Kevin Williamson talks about the future of 'The Vampire Diaries' and why high school is a 'horror movie'

In addition to masterminding the "Scream" trilogy, writer/producer Kevin Williamson is the man responsible for the teen angst-fest "Dawson's Creek," which became the defining show for the WB network in the late '90s. Now he's at the helm of "The Vampire Diaries," thus far the most successful original show to come from the CW since its launch in 2006. Last week, the network surprised no one by officially picking up "Diaries" for nine episodes in addition to the 13 already in the works.

Despite being extremely busy -- not only with the show, but with writing the fourth "Scream" installment (yes, it's happening!) -- Williamson carved out some time to talk to me about what we have to look forward to now that "The Vampire Diaries" is guaranteed a full season. He gave me some hints about what to expect from tonight's special Halloween episode now that bad-girl Vicki has officially turned into a vampire, and filled me in on the not-so-smooth casting process for stars Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder.

First of all, congratulations on the network officially picking up your back nine!

Thank you! It's very exciting. They ordered scripts from us early, so we had some advance warning.

You guys have had a lot of support from the network, coming in with their highest-rated premiere ever. I couldn't go to the mall this summer without seeing a "Vampire Diaries" poster at every turn.

Are you talking about the Century City mall out here in L.A.? I couldn't believe it; it was just wallpapered with "Vampire Diaries" posters. It was a nice change of pace to have so much support. The marketing team did a really incredible job with that campaign, and our numbers were good right out of the gate.

So let's talk about this Halloween episode you guys have coming up. Vicki has just been turned into a vampire, so the big question is, is Vicki going to be a good vampire or a bad vampire?

Well, you know, she's an addict. Everyone's transition is different in our mythology, and it really comes down to some key personality traits that just get magnified. All of her little addictions and quirks get magnified now that she's a vampire. It'll make for a very bipolar personality. In our mythology, when you're turning into a vampire, you're confused. Your addiction to prey and to feed is mixed into your emotions, like love and lust and desire. You always hurt the ones you love the most! So Vicki is most dangerous to people like Jeremy. It's the same way that Stefan sort of flares up around Elena - when they're making out and his eyes get all inflamed - love and lust and desire are triggers.

I can't wait for Matt's reaction to the changes in his sister. Zach Roerig has been doing a fantastic job with that character.

Zach is a guy I've had my eye on for a while. I actually brought him in to the network for the lead in "Hidden Palms," and that role ultimately went to Taylor [Handley]. Zach wasn't right for that role, but when the character of Matt came up I thought of him right away. We've been slowly exploring these characters. Our first priority was to introduce the triangle of Elena, Stefan and Damon, but we'll get further into Matt's head as the season continues.

What about Bonnie? I hear that we're going to learn more about her in the upcoming episodes.

We're going to learn a bit more about Bonnie's family history and her powers. We're going to see what's going on with her grandmother. We've got an episode coming up that will delve into the back story of the entire town, with the witches and the vampires and what they've meant in the history of Mystic Falls. I've always seen "Vampire Diaries" as a sort of modern take on "Dark Shadows." There's so much history there.

One of the things I love about "The Vampire Diaries" is that it takes place in a small town. It makes it a little creepier. Plus it's kind of refreshing to have this small town show, to get out of 90210 and the Upper East Side.

I can't relate to the flashy big city stuff. I was a small town kid, so that's what I know. If you look at any of my projects, it's all small towns. Wasteland took place in New York City, but even then, I was writing about a group of people who came from a small town.

I'm looking forward to Arielle Kebbel's role as an old friend of Stefan's. Is she going to stir things up for Elena and Stefan?

She's going to come in and stir things up in a good way. I don't want to give too much away, but she has a really great character, a really exciting role. We just watched that episode actually. It's very scary, but also an really emotional episode.

The show shoots in Atlanta. Do you get out there much?

I don't. I was out there when we were doing prep, but I'm so busy here in writing and post-production. Julie [Plec] gets out there a bit. We're so lucky because we have Marcos Siega, our supervising producer, and he's out in Atlanta a lot. He directs about every third episode, and he's really responsible for the look of the show and the tone. He's out there making sure that the quality stays up to our standard. We don't have a big budget, but I think we really stand up to other shows with a much larger budget, and that's because of Marcos. Give him a light bulb, and he can make anything look good.

I loved his work on "Lost Girls," the fifth episode. The flashbacks were beautiful.

We're going to have some more flashbacks. Of course we are. We haven't written them yet, but we've got an episode in the planning stages.  One of the stories I'm most looking forward to is the night that Damon and Stefan died. That's one of the biggest moments. I can't wait to tell that story of how they died and their transformations.

How concerned are you guys about the "Twilight" and "True Blood" comparisons? When you're writing, are you really careful about not recycling stories?

Absolutely. We're really aware of it. We don't want to step on any story lines, but at the same time, there are obvious similarities and obvious connections there. For example, vampires don't age. There was a "True Blood" episode this season where Sookie was concerned about that, and of course, it's going to come up for Elena as well. When she's 40, Stefan will still look 17. Things like that are universal in the vampire mythology. We know this isn't a new story, a human woman falling in love with a vampire, so we just do our best to tell the classic stories with our own twist. Ultimately, we're going to go where our story takes us.

