The CW’s The Vampire Diaries is drawing to an end with the series’ eighth season set to premiere on October 21, 2016. The cast of the popular show made one last trip to the San Diego Comic-Con in support of the upcoming season and in addition to participating in a panel that featured a Q&A with fans, Kat Graham and the rest of the cast sat down for roundtable interviews. Graham told us she has high hopes that her character, Bonnie, will go out in the most incredible way as a strong, powerful, and heroic woman.
Kat Graham Interview:
So what can we expect this final season from Bonnie?
Kat Graham: “That’s a great question. I should ask that question to Julie (Plec). I haven’t asked that question yet.”
What would you like to see happen?
Kat Graham: “Well, listen, there’s so many things. I don’t know if you guys ever read any stuff online and stuff like that, but I do read a lot of what the fans say. I think that they understand the character very well, and there’s some really cool ideas for the character. Listen, I don’t necessarily believe that the traditional happy ending is the best ending. I’m somebody who likes to see the biggest, most incredible way for characters to go out. I mean, as somebody who watches a lot of television and is a fan of a lot of television I just hope that this character is able to have the strongest outcome for her character.
I always saw this character as a hero. This is a very heroic (character). Kind of started off a little mousey, somebody that came into her own, and I really want her to fully embrace that by the end. I don’t want her to go backwards. So, anything that she’s been harboring on embracing, I hope that that just drives the monster truck through whatever ideal that is. So, that’s my hope for the character, and that can be in a different form. I don’t know what that looks like on paper or who that’s with, or what instance that manifests itself into. But my hope is that this character is always a hero.”
How instrumental will Bonnie be in helping Damon and Enzo get back?
Kat Graham: “I think very instrumental. That’s my opinion, mind you that might not happen. The process has begun. They’re going out to find them. They’re very proactive to see what’s happening to try and bring them back to them, but there’s something of what (Michael) Malarkey said earlier of a mind control that has happened. We haven’t ever explored that. You’d think after eight years we’d kind of done everything, but we actually haven’t explored (this).
We’ve explored compulsion, but this is a different kind of control over the mind that has taken Damon and Enzo. We have to figure that out, how to unlock that and how to bring them back.”
Do you think Elena has to come back?
Kat Graham: “Yeah, girl, get your ass back in Mystic Falls! Figure this out. Yes, of course.”
Will we see Bonnie reach the pinnacle of her powers as a witch this season?
Kat Graham: “That would be amazing. I hope to God, yes. That’s a brilliant, amazing question. You know one of the reasons I fell in love with this character is I’ve always been a girl that was always a fun of superpowers, like female superpowers. But even just like a regular person with powers, not necessarily a witch having a broom power. Remember that movie Power? I really love that movie and I love where regular people have something special about them because I believe that’s how we all feel. We all feel like we’re regular people; some days I feel less than regular. And we all want to feel like we have even more control and power than maybe we have in our lives.
When I saw Bonnie developing this incredible power and this kind of control and being able to levitate things, it just was so exciting for me because I know what it’s like to feel powerless. I’m hoping that we see this kind of massive moment for this character because she’s struggled with having them, losing them, getting a little bit back, and then involved in the dark magic. It’s always been her struggle. It has never come easy for her. It wasn’t just something that she didn’t have to develop. I’m hoping that she finally comes into that. That would be really awesome.”
What is driving her this season?
Kat Graham: “Well, I think you have to have some sort of selfish objective or else nobody’s going to care. ‘Oh, she’s just doing it for her friends.’ No one wants to hear that; that’s giving your power away. ‘Oh, she’s just doing it for love.’ She needs a man to feel powerful? Honey, you’re not going to tell me that. That’s not going to be my motivation.
For Bonnie, for a character that has lost everything and basically everyone in her life, she has to get her power back, right? So she’s not going to be giving it away. She’s not going to be necessarily sacrificing. Everything has to come back to you as people, right? We have to get it back to us, because if we make it about other people no one is going to be interested in it.”
Watch the Kat Graham interview:
