Thanks to my good friend Tariel at I Worship the Television Altar for these super clean scans of this week’s special Sexiest Beast Issue of Entertainment Weekly. Tariel is mainly a huge Smallville and Tom Welling fan, but she LOVES The Vampire Diaries as well. She keeps her livejournal updated with some really great info, so you guys need to check her site out, follow her on Twitter (@tariel22) and welcome her to the TVD fandom with open arms. Be sure and click each scan to, you’ll find some quotes from Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson as well.

Thanks to @Harperteen and EW for the heads up! The cover for the new Vampire Diaries Prequel Trilogy “Stefan’s Diaries Vol. 1: Origins” has been revealed!

“HarperCollins Children’s Books and Alloy Entertainment have announced that they will be releasing Stefan’s Diaries #1: Origins, the first in a planned trilogy of novels that will shed sunlight on the vampire brothers’ long, troubled history, including the Civil War-era romance that turned them against each other. The CW series, like fellow hyper-sexualized-neckbiter show True Blood, was based on a run of novels, and although it doesn’t appear that original author L. J. Smith will be penning this new trilogy, her creations have come full circle back into book form. The first entry of Stefan’s Diaries is scheduled to hit bookstores in November.”

Also, we’ve known about this new trilogy for a while, but wanted to get a little more information about the series before posted anything about it. Here are the synopses for the 3 books in the trilogy courtesy of Vampire-Diaries.net.

Vol. 1: Origins

Set during the Civil War, against a backdrop of grand estates, unimaginable riches, and deadly secrets, three teenagers in Mystic Falls, Virginia enter a torrid love triangle that will span eternity.

Brothers Stefan and Damon Salvatore are inseparable until they meet Katherine, a stunning, mysterious woman who turns their world upside down. Siblings turned rivals, the Salvatores compete for Katherine’s affection, only to discover that her sumptuous silk dresses and glittering gems hide a terrible secret: Katherine is a vampire. And she is intent on turning them into vampires so they can live together—forever.

Click “Show” to reveal the other 2 synopses, and check out Vampire-Diaries.net for more information on the series!

Here is an absolutely hilarious interview from EW’s Mandi Bierly with Vampire Diaries Executive Producers Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. They were discussing the fact that Ian Somerhalder’s “Damon Salvatore” is beating out “Eric Northman” in EW’s Sexiest Beast Bracket Game. Damon has made it to the quarter-finals, and voting is set to close at Midnight EST. So if you haven’t voted do it now! Once you have that taken care of, you need to read this interview. Here’s an excerpt below and read the rest over at EW! Trust me, it will have you rolling, and not to mention they give us a HUGE teaser about Nina Dobrev/Katherine for the season 2 premiere!

Entertainment Weekly: Damon is beating the pants off of Eric in our Sexy Beasts Bracket Game.

Julie Plec: [Gasps] Oh, we have made it!

Kevin Williamson: What?

Plec: [Explains Sexy Beasts Bracket Game to Williamson, she voted last round] Ian is beating Eric. I love it. By the way, Eric — hot.

Williamson: Eric who? From True Blood? Ohmygod. I’m sorry, I’m voting for Eric. I love Ian, but I see him everyday. [Laughs] I don’t see Eric. I can vote for Eric, right?

Plec: That’s been one of the greatest things is watching the audiences, and the critics, and fans, and even our executives go super-excitable about Damon Salvatore and how he has become a villain that they love, and hate, and worship, and want to sleep with, and want to flirt with, and watching the character pop.

Williamson: You know, I’d pick Ian. Stepping aside, just as a viewer, I’d pick Ian. And even knowing what I know about Ian, I’d double-pick Ian, because Ian’s got the goods. The man has got it goin’ on. For me, he just sort of feels perfect. He has that wonderful definition. He’s athletic and naturally fit…

PLEASE read the rest of the interview! LOL

TV Guide has posted more of their interview with Julie Plec. When will Damon and Stefan find out about Katherine? And what will Katherine be up to this season? To find out, read on!

