<P> On April 26, 2013, The CW officially announced that the spin - off The Originals, which focuses on the Original family of vampires, had been ordered to series, and the show began airing during the 2013--14 American television season . </P> <P> On April 6, 2015, lead actress Nina Dobrev confirmed via Instagram that she and co-star Michael Trevino (who plays Tyler Lockwood) would be leaving the show after its sixth season . Dobrev returned to record a voiceover for the seventh - season finale . Trevino appeared as a guest star in season seven and returned for season 8 . On March 11, 2016, The CW renewed the series for an eighth season, but on July 23, 2016, announced that the eighth season, which would have 16 episodes, would be the show's last . The final season began airing on October 21, 2016 . </P> <P> The series is set in the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, a town charged with supernatural history since its settlement of migrants from New England in the late 19th century . It follows the life of Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev), a teenage girl who has just lost both parents in a car accident, as she falls in love with a 162 - year - old vampire named Stefan Salvatore (Paul Wesley). Their relationship becomes increasingly complicated as Stefan's mysterious older brother Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder) returns, with a plan to bring back their past lover Katherine Pierce, a vampire who looks exactly like Elena . Although Damon is initially the villain and harbors a grudge against his brother for forcing him to become a vampire, he later reconciles with Stefan and falls in love with Elena, creating a love triangle among the three . Both brothers protect Elena as they face various villains and threats to their town, including Katherine . The brothers' history and the town's mythology are revealed through flashbacks as the series goes on . </P> <P> Additional storylines revolve around the other inhabitants of the town, most notably Elena's younger brother Jeremy Gilbert (Steven R. McQueen), her best friends Bonnie Bennett, (Kat Graham), and Caroline Forbes (Candice King), their mutual friends Tyler Lockwood (Michael Trevino), and Matt Donovan (Zach Roerig), and their history teacher, vampire hunter Alaric Saltzman (Matthew Davis). The town's politics are orchestrated by descendants of the original founding families, all comprising a "Founders' Council ." The founding families of Mystic Falls includes the Salvatores, the Gilberts, the Fells, the Forbes, and the Lockwoods . They guard the town mainly from vampires, although there are many more supernatural threats such as werewolves, witches, hybrids, ghosts and many more . </P>

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