The Vampire Diaries stars had much to talk about Saturday afternoon for the show's fifth trip to Comic-Con.
When season four left off, Stefan discovered that one of Mystic Falls' most dangerous villains, Silas, was his doppelganger, and Katherine involuntarily became human. Plus, Elena finally made her choice between the Salvatore brothers, picking Damon. Will their budding romance end on a happy note?
"There's no drama in happiness," said executive producer Julie Plec, but she gave credit to TV shows that have successfully depicted a happy couple. "One of the things [we will try] to do is to try to keep them happy for a while in the midst of the bad things around them that are trying to tear them apart."
Ian Somerhalder admitted that he was shocked when he found out Damon would be the one Elena ultimately chose. "I thought they were joking. Damon never gets the girl," Somerhalder said, to which co-star Paul Wesley rertorted: "Don't downplay the sexy blue eyes. Don't downplay the 'Smolderholder.' "
"It is Mystic Falls and essentially you can't be that happy for that long, so there's always got to be that drama," Somerhalder added.
"It's the honeymoon phase," Nina Dobrev said. Joked Wesley: "I've done this for three years ... it gets exhausting."
As for the Stefan-Silas cliffhanger, Wesley had been aware of the reveal for a while, even lying to his co-stars -- including Somerhalder -- about it. "You actually told me early on and swore me to secrecy," Wesley said, voicing his excitement for further exploring the Ripper years.
When asked if Silas was season five's big bad, Wesley believed it to be true: "I think so." But Plec interjected: "[The] big bad sometimes gets effed with or vanquished by a bigger bad." The crowd was treated to a scene featuring Silas (as Stefan) addressing a crowd of townspeople questioning how far his powers can go.
As for how Katherine reacts to her new human state? "It's not going to be good for her. Everything she's been doing, she's been hiding behind this face and using vampirism as an advantage to get people to do what she wants, she's going to be [insecure]," Dobrev said. "It's going to take a lot of getting used to."
Elena will be going to college in season five, Dobrev said, but she had questions about how she actually got to that position and her specific field of study.
Elena won't be the only one experiencing college for the first time. "She's pretty determined to get Tyler to college so they can finally be together since Klaus is gone," Candice Accola said, adding, "They can't get by with the same tricks that they did in Mystic Falls." Another nugget? There may be some new friends joining in on the fun.
Bonnie's death will play a substantial part in the new season. "The only person she can communicate with is Jeremy," Kat Graham said, revealing that there will be significant Bonnie-Jeremy moments. "We'll see how long she can keep the secret for."
"The first couple of episodes Bonnie's not going to realize that she herself sacrificed her own life and the grief that comes attached with that," Plec added. Executive producer Caroline Dries said that because "Bonnie's on the other side, we get to have the perspective of what the other side looks like."
Jeremy's reincarnation will be addressed right off the bat, Plec said, with Elena and Jeremy working on a cover story. Now that Elena's off to college, Damon and Jeremy are roommates, which may be the cause of some of the show's comedy, the panelists revealed.
The Vampire Diaries reaches its 100th episode at the halfway point of the season, with Plec coy about the big plans the writers have in store. ("It's going to be a nude musical episode," Somerhalder joked.)
In terms of the Klaus and Caroline relationship, "never say never," Plec said. "The question is: will Caroline have her hands full [in New Orleans]?"
The stars were aware of the sometimes trying and dragged out story lines, most recently last season's arc centered on the search for the cure for vampirism.
"If I had to say 'cure' one more time, I was going to jump off the stage building," Somerhalder said, with panelists joking that "moonstone" was another word that the actors disliked saying after a while.
The Vampire Diaries returns Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. on The CW.
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