‘The Vampire Diaries’ EP Says ‘I Love Messing With Alaric’
Warning: This article may contain spoilers for The Vampire Diaries.
Alaric Saltzman. The name stirs pity and compassion in any fan of The Vampire Diaries, or at least those with even a portion of a conscience. After all, the character played so well by Matt Davis has been through more than most could be expected to handle and still maintain one’s sanity. Alaric was introduced towards the end of The Vampire Diaries first season, when he arrived in Mystic Falls in pursuit of his wife-turned-vampire. The Vampire Diaries character was thrown back into grief almost as soon as he’d learned to cope with that loss by putting his new love interest, Elena Gilbert’s Aunt Jenna (Sara Canning), in harm’s way when Klaus used her to break the hybrid curse.
Finally, Alaric was again able to move on and in The Vampire Diaries‘ sixth season, Alaric made the commitment to marry his latest love, Jo Laughlin (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe), only to have her murdered right in front of him by Jo’s own brother.
“This is not an easy transition for him. He’s already been through so much and now he’s going through this. This is about as horrible and despicable a thing that could happen,” The Vampire Diaries‘ Julie Plec said.
When the new season of The Vampire Diaries premieres, showrunner Julie Plec suggests that Alaric will once again turn to alcohol to dull his pain and, after so much, who could blame him? When he’s not indulging, Alaric will be spending time communing with spirits of another kind, suggests The Vampire Diaries executive producer.
“He’s not going to recover so easily. He’s going to explore his grief in some unconventional ways involving a lot of booze and some secret desires that involve psychics and witches to try to contact the dead and God knows what else.”
Although Plec freely admits that Alaric is her favorite whipping boy on The Vampire Diaries, she is always rooting for him to come out of his dilemmas stronger and better than ever.
“I like to put him in situations that are really terrible because he forces him to dig as deep as he can. I love that. I love messing with Alaric,” The Vampire Diaries E.P. said. “We’ll be rooting for him to come out to the other side.”
The season premiere of The Vampire Diaries will debut on Thursday, October 8, on the CW network.
[Featured image: Matt Davis courtesy of the CW network/The Vampire Diaries]
