Vampire Diaries
"The Vampire Diaries" will continue as long as the actors who play Stefan (Paul Wesley, left) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder, right) want to be on the show. CW

Is “The Vampire Diaries” nearing its end? Many fans are still sinking their teeth into the CW drama, however a time slot shift to Friday nights has others wondering if the series is getting enough fresh blood. CW president Mark Pedowitz recently shot down cancellation rumors, and now creator Julie Plec is responding to speculation that the end is near.

“I basically committed to Ian [Somerhalder] and Paul [Wesley] that when they’re ready to be done, I’ll be done,” Plec told TVLine. “They could be ready very soon, or they could really want to stick it out. Right now, that’s up to them. I’m with them as long as I feel like I can keep telling stories for them.”

This isn’t the first time that Plec has said that the future is in the hands of Somerhalder and Wesley. Earlier this month Plec told E! Online that she would like to work with the both of them to “end it in the best way possible.”

“The three of us I’d like to think will make the creative decision of when the show should be over,” she explained.

Reports about the series ending have been running ever since last year when Nina Dobrev departed the show after the sixth season. As E! Online reported at the time, the main cast had an original six season contract with the option to extend. Dobrev chose to exit, while Somerhalder and Wesley signed on for a seventh season that is currently airing on the CW. However, ratings have plummeted since then. While the 2009 pilot brought in the CW’s highest-rated premiere ever with 5.7 million viewers, the Season 7 premiere in October 2015 only raked in 1.379 million viewers. The midseason finale on Dec. 10 dropped even further with 1.178 million viewers tuning in.

Although Pedowitz said at the Television Critics Association winter panel that the shift from Thursday to Fridays “is not a move to exile but to strengthening Friday nights,” fans of “The Vampire Diaries” should start preparing for the end. But at least the good news is that the final season will see the return of Elena Gilbert (Dobrev).

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