Several interviews have been popping up since tonight is the Season 3 premiere of The Vampire Diaries. So I’ve decided to create a roundup post of them. We’ve got interviews with Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley and Julie Plec from AOLTV, TV Guide and TV Line. Be sure and click the links to each site to view the rest of the interviews. Beware of spoilers.

Interview with Ian Somerhalder via AOLTV:

What can you tease about the Season 3 premiere? Anything that will set the tone for this season?

Um, well Damon’s naked. [Laughs] That sets a tone. I spent a couple of days naked on set, which always brings you closer to your fellow grips and electricians … which is pretty awesome. [Laughs] Such a strange statement.

[Laughs] Well it sounds like you all have been listening to your fans …

I’ve had my head so buried in working! But the premiere is so indicative of ‘Vampire Diaries’ — a lot happens in the 48 minutes that the show airs. Season 1 was just incredible storytelling, and Season 2 was a season of a lot of mythology — it set up a lot of what we’re doing for the next 80 episodes or whatever we get, provided they don’t cancel us. But I think ultimately, Stefan and Klaus pose very serious issues. Stefan’s gone to that other place, and Damon’s seen this before … he knows, he’s seen his brother. So one thing that Damon’s feeling, in all honesty, plain and simple is he’s pretty annoyed. He’s pretty pissed off. He’s angry because I don’t think he ever saw his life ending up this way.

Interview with Paul Wesley and Julie Plec from TV Guide:

“There will be a surprising thing that happens a few episodes in that will cause Stefan to turn the corner fully and really absorb himself in this darkness with absolutely no sense of conscience and no predisposed history of his prior empathy and his prior life as a ‘good’ so to speak,” Paul Wesley tells TVGuide.com. “Damon, in comparison to what Stefan is morphing into, is a puppy.”

“Stefan is doing everything he can to not come face-to-face with Elena because what she represents is a part of him he’s had to let go of,” executive producer Julie Plec says. “[He's] reverting to some old behaviors and old problems that he has worked very hard to combat and it’s a side of himself he never wanted Elena to see again.”

Interview with Julie Plec via TV Line:

TVLINE | How is the kiss between Elena and Damon in the season finale going to affect things between them, especially now that Stefan is not around as much?

Damon and Elena have an interesting dynamic in that they finally come to terms with each other at a level of mutual appreciation. And as that was happening, Stefan was off sacrificing himself over to the dark side, basically making a Faustian deal in order to save Damon’s life. So there’s a big elephant in the room [because] of the awkwardness of that. It goes largely unspoken, but it’s always there. Both of them are equally committed to saving Stefan because Stefan sacrificed himself for them. But along the way, they are thrown into a lot of different circumstances where they work together, they’re very close, [and] they’re getting closer. It’s a complicated relationship that they have. There’s a lot of tension there. There’s a lot of sexuality that lies under the surface. There’s a closeness between Elena and Damon that she might try to ignore and fight, but it’s obvious to everyone around them. We’re going to start to see, as we get into the season, how other people in our world see Damon and Elena’s friendship and relationship, and what they think about it.