Julie Plec sat down on Variety’s Podcast to talk about Vampire Diaries and the upcoming season of the Originals.

“We have sort of let our ‘horror flag’ fly in a way that we haven’t in the past,” Plec says after the third season went to some very dark places…

“A lot of the writers … are huge Stephen King fans and love the way that he can create an insidious, horrific energy without defining a singular monster at the top.” As a lot of the characters are villains in their own right.

Plec almost highlighted Steven King as a horror influence

“We’ve attacked this season from that point of view. How can we create a culture of fear within this New Orleans environment and then slowly over the course of a long run really identify the monster at large.”

The new season starts in January 2017 and we can’t wait to see it…