Image Credit: Jason LaVeris/FilmMagic.comIf you recently heard the potential companion series to The Vampire Diaries exec producers Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec (pictured) are in the early stages of developing described as “The X-Files meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” you may be imagining Alaric (Matt Davis) teaching history at a new high school. “That’s exactly what the show is not,” Williamson tells EW on the latest edition of the TV Insiders podcast, with a laugh. “That was the wrong characterization. I was like, ‘What is Buffy meets The X-Files?’ They’re completely at odds tonally. It’s neither. It’s set on a college campus. There’s a little bit of some paranormal investigation involved, but it’s more about the characters. It’s more about what Julie and I like to do, which is create a world of people. A young girl goes to college, and it turns out there’s a lot more going on.”
That’s all he wants to give away for now. “Warner Bros. doesn’t like us to talk about shows that may never happen,” he says, laughing again. “We don’t know if we’ll get it written in time, or if this will be for this year, next year…. But it’s just something we’re both very passionate about because we’ve got this whole world and this whole sort of mythology about this girl and this journey that she takes. It’s full of scary, horrible murder and surprises, and all the twists and turns that we love to do, but once again it is a story about epic love. That’s what we’re about here at The Vampire Diaries. And that’s sort of why you call it a ‘companion piece,’ is because you will see those similarities in the show. You know, a bunch of fun characters that you can visit every week and watch them go through all these scary, twisty story lines, but it all leads to some greater story about epic and tragic love.”
Williamson says the idea for the new show is rooted in what the season 1 recurring character Isobel did at Duke University — parapsychology. “We burn through a lot of story [on The Vampire Diaries], because there’s such a world here that we don’t really run out of story. It’s more about how do you shape it and put all the puzzle pieces together. We would have all of these ideas for story lines and characters, and we’re like, ‘Yeah, that’s not this show. Nah, that’s not this show.’ And so next thing you know, we had another whole show of all those other ideas,” he says. “We’d get to do all the story lines we couldn’t do in this show in that show. It would be a companion in the sense that they would sort of exist in the same world, but it’s a different show. I don’t want to mess with [The Vampire Diaries]. This show’s gold. This show is very special.” Still, if the series exist in the same world, there is crossover potential, right? “Absolutely,” Williamson says.
For more from Williamson and Plec breaking down last night’s Vampire Diaries midseason cliffhanger on the TV Insiders podcast, just click on the audio player below. It’s also on iTunes. You can subscribe for free right here and take the TV Insiders with you on the go.
[AUDIO http://www.ew.com/ew/static/podcast/2010/12/EW_TV_Insiders_12_10_10.mp3]
More on The Vampire Diaries:
Recap of last night’s episode of ‘The Vampire Diaries’
TV Insiders podcast: ‘Vampire Diaries’ producers break down sexy cliffhanger episode; Plus, our picks to win ‘Survivor: Nicaragua’
‘Vampire Diaries’ scoop: Candice Accola talks Tyler’s transformation (and Michael Trevino’s reward)
‘Vampire Diaries’ scoop: Ian Somerhalder talks this week’s episode and Damon’s humanity (and his own plan to save the planet)
Exclusive: Nina Dobrev talks this week’s steamy sex scene (and the resulting bruises)
Exec producer Julie Plec on Tyler’s transformation and the show’s next chapter
Please, please, PLEASE tell me this is based of LJ Smith’s Dark Visions. I will cry of joy. It certainly sounds similar. I was a little let down when I clicked on this story though. I thought for sure there was going to be a larger Night World TV series (which is the LJ Smith series that should have been adopted to TV instead of TVD though I am NOT complaining).
Sounds like Caroline will be going to college to me! Or maybe Bonnie!
They’ve already said that it is NOT a spin-off: there will be no related plot or characters. same general mythology, but totally separate and original characters and plotlines. Never the twain shall meet.
That’s not necessarily true. If the show is a hit, there will be crossovers galore!
Perhaps even Meredith. They confirmed her to be in The Vampire Diaries but what if she’s not right for the show, I personally don’t see her there. But hey, I never saw Katherine coming to town in the series. Yet here she is.
ooh i really hoped that this becomes a tv show. it sounds really interesting!
it sounds like it would make a good show if they have the right cast, I just hope they can make it as dynamic as the vampire diaries and that it doesn’t become an excuse to abandon writing on VD cause then the quality would decline on VD.
Oh wait I can’t wait for Supernatural!
Oh wait…
Oh that’s great Kevin, because Young Americans worked SO well.
COME ON Dee, Young Americans gave us a lovely young Damon Salvatore, Matt Czuchry, Charlie Hunnam, Katherine Moening, and Kate Bosworth. If nothing else, it proves he can spot young talent (though Bosworth is a bit of a stretch in the talent department). It had potential, just never realized that potential.
I just wanna know why he refuses to talk about Scream 4.
Have you ever read his twitter?
I really don’t like this idea. Like we don’t already have shows like that? (Supernatural, X-Files, Fringe…) Besides, what if it ends up taking away from TVD’s quality? I don’t want that.
Jst cul
Last night’s episode was top notch. Jam packed with moving plot. Lots of questions about whose side people are on, relationships, the curse, werewolves…wow.
Jesus Christ EW has put up about 15 freaking Vampire Diaries posts!?!?! Give it a rest!
You know, there’s no law whatever that says you have to read ANY of them…
I haven’t. I just clicked this one to post this comment.
They just posted two… and one was for TVD, the other for a new show related to it…
This is the fifth post about this show this week. Click the link under the authors name if you need proof.
Excuse me, the fourth. But each has been put on the main story feed and stickied there for days.
I meant about the podcast they did with the producers, that’s why I thought you were complainning about… which would have been understandable if you didn’t realize that they are actually talking about different shows.
But if you’re complaining about the coverage as a whole…well, the cast made press rounds not long ago and they are obviously using the content for the fall’s finale… It’s smart to not give away all the info that you have in one post, this way you get more hits on the site, who can blame them?
Shouldn’t you be complaining about how much they over cover glee?
I think over covering any one property is a bad thing for a entertainment site to do. EW needs to have a breadth of coverage, not 5,000,000 posts on the same four or five shows.
I’m personally interested on this show, it looks pretty interesting and these two are such a great creative team.
And yeah, there are other shows like this out there, there’s a lot of everything out there… this doesn’t mean that this genre can never ever be touched again for god’s sake! And Supernatural fans… investigating supernatural cases was not invented by the Winchester brothers, give it a rest.
I’m not exactly sure what they mean by “companion series”. Will it take place in the same fictional universe as TVD but NOT as a spinoff, or will it take place in its OWN fictional universe separate from The Vampire Diaries, as a companion in the sense that it shares the same producers and mindset?
Oh, the suspense!
From what they say, it seems like it’ll take place in the same universe but not with the characters from TVD. So far, it looks already interesting, I just hope it doesn’t take away from TVD quality.
Yes! First the The Secret Circle (same author who wrote Vampire Diaries) now this new show.
I LOOOOOVE THE VAMPIRE DIARIES AND NEW SHOW THAT THEY MIGHT MAKE SOUNDS INTERESTING CANT WAIT!!!!!
.ove the Vampire Diaries so whatever Kevin does, we will follow.