‘Vampire Diaries’: 1 Katherine Story Was Not Based on the Books
The Vampire Diaries was based on the books by L.J. Smith. Over eight seasons, the show took some liberties. It still featured Damon (Iam Somerhalder), Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Elena (Nina Dobrev), but they had a few new adventures. Those included a Katherine (also Dobrev) subplot.
Co-creator Kevin Williamson was on a Vampire Diaries panel for the Television Critics Association in 2010, during the first season. He explained how he already added a subplot to the Katherine story from the book. The Vampire Diaries is now streaming on HBO Max and Peacock.
‘The Vampire Diaries’ picked and chose from L.J. Smith’s books
Williamson previously discussed the adaptation of The Vampire Diaries in the show’s first 2009 TCA panel. For example, Damon only shows up in the second book, but Williamson wanted Damon on the show from the beginning.
“You know, the show does take on a life of its own,” Williamson said. “I think the book has always inspired us because, if you’re a fan of the book, you can sort of look at what we have sort of used or what we haven’t or what we’ve taken and sort of turned it on its end.”
‘The Vampire Diaries’ show elaborated on Katherine’s tomb
Katherine did break up Damon, Stefan and Elena’s love triangle in the books. However, The Vampire Diaries show added some wrinkles.
“Like, for instance, we’re going into this whole thing of this church and the tomb underground and these vampires that have been desiccated and laying in wait for all these years with Katherine amongst them,” Williamson said. “That’s not in the book. However, what is in the book is Katherine. There’s the tomb under the ground of all these caverns, and there is sort of an element in the book that we sort of expanded upon.”
The new Katherine story involved Bonnie too
Adding to Katherine’s story gave all the Vampire Diaries characters more to do. Kat Graham played Bonnie and became integrally involved in Katherine.
“She actually becomes very, very important to Damon when it comes time to sort of get help to get that tomb open,” Williamson said. “So we’ll sort of see how that plays out. Elena’s and Bonnie’s relationship is going to be tested because now Bonnie is aware of Stefan. She’s got to make a choice. Is she down with it? Or is she going to have a problem with it? You know, because there’s still the town council is this little secret society, a cabal, that is trying to rid the world of vampires. So, you know, Bonnie might have to make a choice.”
Eight seasons later, The Vampire Diaries fans know what choice Bonnie made and how things played out with Katherine. Still, it’s fun to remember when the show was adding new developments to the books.
“The book has always inspired us,” Williamson said. “But yeah, now the show is off and running, and so you see a bunch of writers sitting in a room, we twist and turn everything.”
