Kevin Williamson: I want to make Taylor Swift a vampire!

From the first instant his words came flying off the screen in "Scream," I have been a Kevin Williamson devotee. From "Dawson's Creek" to "The Faculty," I've paid for all his movies, Tivo'd all his shows and placed him alongside an illustrious group of writer/creators in my heart [J.J. Abrams, Joss Whedon, Rob Thomas, Aaron Sorkin to name a few].

With "Vampire Diaries" Kevin has taken one standout element from each of these previous projects and mashed them together to form a singular series that is smart, scary, creepy, nerve-wracking and funny all at the same time. With a landmark episode unspooling tonight, I caught up with Kevin to find out if Mystic Falls' death toll will continue to increase, who is his favorite character to write for and if any familiar faces from his past (Katie! Neve! The Beek!) will be sprouting fangs!

PopWrap: "Vampire Diaries" seems like the perfect melding of everything you learned on "Dawson's Creek" and "Scream." Is it?
Kevin Williamson: It's definitely two of my wheelhouses put together. We have a lot of the heart that "Dawson's" had, but we're steering clear of the psycho babble. We're just trying to write fun characters and stay true to the book. But it is sort of everything I loved about writing my teen drama and my horror movies -- we're just trying to do as much as we can on a network show without the R rating.

PW: Although you're trying to stay true to the books, did you go in any directions even you didn't expect so far this season?
Kevin: We borrowed a few tentpole moments from the book whereas we expanded upon the mythology in others. But we know where season one ends, I know the last sequence, I know the big moments of season two and the general arc, but we haven't broken down the 22 episodes yet. What you ultimately plan on doing changes. If you read the books you know that we killed Coach Tanner in episode three when it happened at the Halloween haunt in the book because that's where we killed Vicki, who did not die in the book.

PW: Kayla Ewell has said that Vicki might be back. Is that true?
Kevin: No. As of right now she's completely gone, we have no plans to bring her back.

PW: Can fans take a moment to breathe, or should we be worried that someone else is dying soon?
Kevin: No one is ever safe on our show and we do have plans as the season unfolds to kill other characters -- but that's the unpredictable nature of the show. I just hope that when we do kill another person, it's in an acceptable and satisfying way where the audience doesn't say, "We hate you now." We don't want to be hated, we just want to keep surprising you.

PW: When Damon staked Lexi last week he said it was part of his grand plan -- when will that plan reveal itself?
Kevin: Tonight! He actually says point blank what he's doing in Mystic Falls.

PW: And should we take him at his word?
Kevin: Well, it quickly becomes very clear. You'll get it because he quickly sets out to carry out that plan -- you'll see why he came home.

PW: Is Damon your favorite character to write for?
Kevin: Clearly I enjoy writing him, but more than that I love putting the brothers together because they're so different and opposing. The more you put Stefan with Damon, the more Stefan comes to life in these future episodes. I'm having fun opening him up because that's the ultimate arc. Stefan's going against the grain by denying his nature and everything he knows. He's got the true inner struggle, which is what takes us over the long haul, whereas Damon will always be Damon.

PW: If Stefan is the protagonist, I wonder if you could envision a "Vampire Diaries" without Damon?
Kevin: Oh god, I don't even want to contemplate that at the moment. Please tell me you're talking season four. I mean, there can always be changes, I'm sure there's a third Salvatore brother out there, but let's not bring him in just yet.

PW: What about bringing in former colleagues -- like any of the "Creek" kids?
Kevin: Maybe. Just not at the moment. But I did ask Neve [Campbell] to come play a vampire. She's too busy filming a movie right now, but maybe down the road.

PW: What about Katie Holmes. People would flip if you got her to play a vampire!
Kevin: I think she's got bigger fish to fry at the moment -- my new obsession is getting Taylor Swift!

PW: Oh, that would be amazing!
Kevin: I think she's gotten too big for "Vampire Diaries" now -- I tried to get her on the show once, but she was touring. But I'm desperate to have her come play a vampire. Wouldn't she make an amazing Kirsten Dunst circa "Interview with the Vampire" type? Oh my god, I can not tell you how hard I'm trying to get her -- I would kill to have her on the show!

PW: But I hear you are bringing in a vampire hunter?
Kevin: Well, that's what we call him because in the books he's like the Van Helsing character, even though he's not like that at all. He's just this guy who is in search of something but uncovers something else. Matt Davis plays him starting this week and he's so good. He's the new history teacher.

PW: God Kevin, could you make this cast any uglier? I mean, come on.
Kevin: I know, right? Ugliest cast on television. All of them, even Matt -- he's just so gross to look at [laughs].

PW: OK, so I have two pressing questions; first, why did you choose not to have the vampires turn to dust after being staked?
Kevin: We're going with old legends there -- the reason wood is toxic to a vampire is because it's a dead element. So the idea is when a vampire gets staked in the heart, the toxic wood spreads like a poison through their body. That's why the effect is designed that way. And the idea behind the eye vamping is that when they get excited, the blood rushes to their eyes -- that's why you see the veins pop out and fill with blood.

PW: Makes sense. Second, I am dubious that Elena's parents are actually dead. Are they?
Kevin: Oh, well ... quite possibly. Clearly with the Gilberts there's a lot of secrets to uncover. I like the parable of the bad parents/good kids. I also love that we have this town and the mythology of the founding families: the Gilberts and the Lockwoods and the Forbes and the Salvatores.

PW: Last week Lexi freaked when she met Elena and realized she was the spitting image of Katherine -- will Elena ever learn of their resemblance?
Kevin: [laughs] Quite possibly. I don't want to give away all the surprises, but all signs point to mayhem. It's Mystic Falls, eventually all the storylines intersect and explode in an emotional way when secrets are revealed!