What the Cast of The Vampire Diaries Has Said About the End of the Show

"Being on The Vampire Diaries is the ultimate boot camp," Graham said on the panel. "We have all worked very, very hard, and it's like shooting a film every eight days."

Later, during press interviews, she talked about how she would like to see Bonnie's story end: "I don't necessarily believe that the traditional happy ending is the best ending. I'm somebody who likes to see the biggest, most incredible way for characters to go out. As someone who watches a lot of television and is a fan of a lot of television, I just hope that this character is able to have the strongest outcome for her character."

"We've known for quite a while, and I'm very, very grateful to Peter Roth and Warner Bros. and Mark Pedowitz and The CW and Julie [Plec] and Kevin [Williamson] for allowing us to go out on our own terms and sort of a bang," Somerhalder told Clevver TV at Comic-Con. "There's an incredible amount of value in actually being able to control how this ends because it is so close to us."

"I think it feels like a good place," Malarkey said during press interviews. "Where do you stop, otherwise? It can become a kind of cop show, an episodic thing like Scooby-Doo. The great thing about this, by doing a shorter season with an end point in sight is that they can really hone the focus, drive it toward the end, as opposed to going, 'What can we throw in now to keep everything occupied?'"

"Being cast in The Vampire Diaries has changed the trajectory of my life, to say the very least," Wesley told E! News. "I'm beyond fortunate for the experiences I've had and lessons I've learned over the last seven years. I want to thank Kevin and Julie, as well as Peter Roth and Warner Bros., Mark Pedowitz and The CW, our incredible cast and crew, and especially the TVD fans all around the world who are the reason this show became such a worldwide success. I am beyond grateful to have been a part of it.

Roerig spoke out about how wonderful it's been to have creators Plec and Kevin Williamson protecting them from the realities of Hollywood: "We've also had these two very loving individuals kind of harboring us. The real world, what is that again? I read the news and stuff, but I've been in a comfort zone because of these two lovely people."

"I get very nostalgic about this stuff," Plec told us during Comic-Con interviews. "I'm very emotional, and I love these guys so much. The good news is, we all work in the same business. We'll all have opportunities to work together again. I was so sad about Containment ending, and I've already hired half the cast across the two shows. It's gonna be tough emotionally. It's like growing up with the same group of people and then finally saying goodbye. I'm looking forward to it because it's beautiful, but it hurts."