Executive Meddling: In probably one of the most heinous examples, L. J. Smith was fired from writing her own series following the Return trilogy. The article speculates that this was because they didn't like the romantic pairing she was planning on going with in the ending, but no reason has been officially given. Shipping: Serious Business. Smith herself stated there wasn't anything she could do because when she first began writing The Vampire Diaries in the early 90s, she had unknowingly signed a 'work-for-hire' contract with the publisher, meaning they technically own the rights to The Vampire Diaries rather than Smith.
Sequel Gap: The original four books were published between 1991 and 1992. The fifth book and first book of the Return trilogy, Nightfall, was published in 2009, seventeen years later.
Acting for four in Nina Dobrev's case. She portrays Elena as the protagonist, also Katherine a villain and one of the primary antagonists. In Season Five, Nina Dobrev also portrays Amara, the original Petrova, and Elena and Katherine are her doppelgangers. On the spin-off, she portrays Tatia in flashbacks to the 10th century, and Katherine is her doppelganger.
Paul Wesley is portraying Stefan, one of the three central protagonists. In Season 4, it's revealed Stefan's ancestor is Silas, and he is Silas' doppelganger. It's revealed in Season Five; there is one other doppelganger of Silas' alive in the present day, Tom Avery, an innocent paramedic.
Actor Leaves, Character Dies: Alaric was killed shortly before it was announced that The CW would pick up a new show starring his actor.
Kat Graham has never once hid the fact that she has hated her time on the show, largely because of the behind the scenes treatment she received that was fairly racist towards her. Once the show ended, she flat out refused to work with any of the creative staff, and has not once reprised her character.
Ian Somerhalder is very vocal about disliking the way his character (Damon) was written, largely due to the way people treated his character as basically being justified in the terrible things he's done.
Dawson Casting: The mostly teenage cast is played by actors in their 20s, making some casting choices downright bizarre. The actors who play the Gilberts are only one year apart, starting with Nina Dobrev (20), Steven R. McQueen (21), and Sara Canning (22). And to top it off, Whitley Gilbert (48) a grandma?!
This is made extra weird by the casting of David Anders (born 1981) as Elena's father, John Gilbert. Isobel, who is supposed to be younger than him even without being a vampire, is played 35-year-old Mia Kirshner. Though Anders's receding hairline does make him look older than he actually is.
Justified in the case of Jasmine Guy as "Grams" Sheila Bennett, she's meant to have preternatural longevity as a witch. Stefan mentions first meeting her at a protest rally in the 60s, though he's not sure she would remember. She did.
Elena is played by Bulgarian-born Canadian Nina Dobrev
Several of the originals (at least Klaus, Rebekah, and Kol plus the dead son Henrick) were born in the New World, making them and are not played by American actors
American Hayley Marshall is played by Australian actress Phoebe Tonkin.
Hispanic Michael Trevino plays the white Tyler Lockwood, who is descended from Native Americans. Likewise, Daniella Pineda portrays the Cajun Sophie Deveraux.
Qetsiyah is Ambiguously Brown, but possibly of Arabic or Mediterranean descent. Her actress, Janina Gavankar, is Indian-American.
Hostility on the Set: Nina Dobrev admitted that she and Paul Wesley "despised each other" their first few months of shooting, which was ironic because they were playing love interests. They smoothed it out sooner than later.
Reality Subtext: Damon and Bonnie start out as enemies then become uneasy allies then Vitriolic Best Buds. In some ways, this reflects how their actors Ian Somerhalder and Kat Graham didn't initially get along but then became close friends.
Candice Accola and Steven McQueen also dated, but their characters were never really involved with each other. In fact, he's the only male main character (excluding Enzo) that Caroline didn't date.
Originally, the 4th-season-spanning cure storyline was supposed to resolve with Damon being the one to receive the cure. However, almost immediately after introducing the cure as an idea, the writers were dismayed to find that a large number of fans were predicting that very outcome. So they changed mid-course, and the cure was instead given to Katherine.
A deleted scene reveals Kelly Donovan, Matt's mother, as a succubus.
Nina Dobrev was only able to come back for the series finale, forcing the second half of Season 8 to be heavily rewritten not to have Elena (or Katherine) come back until then.
Had Nina Dobrev never left the show; the series would eventually have ended with Stefan and Elena hooking back up.
The original script for the pilot has a few notable differences from the final product:
Some last names were different, giving us Stefan and Damon Whitmore, Caroline Truitt and Tyler Stratton.
Zach Salvatore was named Pete Whitmore and was originally a much older man in his 70s.
Bonnie reveals in her introductory scene that she's a descendant of Celtic druids, much like she was in the novel. This was likely changed to Salem witches when Kat Graham was cast. If she hadn't, then Bonnie's character and magic as a whole could have turned out very differently. This also explains why Bonnie refers to herself as a psychic rather than a witch in the pilot.
Anna and Pearl were supposed to appear in the Series Finale, but Malese Jow had a scheduling conflict making it impossible.
Kat Graham said that one thing that she wanted to do was to have Bonnie explore her sexuality, but the closest the show came to it was a semi-flirty scene in Season 7 with Nora.
from writing her own series following the Return trilogy. The article speculates that this was because they didn't like the romantic pairing she was planning on going with in the ending, but no reason has been officially given. Shipping: Serious Business. Smith herself stated there wasn't anything she could do because when she first began writing The Vampire Diaries in the early 90s, she had unknowingly signed a 'work-for-hire' contract with the publisher, meaning they technically own the rights to The Vampire Diaries rather than Smith.