As of January 29, The Vampire Diaries Season 7 is moving to Friday nights.
So this clearly means that the once-popular drama is on its way out, right? That The CW is essentially burning off the remaining episodes?
Not if creator Julie Plec has her way.
To be clear, the executive producer is prepared to wrap up The Vampire Diaries… but only on one condition.
“My end game needs to… emotionally run parallel with the end game of [Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder] – more so than the network and the studio,” Plec told Variety this week of her show’s lead stars.
“When those boys decide that they’re done telling stories – which could be tomorrow and could be a year from now or two years from now or whatever – I need to be done. I feel like I owe them that and I owe the show that.
“It’s a collective decision. Right now, they’re in the driver’s seat of that and we’ll see how much longer they feel like they want to be doing this.”
Of course, it’s also a decision the network may make for Plec.
Ratings for The Vampire Diaries have plummeted over the last two seasons.
Will The CW actually give Plec (and Somerhalder… and Wesley) the chance to go out on their own terms?
Plec added that she was “sad” to see Nina Dobrev leave the series after Season 6 and that she would take the actress back in an “instant” if she wished to return as Elena Gilbert.
However, as those who watch The Vampire Diaries online or on television can confirm, the series has undergone somewhat of a creative renaissance her absence.
“It just feels good to be able to tell the story about two brothers who are more bonded and, as such, at odds more than ever before, and you’re writing this terrific relationship piece now about these two guys, and it’s just been so fun to write this year,” she says.
“The writers, we’re just enjoying the hell out of it… from a creative point of view, it’s been a real new infusion of creative fun [without Dobrev].”