(TV Guide)

So, I meant to have this up this morning, but we can blame the holidays for that! 

Here’s a little Alex to get you through the rest of your Monday and into the New Year …

Enjoy! Kelly

XOXO,

Kelly & Maria

Examiner – When you look at this season of “The Vampire Diaries” thus far, you have to think that Jenna and Alaric are two of the characters that have been left more on the back burner than some of the others running around Mystic Falls. Why is this? It might have a good bit to do with the fact that they live largely normal lives — and also that Jenna has no real knowledge of the supernatural happenings going on in the town.

So what does Sarah Canning (who plays the character) have to say about her character — who also had to stab herself recently? She explained in an interview with TV Guide:

“As soon as she’s in mortal danger is when [the others] realize Katherine’s not screwing around here and they need to take her really seriously,”

Canning also talked briefly about how her character would likely respond to the news that Alaric was actually aware of everything that was going on in his surrounding community:

“I think if she were to find out it would be such a betrayal. We’ve seen Jenna with her claws out a few times [but] … I really want to see what she’s actually capable of.”

TV Fanatic – Just how many werewolves are coming to Mystic Falls? Who will play Klaus? And, seriously, how many times can we expect to see Ian Somerhalder shirtless over the second half of season two?

These were just some of the questions we asked The Vampire Diaries producer Julie Plec in an exclusive interview, the first part of which we’ve excerpted below.

What can we expect when the show returns?

We’re going to come to the end of what we’re calling our werewolf chapter, which will really take that story to a really dark place and really change a lot of characters lives, not necessarily in a good way. We are going to dig deeper into the secrets of our new witches and what Bonnie’s role is going to be in their story, and of course it’s all about the fear of the impending Klaus, and who’s going to be fighting on who’s side, who’s bond is with who, who’s going to betray whom, and is this curse going to be lifted at the hands of a sacrifice that would kill Elena. We’re full steam ahead.

Do you ever fear the show will run out of storylines?

We never worry that we’re going to run out of steam because we know we have a lot of story to tell and that story can go on and on. What’s complicated is every episode is brand new. Rather than working on a CSI or even X-Files, where each week you have this formula to build off of, it’s like we’re starting a new movie from scratch each week. It’s trying to do that at a level of consistency of quality week after week, it’s just a really daunting task. More than anything it’s not do we have enough story, it’s how can we tell the best story possible every week in the time that we have. All of us are control freaks and perfectionists, so we kill ourselves trying to do it and I’m proud of it. Either the show will get cancelled in five years or we’ll die before one of the two things happen (laughs). We’re always going to try to make it as great as it can be.

How many more werewolves are coming to Mystic Falls?

That I can’t say, but I will say Tyler isn’t the only one, as we’ve just met Jules. Jules was talking to someone on the phone during the previous episode, and it’s quite possible that that somebody might be showing up to town pretty soon.

Will we ever see Nina Dobrev take on more than two characters/episode?

That would be so cool and so hard to do. If we were ever going to do that to that poor thing, it would have to be the storyline of the century. Who knows!

Is there a clause in Ian Somerhalder’s contract about appearing shirtless a certain number of times per month?

(Laughs.) No. It’s funny, we had a little bit of a drought of our shirtless boys this season, because we only put them shirtless when it feels right for the story. But I looked at Kevin and I was like, “everybody’s had too many clothes on for the last 6 or 7 episodes. This is wrong. So we’ll be seeing more bare-chested boys as we go into the New Year. All totally organic to the story, as always, of course (laughs).

Do you have any idea who will play Klaus?

None whatsoever. We started the casting process, we’re early in it. We have high standards, and high hopes. It’s going to be very tough to not only hold their own against Ian and Paul, but also Daniel Gillies [Elijah], who a pretty tremendous actor. We’re taking the casting very seriously and it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out.

When will we get more backstory on The Vampire Diaries? — Maxine
NATALIE: An upcoming flashback to 1864 will give Elena a new perspective on her sibling suitors. Before then, though, expect a visit or two from the Grim Reaper. “A lot of people are dying,” Katerina Graham tells us. “Not, like, too many, where it’s like, ‘Why are all these people dying?’ But a couple of important characters are going to go.”

For those interested in reading the first chapter to Dead Reckoning, it has been posted on Charlaine Harris’s site.

To view it, click here.

Kelly

P.S.

So, what did you think of it?

~M.