TVGuide.com: What is Katherine’s goal this season?
Plec: She sets her sights on basically making sure that the Stefan [Paul Wesley] and Elena love story hits a snag. It’s going to be fun seeing Stefan and Katherine come up against each other. Obviously it’s fun to see Damon [Ian Somerhalder] and Katherine because there’s a lot of history there, too, but the triangle becomes the square.

TVGuide.com: How long will it take Stefan and Damon to figure out it’s not Elena?
Plec: They both know within the first 15 minutes of the first episode. Damon realizes he was duped, and Stefan comes face-to-face with Katherine. The fun of it is how Stefan responds to the moment, as opposed to how Damon responded to the moment.

Read the rest of the interview.

Thanks to MTV Hollywood Crush for these awesome and absolutely hilarious videos of the cast of The Vampire Diaries at Comic-Con. They all stopped by the MTV Tower to chat about what we can expect from next season. Lots of laughs had, and spoilers revealed. So check them out! Also, be sure and check out MTV’s Vampire Diaries at Comic-Con Photo Album!

Read More: ‘Vampire Diaries’ Season 2 Premiere Scoop: Damon’s ‘Not Happy’ It Was Katherine He Kissed

Read More: ‘Vampire Diaries’ Scoop: Katherine And Elena WILL Come Face To Face, Julie Plec Confirms

Read more: ‘Vampire Diaries’ Season 2 Werewolf Dish: When Will Tyler Completely Transform?

Whoa…check out this major scoopage from executive producers Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec! The Vampire Diaries showrunners sat down with William Keck of TV Guide to discuss some of their season 2 secrets they are plotting. Here’s a little taste of the interview, but you MUST head on over to TV Guide for the rest!

TV Guide Magazine: Speaking of which, both Twilight and True Blood have plunged heavily into werewolf territory, which you are about to do in your new season.
Plec: We actually talked about this a lot, because we didn’t want to be the third to bring something to the table. But it’s in the Vampire Diaries books and the character of Tyler Lockwood could not and should not exist without this werewolf arc. We started laying the groundwork for this story all last season, so to negate that genre element would have been to negate the entire Tyler character.
Williamson: Every vampire story has a werewolf nearby. It’s just the way it is.

TV Guide Magazine: What will your werewolves look like?
Williamson: Wolves, and we’ll show them transform. But not right away. And I think on True Blood their werewolves transform at will, whereas Tyler is bound by the full moon. Once a month he can’t control it.

TV Guide Magazine: And now it’s looking as though True Blood is about to introduce werepanthers.
Williamson: Really? Well we’ll introduce were-armadillos!

Well it’s about time! We’ve got some juicy scoop from TV Guide’s William Keck, check it! Ahem….Major Spoiler Alert

“I can’t talk much about it yet,” says executive producer Julie Plec, “but one of the big surprises is that Katherine comes face to face with Elena.”

How does Nina feel about playing both Elena and her 19^th century doppelgänger in the same scenes? “I will have to ask for a second pay check,” kids the 21-year-old, who as a child marveled over Lindsay Lohan‘s dual performance in The Parent Trap. While special effects have advanced a thousandfold since Elizabeth Montgomery’s Samantha/Serena face-offs on Bewitched, Nina is still worried about emoting opposite a stand-in tennis ball when the series resumes production in July. “It will be difficult because a lot of acting is reacting to the other person, but it’ll be fun to step out of my comfort zone.”

Nina’s not the only one who’ll be given a tough acting assignment. Having the look-alike ladies in the same town will also force Ian Somerhalder to play two different sides of Damon. “It’s going to be an emotional rollercoaster for me,” Ian predicts. “Damon, with Katherine, is this youthful wide-eyed fun guy who is so intrigued by her — so different from the maniacal, more mature Damon you see with Elena.”

