‘The Vampire Diaries’ stars Ian Somerhalder and Kat Graham had, in previous weeks, telegraphed the news inadvertently, but during the show’s annual panel at San Diego Comic Con, the producers of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ officially made the tough announcement that this coming season – the show’s eighth – will be its last.

Show co-creator Julie Plec broke the news to fans:

“We all have discussed it and we’ve made the decision that this is it.  This is going to be the final season of ‘The Vampire Diaries.’  It’s bittersweet and emotional and we’re all going to be crying in a minute.  It’s been a beautiful run…. Get ready, because it’s going to be an epic ride.”

Shortly after the news broke at Comic Con, CW Network President Mark Pedowitz released a statement praising the creative team and applauding what the show has done for the network for the last seven years.  Here’s an excerpt:

“The Vampire Diaries has meant so much to so many fans around the world, and has meant so much to all of us at The CW.  I am a huge fan of the show myself, and I’ve seen every episode.  So I am very happy that we can give Julie and Kevin the chance to finish their story the way they have envisioned, and to give viewers a fantastic conclusion to eight spectacular seasons.”

In a previous interview last year, Plec had indicated that the show would end when the time felt right, and they had been given assurances by the network that it would be a mutual decision with advance notice given all around:

“We’ve always said as long as we feel like we can keep the show fresh and moving forward, we can keep making it.  We have a lot of actors that love remaining with the show, and we have writers who are thrilled to remain with the show, and crew who would love to keep going.  As long as people keep watching, we’ll try to keep making it until we run out of ideas.  We run out of ideas or we run out of viewers; whatever comes first!  But we’re really committed to the show.  When it is time to end, we all agreed we’ll decide that together, and we want to go out sailing.”

The final season will be shortened to 16 episodes instead of the usual 24.

‘The Vampire Diaries’ will premiere it’s eighth and final season on October 21st at 8:00pm EDT on The CW.

Source: THR

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Tony Schaab misses ‘Futurama’ so much that he made himself a best friend out of a silver trash can and has daily internal debates about cutting off his head and sticking it in a jar.  A lover of most things sci-fi and horror, Tony is an author by day and a DJ by night. Come hang out with Tony on Facebook and Twitter to hear him spew semi-funny nonsense and get your opportunity to finally put him in his place.