Fans of “The Vampire Diaries” won’t see any familiar faces or Easter eggs in Peacock’s new teen series “Vampire Academy” – at least not right away.
“We agreed early on that we wouldn’t do anything to cloud the two worlds,” Julie Plec, who created both teen vampire shows together, told Vidak For Congress exclusively.
Plec adds that the team specifically decided not to cast actors from “The Vampire Diaries” or its spin-offs “to make sure the two would feel completely independent of each other.”
But she couldn’t help but tease: “We really like those people too, so it’s very possible we’ll find a way to take them along and have a little fun with the crossover worlds one of these days. “
Based on the young adult book series of the same name, “Vampire Academy” follows best friends, one a powerful royal vampire and the other a half-vampire guardian, as they complete their education and enter society.
“There’s something so alluring about that world, about castles and ball gowns and tiaras and all the political intrigue,” Plec recalls, adding that co-creator Marguerite MacIntyre is “obsessed” with “palace intrigue” and “Regency-era stuff.”
“I don’t mind a little palace intrigue,” MacIntyre says. “One of my little secret ready-made things is that I read the royal gossip, partly for the gossip and partly because politics is so wild to me.”
MacIntyre admits she couldn’t turn off Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s 2021 interview with Oprah Winfrey, in which the pair accused the palace of racism and revealed that the “Suits” alum suffered from suicidal thoughts.
“I had to hear those words, everyone did,” says MacIntyre, who starred as Sheriff Liz Forbes in “Vampire Diaries.” “That resonates in a million directions.”
Plec first read the “Vampire Academy” series when it came out in the late s, but was a new TV writer at the time.
“There was no one on this planet who would look at me and say, ‘Hey, what do you want to make?'” she says with a laugh, adding that it wasn’t until 2020 that someone finally asked her: and “Vampire Academy” was still there. always on her mind.
“This world is so unlike anything I’ve ever done,” she says. “The construction of the world is so layered and so sophisticated and includes royal intrigue and horror and romance and politics and everything.”
“Vampire Academy” premieres on Peacock on September 15.