Last night Julie Plec spent almost 2 hours spilling major scoopage on The Vampire Diaries and what’s to come in season 2 on The VRO. You can listen to the entire interview here, but check out this awesome recap of the entire interview by MTV’s Hollywood Crush.

Photo: Bob Mahoney/The CW ©2010 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

When last we left Damon he was smooching Elena, or so we (and he) thought until moments later when she whipped out that big butcher knife and let us know she was really Elena’s look-a-like, naughty vamp Katherine. So will deceived Damon continue to woo Elena in the upcoming season? “The only thing I can say about them for season two, is that it’s going to be a very profound triangle,” Julie said rather coyly, though she did drop a few hints. “Damon’s still got a long way to go until he’s man enough to deserve Elena. But he has a strong pull, a strong draw.” But with Katherine stalking Mystic Falls, Julie says to expect more of a “love square.” Though I was never good at geometry, that does sound rather intriguing, no?

And speaking of the ancient vampire diva, Julie confirmed that Katherine and Elena are indeed related (unlike in the book series), and that their connection will continue to be revealed. “Our position is very much that the bloodline is the Pierce bloodline. Isobel is part of that, as is Elena. Elena looks like Katherine, they’re doppelgangers. That’s the big question that will continue to be asked deep into the second season.”

One character whose screen time shouldn’t be counted on is the dearly departed Anna (Malese Jow), who Julie emphatically confirmed is dead. “As far as we’re concerned, Anna is no longer in our world. Now, there’s flashbacks and all kinds of opportunities in the future, but Anna is dead.” But if it’s any consolation, the cast and crew were just as bummed about her departure as we were. In fact, when the crew found out she was being killed off they made “Save Anna” T-shirts. How cute!

You must head on over to Hollywood Crush and read the rest of the scoop!

Fancast has posted a 5 question Q&A with Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. Here are a couple they answered, and you can view the rest over at Fancast.

Do you have a favorite episode, line, or scene from this season? If so – what?

There are a few moments in the finale that qualify as my favorite but you’ll have to wait for it. I’m particularly proud of 105. It was early on and we were still finding the show. I felt this episode brought all the elements together for me. The writing, directing, design, acting, photography, wardrobe, hair/make-up, everything came together for me and I truly saw the “epic” that Julie and I had envisioned.

Did anything disappoint you about this season? Anything you wish you could have done, but didn’t have the time, forethought or resources?

We wish we could have spent considerably more time on set with our great production staff and cast. Shooting in Atlanta, with the writer’s room in LA, it was difficult to make that happen sometimes. I wish we had more prep time with the scripts — time is always a factor. A few more bucks and we might have seen that church burn to the ground in an 1864 flashback — but I’m genuinely happy. I think our cast and Atlanta team did an amazing job of making or scripts sing. It was a tough first year and I couldn’t be happier with the results.

Oh wow, this is an awesome interview with Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson, our amazing showrunners for our beloved Vampire Diaries. They talk to Deadline Hollywood about how the show ended up on the CW, how the two are pretty much joined at the hip, their writing process, and a bunch of awesome amazing stuff including Twitter fans. Just be sure and click through and read the rest of this interview, you won’t be disappointed!

DH: Tell me logistically how this show got on The CW and how it work now.

JP: We got hired to do this job in November of last year, we immediately wrote the script, pilot season was essentially already over, and this was a late thing for [Vampire producer] Warner Bros. and for The CW.  We wrote the script as quickly as possible over Christmas [2008], handed it in January [2009], it was ordered to pilot within a week of us handing it in, we then produced and made the pilot in Vancouver in March and April. And then immediately turned around and posted it in an accelerated 10-day process, and delivered it. It got picked up within a week, and the first day after the upfront week, when we went to announce the show in May [2009], we started our writers.

KW: The minute we started, we were already a month behind. One of the reasons for that is The CW has an early season launch — they launch in September  when the other networks are mid-October or beyond — so that was a handicap for us.

