How Will ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Change With Nina Dobrev’s Departure?

Since Nina Dobrev’s departure was announced, debate has raged across the blogosphere: Will The Vampire Diaries be better without her?

For six seasons, Dobrev has played the role of Elena Gilbert, a girl stuck in a love triangle between brothers Damon and Stefan Salvatore, who are vampires. When the show began, Elena was simply a teenage girl lovestruck by a handsome boy who, she later discovered, was a bit more complicated than she’d anticipated.

As the show continued into additional seasons, Elena herself became a vampire. Along the way, she discovered that her town, Mystic Falls, is filled with paranormal beings, including werewolves, witches, vampire hunters, and more.

Some fans and bloggers are heartbroken that the actress who plays Elena has elected to leave The Vampire Diaries, while others believe that Dobrev needed to leave The Vampire Diaries in order for the show to evolve.

Writer Caroline Preece of Den Of Geek is one of those who believes Dobrev’s departure will help The Vampire Diaries to grow. In her post, titled “The Vampire Diaries: Why Losing Nina Dobrev Is A Good Thing,” Preece acknowledges that Dobrev is a highly-talented actress and that her ability to create depth in her character is one of the many reasons fans fell in love with the show in the first place. Despite the talent Dobrev brought to The Vampire Diaries, Preece believes Dobrev has to go in order for The Vampire Diaries to remain popular. In her article, she writes as follows.

“Elena hasn’t been the same character since the end of season three … The show changed with her, but not necessarily for the better. …(She) has been a background player at best, an energy-suck at worst. She has no purpose in this new phase of the show, her story having ended somewhere around the time no one was looking. It’s the worst example of a previously great character being allowed to fizzle out simply because there’s no more story to tell.”

Catriona Wightman of Digital Spy disagrees, as she believes the entire plot and magic of the show has always been the love triangle between Stefan, Damon, and Elena. Without Dobrev, the show will inevitably have to change, Wightman writes, as the love triangle will no longer exist.

“The point of the show has always been that the supernatural aspects and breakneck plot twists mean nothing if you don’t care about the characters, and a huge part of developing that came from this intertwining relationship between Elena and her boys.”

While disagreement about how Dobrev’s departure from the The Vampire Diaries rages on, one thing is certain: Dobrev has long played the central role in the show, and without her, the show will clearly change. How The Vampire Diaries changes remains to be seen.

During the first five seasons, the show was one of the most-watched on the CW, averaging more than two million viewers per season, though the sixth season has seen viewership drop below the two-million-per-season mark. The Vampire Diaries first aired on the network in September of 2009.

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