The three stars of The Vampire Diaries seem to have their own language.  They can finish each other’s sentences - and sometimes don’t even need to finish the thought.  They can hold an entire conversation with a look.  They are like triplets.  Disturbingly hot triplets.  “Being in Atlanta may help,” says show creator Kevin Williamson.  “They are living in a small community, outside the Hollywood eye.  They have to be friends.”

We are at PaleyFest, the annual television festival that brings together panels of cast and crew from TV’s hottest shows.  Joining Williamson on the panel are executive producers Bob Levy and Julie Plec, and stars Ian Somerhalder (Damon), Paul Wesley (Stefan), and Nina Dobrev (Elena).  Quite frankly, it’s a bit of a stroke-fest, with modest arguments over who is the best actor and which crew member is the most creative.  But they are just so damn likable.  “The cast is so magnetic, they make you want to stay up all night and write,” enthuses Williamson.

While he loves the show now, Williamson was not initially in love with the property.  “Julie and I were having lunch with a CW exec, and she offered the property to us.  I started reading the book, and thought, ‘I don’t want to do this - this is Twilight.’  I really struggled with the novel.”  Plec, who was ridiculously excited for Twilight, made him stick with it - and Williamson is glad she did.  “When the dogs attacked the townspeople, that’s when I realized that Vampire Diaries was not Twilight; it was Dark Shadows.  It wasn’t just about the love triangle between Elena, Damon, and Stefan; it was about the town.”

The difficult task that lay before them was to make the rest of the world see that this was not Twilight.  “We just had to get past the pilot episode,” says Williamson.  There was no avoiding the Twilight-esque set-up.  “It’s tricky,” admits Somerhalder.  “I never saw Twilight because I didn’t want it to inform my performance.  But ultimately, it is a well constructed story with good characters.” 

And what about that other vampire TV show?  “We did have a True Blood moment that we had to change,” Plec tells us. “One of our producers, Marcos Siega, noticed we had a scene almost exactly like one in True Blood.  I asked him if he was sure, and he said, ‘I’m pretty sure - I directed that episode!’”  One measure taken to prevent that, according to Williamson, is in the FX department.  “We have a lot of the same FX artists that work on True Blood.  I tell them that whatever they did for True Blood, don’t do that for us.”

The success of the show comes down to chemistry.  Wesley originally read for both Damon and Stefan, but his chemistry with Dobrev was the deciding factor.  “I approach the character like a recovering alcoholic,” Wesley says, only half-jokingly.  “I’m stuck in a bar and Damon keeps offering to buy me rounds.  It is a constant fight to suppress my urges.”  In the flashbacks, Wesley loves playing the “young” Stefan.  “He’s just a kid, he doesn’t have to think.  So I don’t think when I play him.”  Dobrev both loves and hates her flashback corsets, but uses it to play the mean Katherine.  “Julie told me to play her like a female Damon.  After all, that is where he learned his tricks!”  Both Somerhalder and Williamson love the vulnerable Damon of the past.

Does having source material make it easier or harder to create a series?  “The book provides a starting place, but the writers must make it their own,” says Levy.  Though the producers were afraid of letting down book fans, Plec says they have been very embracing of the series.  “Fans understand they are two separate things.”  “Growing up, I was an avid reader,” says Williamson.  I always read the books that later became movies, and I loved seeing the changes that were made.”  There were, of course, things from the books that had to be excised, such as the constant, ominous fog that rolled through the town.  Another  story point left on the pages was the idea that vampires could shapeshift. “It just becomes cheesy,” Williamson admits.  “And the birds were very uncooperative,” chimes in Wesley.  “They were a continuity nightmare!”

The entire group was mum on what other twists and turns we might see throughout the season.  Williamson is working on another flashback episode, and Plec lets slip that another “device” like the vampire compass will be popping up.  “We have a master plan, but we do write as we go along,” Williamson says cryptically.  “We have certain plot points we know we have to reach at certain points, but everything in between is up in the air.”  One thing that you can be sure of: there will be lots of cliffhangers.