As a writer, is there more pressure when you're adapting someone else's work, to take care of the source material?

Yes, there's more pressure. We want to do the books justice. We're going where the story takes us, but at the same time, we're really trying to honor the original books. A novel doesn't really lend itself to a 22- episode season, though, so there are obviously major differences. Our main concern is to honor the tone of the books and the major themes. We want to honor the love story: the romance, the betrayal.

The book's fans are hard to please. For the first few episodes, I got a lot of comments on the blog saying, "No, but Elena is supposed to be blond!"

I know! I just don't understand that. I looked back to the book and tried to figure out the significance of her hair color and... nothing. To be honest, we were looking at blonds when we were casting, because we saw that she was blond in the book. But once we saw Nina, we just couldn't get back to the blond thing. Actually, Nina came in and did an audition that -- well, by her own admission, she blew the audition. She wasn't feeling well, she was sick. But she went back to Canada and she just knew she could do better, so she sent us a videotape, and when we saw that, we knew.

Wasn't that how Katie Holmes got her job too? You like videotapes.

That's true! Katie did send us a tape! It's not just me, though. We all saw that video and loved Nina -- the network, Dawn Ostroff, we all loved her.

What about the rest of the casting? When you were casting for Stefan and Damon you must have seen a ton of people.

You know what, with Damon, as soon as I heard Ian Somerhalder was interested in the part, as far as I was concerned, he had it. He came in and met with us, and I knew he was it. But to be honest, the first time he read for Damon, he didn't really bring it. Everyone said oh, he's definitely got the look, he looks like Damon, but he just didn't bring it when he read. Still, I knew he had it in him. After talking to him, he said that this was really the exact role he'd been looking for. He wanted it so badly, so at that point, for me, it was just about getting him the role, convincing the network to roll the dice with him. Ian was a gamble. We took a gamble on him, and he delivered.

You obviously made the right call. He plays Damon so fearlessly. Is Damon hard to write for? You're kind of walking a careful line with his character: You don't want the viewers to hate him, but he's still a killer.

I love writing for Damon. It's just about staying true to what Damon is, and Damon is a killer. He's driven by this love for Katherine that he's trying to get back, but at the core, Damon is a killer. He's dark, and if anybody thinks he's going to suddenly soften up, they're going to be waiting a long time. He's a true predator and he needs to feed. Could the love of a woman possibly change him a little bit? Is there some humanity there? Maybe. Maybe, someday, but today is not that day. Don't hold your breath for that.

One of my favorite relationships on the show is between Stefan and Damon. It was kind of heartbreaking to hear that they were once best friends when they're so far from that now.

They're brothers. Stefan has said it a few times: "You could've killed me, but I'm still here. I'm still here." To me, Stefan has the more interesting journey here. He's going against his nature. It's his instinct to feed, and he's been fighting that instinct for so long, but you know that at some point, he's going to have to feed on human blood. It's just got to happen! So when that time comes, it's going to be a great story to tell.

"The Vampire Diaries" kind of blends your two areas of expertise. It's like "Dawson's Creek" if they were stuck in a horror movie.

I always said that the teenage years are just one big horror movie. High school is a horror movie.

It's true. When you're a teenager, who you sit with in the cafeteria feels like the end of the world, so throwing some vampires into the mix doesn't even seem like such a crazy stretch.

That's why I write about teenagers. One of the things I learned while I was doing "Wasteland" is that writing about people in their 20s - who cares? It's just a big 'who cares?' Nothing's life or death then. When you're 25, who cares if a love doesn't work out? You will find another one. But when you're 16, it's life and death. As I've discovered, it's that way when you get older too. There's your first love and your last love. Those are the epic moments. Everything else is just in between.

--Carina MacKenzie (follow me on Twitter @cadlymack)

Related Links
The CW orders a full season of 'Vampire Diaries' and more 'Melrose Place' episodes
'The Vampire Diaries' goes back in time
Elena asks the big question

Photo credit: CW

Comments

[Joy]

Great interview! I'm excited to hear we'll be seeing more of Matt and Bonnie. Looking forward to it!

[Kristal]

I am totally loving this show! It reminds me of The WB that I watched as a teen - Buffy, Angel, Roswell, Dawson's Creek. This and ANTM are the only CW shows I watch.
http://toointerestingfortwitter.blogspot.com

[Jamie]

Wow, I'm glad to hear Kevin took a chance on Ian, even though he didn't do so hot in the audition. He is FANTASTIC. Ian is so charismatic; it'd be pretty difficult to think of an actor who could play Damon better! He's quickly becoming my favorite character, but I always did like the bad boys. :D

[Deirdre]

Great interview! I love all the terrific details you got Kevin to discuss. So interesting to peek inside the creator's thinking!

[Danielle]

Thanks for the awesome interview! So glad to see what's coming up for the show.

[Tish]

It was great to get some real insight into the writing. Very interesting and thoughtful interview! I am looking forward to the night Damon and Stefan died like BURNING.

[Lauren]

I've never even thought about our predilection for high school stories that way, but that makes a whole lot of sense!

