Dear Diary, can you believe we said goodbye to The Vampire Diaries more than eight years ago? Yeah, us either.

It feels like just yesterday we were captivated by the love triangle between Elena ( Nina Dobrev ), Stefan ( Paul Wesley ) and Damon ( Ian Somerhalder ). In actuality, though, that was 16 years ago, with The CW hit—based on the book series by L.J. Smith and created by Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec —first bringing us to Mystic Falls way back on Sept. 10, 2009.

And we didn't say goodbye for eight seasons (and thankfully there were two successful spinoffs, The Originals and Legacies ).

Looking back, we can't believe Nina almost lost the role of Elena to a High School Musical star . Or that Ian was this close to starring in a totally dif

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