JP: We have a full production office and all of our stages and all of our actors are in Atlanta for the whole time. And we have here in L.A. all of our post-production and everything involved in post, and our writers.  In a perfect world Kevin and I should be in both places all the time, and unfortunately for us we haven’t been able to go back and forth as much as we would like.

KW: I also think we have the most amazing postproduction team too. I am working with some of the best editors I’ve ever worked with in my life.  That has just been such a tremendous help for the process. We’re lucky that all the other elements came together so Julie and I can just agonize over the scripts. Because we’re writers.

JP: If you think about it, we are making 22 movies [per season], 22 shoots and 22 preps, you have to sign off on 22 episodes worth of wardrobe, photos and props, etc, etc. And on top of all that you have to actually sit down and be creative, and write. If there is one person on the planet who says they can do it all by themselves, they are lying And if any one of those departments is not doing it well, it’s disastrous. It’s a catastrophe.

KW: The only department that’s not working [well] is us. Everyone else is doing their jobs like gangbusters. The problem is really Julie and Kevin.

Read the rest of the interview.

SciFi Wire gives us some more of their interview with Julie Plec.

On tonight’s episode, “Let the Right One In,” it’s “a very big, epic episode” that sets up the rest of the season, said executive producer and co-creator Julie Plec. “Stefan [Paul Wesley] is in grave, grave danger at the hands of the tomb vampires, and Elena [Nina Dobrey] has to work with Damon and Alaric to rescue Stefan and put her own life on the line in the name of love, knowing that life without Stefan isn’t really a life that she wants to live. There is a huge rainstorm that hits the town, and it’s just like the whole episode is just like crazy, crazy big.”

Damon and Alaric? Bad-boy vampire Damon, who would have killed Alaric (Matthew Davis) if the high-school teacher wasn’t wearing a special ring his former wife gave him before she let Damon turn her into a vampire? That Alaric?

“Alaric is going to be there helping out, much to his own chagrin,” Plec said. “He hates Damon. He’s never going to do anything but hate Damon. But the two of them in their mutual dislike of each other are actually going to be quite fun partners in the latter half of the season. So that will be something to look forward to.”

Read what else they have in store for the season HERE.

TV Guide.com‘s Natalie Abrams talked to Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson about Alaric’s wife, Jeremy’s discovery of vampires, and what’s in store for The Vampire Diaries season finale! ****Spoiler Alert**** Consider yourself warned…

TVGuide.com: All signs point to Alaric’s wife, Isobel (Mia Kirshner), being Elena’s mother. When will we learn more about that?

Plec: The signals are pointing very much in that direction.
Williamson: In regards to what happens, there’s still a few surprises with all of that.
Plec: The next episode is very much about Elena’s search to try to get to the bottom of who this woman is and how, if at all, she connects to Alaric.

TVGuide.com: Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) is starting to figure out that there are vampires. Will that put him in danger?

Plec: Jeremy has seen too much. We’re exploring how he starts to dig a little bit deeper and put the pieces together of what exactly vampires are and if they’re real. Is this pretty girl that he kissed in the woods, who we saw little veiny eyes on, is she one? The vampire has a crazy allure, as we’ve seen between Elena and Stefan, so is he going to fall for her or have some feelings for one of his own?
Williamson: Or is he going to fall in the footsteps of the Gilberts that came before him?
Plec: Which are no friends of the vampire.

TVGuide.com: What should we expect in the season finale?

Plec: What we’ve been building to from the beginning — it’s something we took directly from the books — is this event called the Founders’ Day Celebration, which is the anniversary of the founding of the town. We’re looking into big period costumes and Civil War reenactments and maybe some parade action with some big floats. It’s going to be the big event that connects us back to 1864 and what went down back then. It messes things up so when we come back in Season 2, everyone has a reason to tune in again. There are nine “oh my God” moments.

Read the rest of the interview.