The Vampire Diaries panel appeared at Comic-Con today to talk about the upcoming fourth season of the CW series.  Joining the stage were stars Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, Ian Somerhalder, Steven R. McQueen, Michael Trevino, Zach Roerig and executive producers Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson. Cast members fielded questions from the moderator and their enthusiastic fan base.  The third season of The Vampire Diaries will also appear on DVD/Blu-ray on September 11th.  Hit the jump to check out my panel recap and click here for all of our ongoing Comic-Con coverage.

A clip montage was shown, highlighting the season three finale, complete with Elena's transformation and plenty of steamy scenes from the upcoming season.  The moderator then opened up the panel with some questions via Twitter (of which there were about 100 pages):

Season four – where is it going?

Plec: Writers got a longer stretch than usual to prepare and they discovered that everything feels fresh and new, familiar in the right ways and different in the best ways.  There’s a wonderful core of character and the experience of change for the central characters.  A lot of good deep emotional twisted stuff.

Season one, how has Tyler Lockwood grown from Season One to today?

Trevino: He was a douchebag and had no other value.  I’ll be honest, I did know in season one that the plan all along was to become this werewolf.  Now, in season four, I feel really blessed to have played all of these different characters.

Dobrev: Talks about the tricky balancing act of playing both the human version and the vampire version of herself, along with the darker vampire version of her second character

Damon Salvatore came on as a villain in season one but the audience wouldn’t go against him no matter how hard they tried.  What’s your favorite part of the journey?

Somerhalder: These characters are wildly complex and different and have spanned over a century of time and you would think he would change, but he just doesn’t.  His metamorphosis at this point, he tried…he tried to be something everyone wanted him to be.  The bottom line is, he’s not…he’s not a nice guy.  So this year, he’s saying, “I’ve tried everything you wanted me to try.  I’m right and this is who I am.  If you don’t like it, you can go f--- yourself.”

Wesley: I’ve always leaned toward the dark side.  When I got to play the Ripper in season three, it was a relief in a way.  Season 1 and season 2, Stefan was such a good guy and he had no flaw.  The truth of Stefan is he’s so dark and he’s so twisted and he’s so dangerous and he covers it up with this sense of goodwill.  He doesn’t know what to do with this darkness so he just rips people’s heads off.

Roerig:  Proud to be the only human up on the stage right now.

McQueen: My character is responsible for Elena’s death and he’ll have to deal with that.

On social media:

Plec: For every “please let it go this way” piece of feedback, she gets another “please let it go this other way” piece of feedback.  When I’m watching love triangles, I like to be able to root for both of them.

What's the best and worst thing about your job?

Dobrev: There’s nothing terrible about my job.  Lack of sleep maybe.

Trevino: It’s the cookies and catering.  There’s all this shirtless scenes that you have to do and then these cookies and catering are there.

Somerhalder: The best part of our job is this (Comic-Con).

There are a lot of hook ups on the show.  Who would you most like to hook up with?

Roerig: My character is looking for a bond and some physical connection.  Maybe Sheriff Forbes?

Dobrev: Between the two characters, I feel like I’ve made out with everyone in the cast.  I think Katharine should hook up with Elijah.

What’s your favorite scene to shoot?

McQueen: In episode 10, I shot a crossbow and chopped someone’s head off.

Dobrev: I loved the underwater stuff, Zach and I had some cool underwater stuff.  We were in a police/Navy training place and it felt really badass.

Somerhalder: We have on a daily basis what a gigantic feature film has.

Plec: My favorite scene to watch, one for story and to watch, was the candlelight vigil.  I loved it as a character goodbye, it was poetic and beautiful.  But also for what each of the actors brought to the scene without breaking character.

Fan Q&A

Plec: Katharine won’t show her face until there is no longer a threat.

In a great moment for fans, Somerhald and Trevino tell the censors to let the fans ask whatever they want to ask, in a nice show of support for their fan base.

Dobrev: I’m so proud that the secret of Elena’s transformation didn’t get out because it was such a great cliffhanger.

Plec: Who was Esther and where did she come from and where did the original spell come from…that’s a question that will be explored this year.

Will Damon be happy if Elena was a vampire?

Somerhalder: It could be a lot of fun.  The three of them are going to learn a lot because of this weird dynamic.

Wesley: And lots of vampire sex, which lasts half a second. And no one even knows.  Even at a coffee shop.

Plec: Meredith will appear in the next season.

Though the show has a younger demographic, there are some “older” fans.  With the new season and the new change, will you deal with more adult thematic material?

Plec: How much more adult can we get?

If they were all in The Hunger Games arena, who would you ally with and who would you kill last?

McQueen: I would take out PW.

Wesley: I’d take you out first.

McQueen: To dinner?

Wesley: Maybe tonight, dude.

Dobrev: I would team up with Zach and create an alliance because he can hunt turkeys.

Somerhalder: You know what I would do? I would just kill em all.  Sit down, have a drink, smoke a cigar, read the NY times and just enjoy the silence.

The Vampire Diaries returns Thursdays on the CW starting October 11 at 8:00PM.