“I liked having one human and one vampire, because then I get the best of worlds and I get to do a variety of things,” said Dobrev, who also plays a vampire named Katherine Pierce. “But, then again, it is going to be different for me and it’s going to be challenge. It’s going to be more fun to sort of explore that world.”

“We’re definitely going to see her whole transition into becoming a vampire. We’re not going to skip over it, as we have with others,” Dobrev assured Us. “Becoming a vampire, everything you feel is heightened. . . We know what Elena’s like: She has high morals, she looks out for other people. So what’s Elena going to be like with those things accentuated?”

Read full article here!

Zap2it: In Season 2, you guys told the story of Caroline’s transition to being a vampire so beautifully. How do you expect Elena’s transition to be different, so that it feels like a new story?

Plec: I think the differnce here is that you have two vampires, two brothers who love this girl equally, who are going to have significantly diverging opinions about how it should all go down and what the most effective way to be a vampire is. One of the things we’ve seen in the last three years, especially this season in the [1912] flashback, is that neither of them particularly took to vampire life all that well. Damon was bitter and pissed off about it for 50 years before he realized he could have fun, and Stefan had his own demons, his Ripperhood. They’re both going to have an opinion on how to help Elena. Stefan’s method was very successful for Caroline, and we’ll see him trying to teach Elena, where Damon is taking the opposite point of view. We’re going to have a lot of conflict attached to those opinions.

“I was really nonexistent in Season 1. Tyler was really one-note, a jerk, and an alpha male d—–bag — it was boring and I was frustrated,” he says. “To see how fast Tyler’s arc has progressed from Seasons 2 and 3 — when he first found out about the werewolf thing, then he turns into a werewolf, and in Season 3 he becomes the first successful hybrid, and his relationship on and off with Caroline — I like the way things went and that he grew up.”

But what is one plotline Trevino wishes Tyler could’ve seen through? His relationship with Caroline, of course. “I would’ve liked to [have seen] how the relationship with Caroline would blossom without the distraction of other people, if nobody was getting in the way, and how deep their relationship could get and if it would last.”

Read more here at TVGuide

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How long have you known Elena would end season 3 in transition to become a vampire?
JULIE PLEC: The ending had been in the works for about two years. In the first series of books, that’s what happens to her. When Kevin [Williamson] and I first came on the show, we said, “Well, it can’t happen to her the way it happens in the books,” which is on, like, page 200 of the first book. [Laughs] That felt obviously too soon, and rushed, and we didn’t want to make a show about a teenage girl who instantly becomes a vampire. But we always knew that her journey would take her there eventually, and we just kept riding the wave of when it felt right. You’ve got a girl who just sorta lost her last adult living family member when Aunt Jenna died last year, so when we started this season, what we really wanted to do was begin this relationship with Alaric as her guardian and mentor, and then tear that away from her at the end leaving her and her brother with nobody. It felt like now was the time — when you’re left with no grownup, no adult supervision, no parent, no guardian — for Elena to experience the next evolution of her journey. All the stuff that we did with having her get stronger over the course of the year, training and getting in touch with her physical self, and all the grief and all the emotion that she went through, all the compassion that she has for everybody, it will all play into next year and what kind of person and vampire she will actually be — if she should choose to see the transition through.
Obviously, she will transition.
There will be a discussion to be had about it at the beginning, but the road we’re going down is pretty balls out.

So she made her choice, but you set up that it’s not necessarily final — the sexual tension will still exist, even if it’s just simmering. I feel like fans on both sides should be happy with this.
No. No. The most passionate of the opposing teams are never quite happy unless they get exactly what they want. But, I would say everybody else can understand that end game means end of series. We’re in the middle of the journey, and our heroine just made a life decision and then EVERYTHING in her life is about to change. We’re starting Part 2. We’ll continue to ask the question “Why was it right for her?” and answer it as we move into next season. Elena as a character will continue to evolve and change, as will our boys, as will their feelings for each other and for her. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.

Read more here at InsideTV

“At this point, it doesn’t even matter about the rest of the Council,” previews Tyler’s portrayer, Michael Trevino. Alaric and his one-man army is “trying to rid Mystic Falls of everybody that has any kind of supernatural element in them,” which leaves Tyler and Caroline with a tough choice.
“Now that Klaus is gone, it’s about a different kind of survival,” he notes. “It’ll be a life-changing decision: Do they leave town and wait until things cool off and settle somewhere else? Do they never come back? Or do they stay and fight things off with their friends?”
“They” of course refers to Tyler and his love, Caroline, to whom he’s struggled to return. Now that they’re together again, Tyler is forced to think about more than just his own well-being.

But the memorable Original isn’t really gone, is he?! “Joseph Morgan is a great actor. I don’t see how we could get rid of him that easy,” replies Trevino. “Sooner or later, we would probably see Klaus again.” After all, this is a show about the undead, and there are also plenty of flashback opportunities. However, “I don’t think [he'll return] any time soon,” he adds.

Read more at Zap2it

Next up is E! Online who also chats with Michael about the season finale;

“As far as Caroline and Tyler, it’s a life-changing decision because they have been outed and everyone knows about them. You would think that Tyler would take a page out of the book he always goes to, which is maybe we should just leave town for a little bit!” Trevino teases. “I think it’s them together this time, now that Klaus is completely gone, do they stay in Mystic Falls and ride it our or do they leave town for a while or do they leave town and not come back?” Mystic Falls without Caroline and Tyler? We shudder at the thought!

Read more here

He also talked about the season finale with The Insider and Hollywoodcrush

“I’ll tell you what: There is a scene between Caroline and Tyler that’s gonna get ya,” Michael Trevino promised, speaking to Hollywood Crush by phone. “It might even top the one you saw last week. [There will be] a lot of waterworks happening. Before we did the scene, I was like, ‘I want to make females cry.’”

There will also be blood, there will be death and there will be cliffhangers galore as season three wraps up with “The Departed.”

“There is a fair amount of blood. Blood will be shed. This is ‘The Vampire Diaries’ and not everybody survives,” Michael confirmed.

“Because of the circumstances, one of the Salvatores does leave town,” Nina says. Don’t worry – the guy who hits the road isn’t out of the running. “When Elena does make the decision, she’s alone. She’s not with either brother. She’s taken away from that element of temptation, and away from the pressure, and she’s not forced to make an impulsive decision because they’re both standing in front of her.”

Nina told Zap2it the above… I wonder who she chooses, since I have a feeling she will go single for a while.