Looking back at it, The Vampire Diaries did have some very wacky story premises throughout its eight-season run – especially when it came to Nina Dobrev's Elena and her doppelgänger Katherine.
Arriving in Mystic Falls in season one, Katherine Pierce was later revealed to be a mortal copy of Amara, the very first immortal woman, just like Elena is.
Initially, Katherine only appeared in flashbacks, making it relatively easy for Dobrev to juggle. But as her presence throughout the show grew, things got crazier not only in the plot but also for the show's star.
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"They didn't tell me until the day of almost," Dobrev recalled while chatting to Entertainment Weekly.
"They weren't sure so they definitely weren't gonna tell me. But I feel like right before that episode [sixth episode of season one, 'Lost Girls'], she was introduced so they gave me a heads up.
"But it was gradual. The first episode was just a couple flashbacks and then they introduced her more and more.
"So I got to figure her out over the first season, and then season 2, once she was back and in the flesh and she was in a lot more of the episodes, it was crazy schedule-wise shooting both of the roles, with Elena and Katherine."
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Sometimes the craziness of The Vampire Diaries was dialled all the way to the top and Dobrev had to appear as both characters in the same scene.
"Shooting scenes with myself at times was a wild learning experience but really fun too because I got to play two wildly different characters and play around and do and say things that I wouldn't – especially at the time – never dare to think and say out loud because I was a self-proclaimed good girl when I got the show," she added.
The actress then jokingly explained how playing Katherine transformed her as a person off-screen as well: "Then [I] slowly became more evil as I embodied Katherine."
"I learned a lot from her and I kinda grew up and got more confident with the writing. It was pretty interesting."
The Vampire Diaries is available to stream on Netflix.
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