The Vampire Diaries, Season Five Silas and Stefan Scoop From Julie Plec

1. Silas has a doppelganger — and it’s Stefan. Yes, the Petrova women aren’t the only ones with the doppelganger enchantment in their blood. All of the convoluted twists regarding the legend of Silas, his goals, and his abilities came together. Thanks to a loophole, Silas came back to life, revealing that the immortality spell itself had a loophole: doppelgangers. Silas and Stefan share the same face. Stefan is Silas’ doppelganger, and now he’s trapped in a safe at the bottom of an ocean.

This is a storyline that has been in the works for about a year. “Last year, when Season 3 was over, we kept a small group of writers and we stayed for five weeks, to try to break the broad strokes of Season 4. Last year, right around this time, we came up with the doppelgänger pitch,” executive producer Julie Plec tells us.

There were some complications to introducing another doppelgänger character. In Season 2 and early in Season 3, when Nina Dobrev was playing both Katherine and Elena regularly, she grew worn out, physically. Some of the decision-makers behind “The Vampire Diaries” were concerned that playing two characters could take a similar toll on Paul Wesley.

“We had to convince a lot of different people of how it could work and what could make it work,” Julie says. “So that we didn’t end up in a similar situation as with Katherine and Elena, where we exhausted Nina to the point of being unable to get out of her bed, because we accidentally overworked her so much. Creatively, everybody was very excited about the Silas doppelganger, it was just a matter of how long it took us to cement it, knowing that’s fundamentally what we’re going to do.”

Paul talks about Stefan’s dark side and more.

In our second instalment of “Take 5 With The Vampire Diaries”, Paul Wesley – in his always amusing and straightforward way – speculates on what’s in store for Stefan now that his girlfriend is also a vampire!

Last season, you got to play a darker version of Stefan. Do you think we’ll see more of that?

I sure as shit hope so! But I don’t think so. I think that Stefan had his dark ride in Season 3, and we saw a whole hell of a lot of that. I said to Julie [Plec] ‘can we please just not fully commit to being ‘good’ Stefan?’ I’d like to go to a ‘gray zone.? I like him to be conflicted, and hopefully we’ll see that.

How will he react to what’s happened to Elena?

You know … I’m conflicted, as you were, watching that scene. I’m conflicted by it myself. We find out later that Stefan never meant for her to die. He wasn’t making the decision to let her die; he was making the decision to save Matt first and then come back to get her, for whatever reason. Why he couldn’t just grab them both is just *dissolves to laughter* But you know, he made that decision.

She chose Stefan, so now (Damon) has this against him, in a way. Now it’s more of a catalyst for her to go to Damon. It’s the yin and the yang, constantly having that push and pull.

Do you think that his guilt over what happened to her might cause him to relapse?

That’s where my head goes, okay? My head goes, ‘Oh my god, I can’t believe I did this,’ and like an alcoholic, picking up a bottle and going right back to it. That’s how I see it, but I’m not sure if that’s how everyone else sees it. I believe that the guilt should cause some drama within himself. But NOT crying over Elena. I don’t want him to cry anymore.

How might this turn of events affect Damon and Stefan’s relationship, especially since they were starting to get closer again?

Now I think Damon blames [Stefan], and Stefan is you know, ‘Oh looksie, I would’ve saved her, if it were me.’ But that’s the whole sort of thing, being thrown in his face. I like it when they bond, I like it when they’re buddies. I enjoy that. I mean, it’s pretty interesting.

I hear there’s a new vampire hunter coming to town, so maybe they’ll team up again soon. I’d like Stefan and Klaus to be buddies too. Bromance. (Laughter) I like that. I like the 2 of them … bro-ing out.

In the same way you were Caroline’s mentor when she transformed, would you like to see that with Elena?

Not really. I don’t want Stefan to be a mentor. I want Stefan to show her the dark, the dangers of being a vampire. I think it could be really adventurous, if they embrace it rather than fight it, and then go on these wild adventures together. I think that would be far more interesting, and more exciting for the viewer.

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