[Vampire Diaries]

I'm happy to hear that Damon isn't going to soften up. He's so much fun to watch and you need to have that good vs. evil to make a good story!

[Rachel]

Oh, this is wonderful. Since I can't *actually* sit down and talk about the show with Kevin Williamson himself like you can, this is an excellent way to do it vicariously. :)

Vicki's transformation is such an interesting topic, and I LOVED what he had to say on her, about how her personality affects the transformation into a vampire. How she deals with it is going to be entertaining, and most likely pretty nerve-wracking, in the following episodes. Which is AWESOME. :D

I'm so glad you brought up Matt, too, and I'm thrilled that it was confirmed that we WILL get more into his head as the season progresses. Zach Roerig plays him perfectly, and I've often been bummed that we haven't gotten quite the peak inside his head that we get with the main three characters.

And oh man, the episode he mentions looking forward to shooting, about how Stefan and Damon died? I'm pretty sure anyone following the show is waiting on the edge of their seats for that, and to know he's just as excited is so fantastic.

The glimpse into the background of how the different main characters were cast was really interesting, too. Thanks for asking those questions! I think that kind of behind-the-scenes peak into what was going through the producer's head when choosing who to let play their characters is something that doesn't get capitalized upon enough in interviews (the ones I tend to read, at least?), so that was wonderful to read.

This was such an interesting and thoughtful interview. I'm so grateful Mr. Williamson took the time to give such excellent answers, and that you took the time and forethought to ask him the kinds of questions that *everyone* wonders about. I can't wait for the next episode!

[Amber]

I really love Kevin Williamson (I AM SO EXCITED ABOUT THE NEW SCREAM MOVIE). I'm glad it looks like Damon will be staying evil for a while. I don't think I could deal with him going all hearts-in-his-eyes just yet.

That's really interesting about their vampire mythology, how the change amplifies certain personality traits. It makes sense and it also makes me want to see more flashback episodes with pre-vamp Damon and Stefan, so I can get a better feel for who they were before the change.

Great job with the interview, Carina! Hopefully you'll get more just like this.

[Kim]

Ah, I loved this interview! Vampire Diaries is slowly becoming my favorite new show of the season and it was great to get some insight into what's coming next for these characters. I'm really excited to hear there's more for Matt in the future; he's one of my favorite characters.

It seems really clear that the interviewer had a breadth of knowledge about Kevin's work; I didn't know that Katie Holmes had also auditioned on tape! I love getting that peek behind the curtain at the process of creating a show like this and I also enjoyed the discussion of how Vampire Diaries is an evolution of Kevin's previous work.

I'm glad, too, that Carina asked about the show's place among all the other vampire media out there. Vampire Diaries is also an adaptation, so it's interesting to see what feels important to the people on the show about maintaining from the novels and what doesn't. I agree that there are some major tropes you're not going to be able to avoid with a vampire romance, but Vampire Diaries is doing an incredible job of distinguishing itself by really immersing itself in its unique characters and quickly establishing its variations on the rules of the world they're playing in.

Again, really great interview!

[kat]

I think what I like the most is that they didn't just disregard Nina because she wasn't a blond. I know that when you're adapting novels you want the characters to resemble their original counterparts, but hair colour isn't exact a crucial element of Elena's character. I like that they took a risk and went with who they thought would do the best job.

Same goes for Damon. Ian is absolutely perfect for the role - his performance is the best part of the show in my opinion. And I have to respect Kevin Williamson for not immediately having the character soften/go good to make the triangle between the brothers and Elena easier to work with.

This interview was great - it made me like Kevin quite a bit. I like that he cares about and listens to fans without pandering to them. I have a lot of respect for that.

[lea]

SO excited for the rest of the season. Great interview!

[Mallorie]

Despite all the bad press I've seen about this show since it's start, each episode has been getting better slowly drawing me in more. I'm interested to see where it's going to go next.

[Susan]

Great interview, Carina! I always love reading what you've got to say. Also, what a fab way Williamson put this: "There's your first love and your last love. Those are the epic moments. Everything else is just in between." So true!

[Ti]

This interview is making me want to check out The Vampire Diaries! Sounds like a really interesting show - guess I've got some catching up to do!

[Chaps]

What an awesome interview-- I got great insight into the show-- which I LOVE. Kevin Williamson seems like a great guy. Great job!!! Excellent interview, especially from an obsessed Vampire Diaries fan's point of view. Clear that you really researched before the interview. Thought out questions as were his responses. Can't wait for tonight's episode. Am even more excited. Kevin has left us wondering about what is on its way. Loved his line about teenage years being a horror movie!!

[Vanessa]

Really cool Interview, I'm very excited for the Halloween Episode and especially for the future episodes so we can learn what's going to happen to Vicky.

[Bridget]

Oh, I am so excited that they're going for more flashbacks. And more Matt! Really interesting about the casting issues, I'm glad they went with Nina and Ian.

I love this, "There's your first love and your last love. Those are the epic moments. Everything else is just in between." Aww, Kevin Williamson, you are so great!

[Hannah]

Great interview! I love hearing from the writers.