Vampire Diaries at Comic Con

Just like the Human Target panel, the Vampire Diaries panel was mainly focused on the screening of the pilot episode of the CW series. Based on the L.J. Smith novels, this new drama will debut on September 10 at 8 p.m.

The Vampire Diaries premieres September 10 on the CW

I’ll avoid giving too much of the plot away, here, so if you’re avoiding spoilers you should be safe. The basic premise of the show follows Elena (Nina Dobrev), a high school student, and her brother who lose their parents in a tragic car accident. When the new school season begins, she meets a mysterious new student, Stefan (Paul Wesley) who happens to be a centuries-old vampire; learns her best friend might be “psychic”; and an attack on a local girl has the town scared of what might be lurking in the dark. We also learn that Stefan has a brother, Damon (Ian Somerhalder), who is also a vampire.

The panel included Lynnette Rice from Entertainment Weekly, as the moderator, Kevin Williamson, Bob Levey and Julie Plec, the Executive Producers, and cast members Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley.

As can be imagined, The Vampire Diaries is being compared to the highly successful Twilight book and movie franchise, but the cast and crew all agreed the two are completely different with Ms. Plec even joking  that “nobody sparkles” in the show.

It should also be noted that The Vampire Diaries series of books originally came out in 1991, while the Stephanie Meyer Twilight books were released throughout 2005 and 2008.

During the question and answer session at the end of the panel, the audience learned the following:

• Mr. Somerhalder had a horrible experience during his audition with the network, stating he “bombed”, but “Julie and Kevin wanted me” and he eventually won the role;
• Ms. Dobrev’s audition process was much easier, as she got the lead role simply based on a taped audition; she did not have to go through a network or studio audition;
• Mr. Williamson is a fan of True Blood and Ms. Plec is a fan of Twilight;
• The pilot episode was filmed in Vancouver, but the rest of the series will be filmed in Atlanta, Georgia;
• Mr. Williamson repeatedly kept saying no to this project, but eventually said yes; and they “will stick to the books where possible”;
• Ms. Plec was asked by an audience member about the possible history of her former series Kyle XY (which aired on the ABC Family Channel) to which she stated there is interest (not from the network) for a DVD movie to provide closure so “they’ll keep pushing”; and,
• Lastly, Ms. Plec stated they’re praying the show will “capture the over-burdened (vampire) market” as well as True Blood and Twilight both have.

To learn more about The Vampire Diaries the series, you can check out sneak peeks, details on the cast and more at the CW’s website. You can also learn more about the Vampire Diaries books at the official website.