It’s been over six years since fans said goodbye to The Vampire Diaries and just over a year since the overall franchise officially came to an end with the cancelation of Legacies. Even so, the steamy supernatural teen drama is still quite relevant, thanks to streaming and social media chatter. Speaking of the latter, just last week, fans on X marked a supposed occasion. They commemorated the rumored time when Nina Dobrev and a few others were purportedly arrested for "flashing" way back in 2009. Now, series writer Carina Adly MacKenzie is responding to that rumor and clearing the air.
This new round of hype ramped up after photos of The Vampire Diaries' Nina Dobrev, Kayla Ewell, Sara Canning, and Candice King’s supposed mugshots went viral on the site. Their colleague chimed in to “ruin the fun,” as some have been putting it. For years, many have been led to believe that the four of them, plus Krystal Vayda and photographer Tyler Shields, were arrested in August 2009 after the five actresses were allegedly stopping traffic and reportedly hanging from a bridge and flashing, as TMZ reported way back when.
In a multi-thread on X (formerly known as Twitter) though, Carina Adly MacKenzie -- who served as writer, producer and story editor on TVD spinoff The Originals -- said the girls were just “doing a photoshoot” for a photographer friend on the bridge. In addition, the “flashing” that was reported by drivers was simply a camera flash and misinterpreted by the officer. After the misunderstanding was cleared up, everyone was cleared to go home. MacKenzie also said:
Similarly, they weren’t hanging FROM the bridge, but HANGING OUT ON the bridge. It maybe wasn’t SUPER safe, but they weren’t maniacs. Nina & Sara had JUST gotten their work visas to do TVD in the US. They were very aware that breaking laws could get them literally deported. They just felt cute because they’d had their hair & makeup tests done earlier and thought it’d be fun to take some pics together! Look how ~provocative and edgy~ it all was. OoOOooH sCaaaanDALOUS. In conclusion my friends are nice girls and always were 😘
So, after 14 years, it seems the iconic Vampire Diaries arrest has been cleared up. I have to admit, I myself was also under the impression that Nina Dobrev, Candice King, and a few others were arrested for flashing on a bridge before TVD came out. It makes for quite a story, though it's great that falsehoods have been cleared up, of course. Considering series star Paul Wesley was even afraid of being fired for missteps early on, one would think that the stars took care when it came to their off-set activities. On a side note, the photos from the infamous shoot that Carina Adly MacKenzie posted in the thread look great.
At this point, I'd kind of love it if the stars all got back together to recreate the shoot. I mean, even if a formal Vampire Diaries revival isn’t happening any time soon, it'd still be great to see some of the cast reunite in that way. Considering there is a TVD convention in Covington, Georgia, where the series was filmed, via Epic Cons, that could make for the perfect venue. Or at the very least, I'd love to hear the stars talk more about their personal recollections of the camera flashing situation.
The Vampire Diaries, which ran for eight seasons and spawned two spin-offs, is available for fans to stream with a Max subscription.
