Welcome to Julie's Diary! Every week during the season, Vampire Diaries showrunner Julie Plec will add an entry to her diary. From answering burning questions to giving behind-the-scenes stories and more, this is a place for fans to hear directly from Plec about the episode they just watched.

Welcome back and thanks for watching "Days of Future Past," written by Melinda Hsu Taylor and directed by our very own Ian Somerhalder. I've asked Ian to take the reins of the blog tonight as a special guest columnist, but before I hand them over, I did want to mention that I recently became aware of a conversation taking place in the television fan community about a story trope the writers and I were unfamiliar with, but one that has clearly touched a nerve. Part of this particular trope involves the statistically high death count of lesbian characters in television. As you can imagine (SPOILER ALERT), I was immediately concerned that our next episode featured the deaths of Nora and Mary Louise, the betrothed Heretics. Unfortunately on The Vampire Diaries, death is the probable outcome for nearly every character who passes through our universe. However, we realize we may have unintentionally offended as we sent this couple to meet their tragic fate. The conversation around this issue encourages me and hopefully the entire television landscape to do better on a larger scale as we all set out to tell stories that honor and are inclusive of the LGBTQ community. Thanks to the fan community for starting a dialogue and raising awareness, and reminding us that we as writers have a voice that allows us the freedom to help make this world a better place.

Thank you. And now, here's Damon's Diary:

Hello, Brother… I mean, hello Friday people… It's Ian and for sure a bit of Damon typing here. My dear friend and boss Julie Plec and our amazing friends at EW were kind enough to let me jot down an entry into Julie's weekly diary so that I could share a moment with you all to talk about episode 716 of The Vampire Diaries. The list of all the people who made this and every episode is so long it would take up this whole "Diary" entry, so I just wanted to say that I love and am thankful to every single member of this crew that makes this story come to life each week. I'm truly grateful to have had this opportunity to talk with you all after tonight's episode and will get right to it.

The last time I got to direct an episode the story was much darker, more dangerous, pushing our characters (Caroline and Stefan) to the brink of pure evil. This time was a bit different. This story required a much more layered approach because it was setting up our current timeline, three years in the future. No more bookending the episodes with the flash forwards; we will stay right here. For now at least…

"Days of Future Past" had more story lines built into it, all of them laden with heavy consequences, all building simultaneously into an emotional crescendo and then abruptly ending in tragedy with our hero in the Hell Stone and no way to get him out.

I was actually very lucky, because I directed 616 last year and 716 this year, which fell within the window of the Christmas hiatus. I feel super fortunate to have had that stroke of scheduling luck because I got much more time with the script while I was on vacation with my family. It was great being there in the mountains with the peace and quiet of white snow that really allowed my mind to dream of shots, performance, and style.

Directing anything from a short film to an episode of television or a big-budget studio film is quite a journey with so many moving parts. Every moment, you are racing against the clock, living with two major issues breathing down your neck at ALL times. Yep, much like in life, those two major things are time and money. How quickly and successfully can you capture the story on the page, in your head, and on the story board in the time allowed, using a very set amount of money to do it? Kind of like life, right?

Again much like life and that famous movie quote we all know, directing a serialized show is like a box of chocolates: You never know what you're going to get. You know the story only when the writers push send and the script shows up in your inbox… It's pretty wild because you have no way of knowing in advance what the story will be, what to expect, and the anticipation makes it a game of patience. Then once you get it (hopefully on time), you have to study it intimately. Without a total understanding of the story and the journeys of the characters, it's nearly impossible to try and tell it with cameras or actors. You need to know every scene, every beat, all the nuances, and how they all contribute to story as a whole. I once read an article that Anthony Hopkins