stelena and Delena fans. Julie Plec once told EW that while writing season 2, she and Williams, had an idea to end the love triangle by killing off both brothers. They were supposed to die saving Elena and then watch her living her normal human life side-by-sade as ghosts.
Now that’s the ending that every single fan would find hard to watch, for sure.
