Shooting The Vampire Diaries' First Major Death Was An Epic BTS Mess

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One of the biggest twists in "The Vampire Diaries" season 1 sees Vicki Donovan (Kayla Ewell) get staked. After being sired by Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder), she develops an addiction to blood and becomes a danger to society, forcing the heroes to step in and save the day. Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley) ultimately takes her out of the game in the Season 1 episode "Haunted," which was shocking at the time, as Vicki was one of the best characters on "The Vampire Diaries" early on.

Vicki's death added some high-stakes (pun intended) drama to the show, but bringing the shocking moment to life was a nightmare behind the scenes. In an interview for Samantha Highfill's book "I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries," series co-creator Julie Plec explained that the pressures of writing Season 1 led to a rushed script for "Haunted," and the filming of Vicki's death scene was disastrous as a result.

"It then comes back to us, and the first cut that we saw was essentially unwatchable," Plec recalled (via Entertainment Weekly). "It was a mess." Co-creator Kevin Williamson echoed these claims, noting that the episode was filmed without a completed script, but thanks to the power of reshoots and post-production magic, they were able to give Vicki an impactful send-off in the end.

Difficult behind-the-scenes troubles aside, Vicki's death still felt sudden and premature, but that was the point. With that in mind, let's find out why Plec and Williamson said goodbye to such a major character fairly quickly into "Vampire Diaries'" inaugural season.

It seems that Vicki Donovan's demise on "The Vampire Diaries" was an attempt to create one of the all-time shocking TV deaths. Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson went into Season 1 with the intention of catching viewers off guard and showing that no character was truly safe from harm. Vicki was sacrificed to get this point across.

"I don't want to be that show where there's no jeopardy," Williamson told MTV shortly after the episode in question aired. "[Some shows] are all very predictable in the sense that, well, 'We know this is the lead character, so we know he won't die.' Or, 'That's a regular, so he won't die, it'll be a supporting person.'"

Of course, death isn't always permanent in supernatural dramas, so Vicki isn't gone forever following her initial demise. The character reappears in later seasons of "The Vampire Diaries," returning as a villain and playing quite a significant role toward the end of Season 8. Still, who knows how significant her role would have been if the show's creators had put out the original cut of her death scene that led to so many behind-the-scenes headaches.