Early in The Vampire Diaries, Caroline was the bitch. There’s no other way to put it. But as the rookie season progressed, something interesting happened with Caroline, who is played by Candice Accola.

Over time, Caroline became a three-dimensional, even sympathetic character. When she behaved in a bitchy way, viewers started to feel sorry for her, rather than despising her.

We have to assume the writers on The Vampire Diaries saw something in Accola that allowed this gradual transformation to occur.

“Well, thank you so much, first and foremost,” said Accola, who is back with all the main cast members for the second season of The Vampire Diaries, beginning Thursday, Sept. 9 on CW and A. “To start the story it had to be pretty simple, but as the season unfolded the layers came out.”

Accola, 23, said she thought back to her own high school days when endeavouring to get inside Caroline’s head.

“Everyone knows girls who are like Caroline was when we met her in the pilot,” Accola said. “But with people like that, it usually is coming from an insecure, defensive place. “You try to belittle someone else to make yourself feel better. Even the nicest of the nice with the biggest hearts, we all have a little bit of that in us. It’s a very human characteristic.”

But Caroline is integral to The Vampire Diaries not only for her emotional humanity, but also for her physical humanity.

“Especially with all the supernatural elements of the show, my interpretation of what the writers did with Caroline was to give the audience someone to relate to in a very human way,” Accola said.

“So I don’t know what the writers initially intended, but it was lovely to go on that journey. And it definitely reminded me of my own experiences as a high schooler, foot in mouth, not knowing who you are and trying to be someone. You know everything that you don’t want, but it’s hard to find what you do want. Even as a young woman in my 20s, there’s a lot of relatability to that.”

Notwithstanding some previous episodic work, the role of Caroline on The Vampire Diaries represents Accola’s first full-time gig on a TV show. While learning a lot about the craft as she goes along, Accola also appreciates that she just happens to be on a show that has achieved the rare combination of good ratings and critical success.

“In season two, there are some awesome plot lines, the audience is going to be so excited,” Accola said. “For Caroline, she’s searching to figure out who she is and where she fits, in this town and in everyone’s life. And there are some obstacles thrown in front of her.

“What’s funny about this show is, everyone was either quick to jump on board or quick to write it off, because it fed into the pop-culture phenomenon that is vampires right now. But it’s not just about vampires. I’ve been stopped more by adults than by younger peers or teens.”

Source: Toronto Sun