The Vampire Diaries co-creator, Julie Plec, tells Variety she can envision the series running eight seasons or longer. Currently in its seventh season, but the first without star Nina Dobrev, The Vampire Diaries and spin-off The Originals, are moving to Friday nights, when the mid-season hiatus ends, January 29.

Plec wants to keep telling the story of the Mystic Falls fang gang, as long as stars Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder want to continue in their roles as brothers, Stefan and Damon Salvatore.

From Variety:

“My end game needs to, in my opinion, emotionally run parallel with the end game of Paul and Ian (Somehalder) — more so than the network and the studio,” Plec said. “When those boys decide that they’re done telling stories — which could be tomorrow and could be a year from now or two years from now or whatever — I need to be done. I feel like I owe them that and I owe the show that. It’s a collective decision. Right now, they’re in the driver’s seat of that and we’ll see how much longer they feel like they want to be doing this.”

When asked if she can see “Vampire Diaries” continuing for seasons to come, Plec confirmed yes, saying: “Yeah, absolutely. Every year we’re like, ‘We’ll never figure out what next year is going to be!’ And then we come up with an idea that’s cooler. It gets harder and harder so there will come a point where I’ll have to say I have zero ideas left, but right now, I still feel pretty inspired by it so I’m just taking it one day at a time.”

Plec also tells Variety that while she would welcome back Dobrev with open arms, not writing the love triangle between Damon, Elena, and Stefan has breathed new life into the writers’ room.

It just feels good to be able to tell the story about two brothers who are more bonded and, as such, at odds more than ever before, and you’re writing this terrific relationship piece now about these two guys, and it’s just been so fun to write this year.

Variety also has remarks from CW President Mark Pedowitz, about the future of The Vampire Diaries:

At TCA, Pedowitz told reporters that there have been no decisions made of “Vampire Diaries’” future, but he’s optimistic. “Hopefully, as long as possible,” he said when asked how long the series could continue. “We are hopeful that the show in its move to Friday continues what it does do really great with ‘The Originals’ also– they triple their numbers in Live +7 consistently so there’s a lot of delayed viewing on the show. So if it continues and we see the performance that we’ve been seeing, hopefully it gets a renewal.”

The Vampire Diaries aired its first six and a half seasons in the Thursday 8:00pm timeslot. Read the latest from Pedowitz on his rationale for moving it and The Originals to Fridays, and get more information on the crossover episodes.

Have you been watching the seventh season of The Vampire Diaries TV show? Did you leave the series soon after Dobrev? Do you think The Vampire Diaries should be cancelled, or renewed for an eighth season or beyond?