Julie Plec builds supernatural serials around young people’s feelings, and we rate her willingness to take them seriously. The Vampire Diaries earns its indulgences through pace and casting, though the solemnity can become wearing.
Fi1m perspective
In The Vampire Diaries (2009), a mysterious death has to compete for attention with the trouble of being in love. Julie Plec and co-creator Kevin Williamson take the teenage distress seriously, even when it tests our patience. We think the result is a good supernatural soap, provided teenage romance is part of the attraction. The feelings can be touching, but the stiff opening makes that proviso worth heeding.
Her early television work included writing and producing Kyle XY (2006). Co-creating The Vampire Diaries established the mix of young love and supernatural trouble that she would keep developing. She directed three episodes of the series, but writing and running serial television are central to her work. That means managing a large cast and keeping its romantic entanglements moving alongside the supernatural plots.
The useful counterweight in The Vampire Diaries is Ian Somerhalder, whose mischief interrupts the earnestness. We felt relieved by his presence because the surrounding anguish can make the opening feel airless. Plec and Williamson need actors who make adolescent unhappiness interesting, and the series does not immediately give everyone that opportunity. Its brisk storytelling helps too, carrying us past familiar situations before we have spent too long objecting to them.
With The Originals (2013) and Legacies (2018), Plec extended that world into further series. The former follows the Original vampire family; the latter centres on a supernatural school. It is easy to see why family and school suit a writer who keeps returning to relationships within large casts. Sustaining all three series is a substantial achievement, though longevity alone cannot tell us how well an individual episode works.
Plec is at her most persuasive when the cast can find humour inside the melodrama. We would start with The Vampire Diaries, allowing for those hesitant early stretches rather than expecting an immediate reward. Anyone allergic to teenage melodrama should take the high-school setting as fair warning.
Biography
Julie Plec is an American television producer, writer and director. She graduated from Northwestern University in 1994. Early in her career she worked as associate producer and assistant to Wes Craven on the Scream films and collaborated with Kevin Williamson on several projects.
Plec co-created the CW series The Vampire Diaries (2009–2017) with Williamson and served as executive producer and showrunner. She created its spin-offs The Originals (2013–2018) and Legacies (2018–2022), and developed the limited series Containment (2016). She has also written for Kyle XY (2006) and directed episodes of several series, including Roswell, New Mexico (2019) and Vampire Academy (2022). Her later work includes the series We Were Liars (2025).
