‘Vampire Diaries’: Steven R. McQueen Leaving Show As Series Regular

Another Gilbert bites the dust. Well, kind of. Steven R. McQueen, who plays Elena’s little bro Jeremy, will no longer be a season regular on ‘The Vampire Diaries,’ the creator, Julie Pelc, revealed.

We’ve seen Jeremy Gilbert die (multiple times) and leave town — but this time, Mystic Falls will officially be in his memories. Steven R. McQueen will be exiting The Vampire Diaries this season on episode 14, and he won’t really be back. So, it’s official — Elena has no family. At all.

‘The Vampire Diaries’: Steven R. McQueen Leaving

“We’re saying goodbye to Steven McQueen, as a series regular, in the 14th episode,” Julie Plec told our sister site, Variety. “I was there when we were shooting his last scene and, spoiler alert, it’s not a death scene because that would just be too mean.”

“I got really nostalgic and really emotional about it because I said to Ian [Somerhalder], every episode and every character goodbye that we do now feels like we’re just one goodbye closer to the end,” she continued. “I’m sure there’s somebody out there that wants the show to go 20 seasons, but it won’t. It will go eight, it’ll go seven, it’ll go nine, whatever, but we’ve done six so we’re in the third act of our story so everything is leading us toward the end. Every goodbye actually hurts a bit. I’ve become so close to these people. You don’t spend that much time with people and not fall in love with them.”

Then Julie said something that broke our hearts a little — he has to leave so the show to “move toward the end.”

“We’re in the third act of our storytelling of the show. Everything that we’re doing is moving towards the end. Over the course of the next few years, we will need to start having the characters make choices about what they want with their lives and say goodbye to some people. It’s all part of moving toward the end, however long that takes,” she told EW. “He’s growing up and moving on. He will be out living a real life.”

Granted, the show did get renewed so we know that’s not happening yet, but the thought alone makes us sad.

How Will Jeremy Go?

“He could show up at weddings, funerals and series finales for sure, but this journey is taking him to another place,” she added. We can assume his sendoff will go along with his career goals.

Last month, Julie tweeted spoilers for the next part of the season and that included, “Jeremy Gilbert applies to art school. No really. #tvd 2015 #dotheyhavecrossbowsthere.” So, my guess is that’s where he’ll be heading.

However, we also know that Bonnie will be returning — so what does that mean for them? I guess we’ll have to wait for that. Let’s see!

— Emily Longeretta
Follow @EmilyLongeretta