Supernatural teen drama The Vampire Diaries kept fans on their toes with its numerous plot twists, heartwrenching romances, and the addition of amazing new characters in every season. Not all of these characters made it to the main cast, but they were extremely compelling (pun unintended) and carried the show forward with their dynamic personalities and back stories.
Characters like Nadia, Qetsiyah, and many others came from other ages, different timelines, and had long and immersive histories, both individually and relevant to the main characters. These TVD players could have easily been the main characters on the show.
Nora And Mary Louise
The Heretics were a pesky bunch in season 7, but these two were among the best TVD couples. They met back in 1880, and felt drawn to each other. In an era where their relationship was frowned upon, they still chose to stand by each other.
Both the women had unique personalities as well, so digging further into how their love survived time and society, and how they discovered each other would be fascinating. Nora and Mary Louise may have been villains, but they had lots of potential, even with their fateful ending.
Qetsiyah/ Tessa
Qetsiyah may be a hated supporting character from TVD, but she was also charismatic and extremely powerful. The most interesting aspect is that she was born in the 1st century B.C., so she came from a very different time on Earth. She had seen a different planet, and then created a whole new Other Side to play out her vengeance against Silas.
Her story was riveting, especially when she came back to the mortal dimension in the 2000s, able to adapt and fully incorporate herself. The first person ever to come up with the Immortality Spell as well as the cure to vampirism, Qetsiyah was the main character of her own story, and it's one that fans would have surely liked to hear more of.
Emily Bennett
Speaking of powerful witches on The Vampire Diaries, Bonnie's ancestor Emily Bennett came from the long, mighty line of Bennett witches, and she was one of the few witches in her time who willingly mingled with vampires and helped them.
Alive in the 19th century, she traveled with the notorious Katherine Pierce as her handmaiden, helping her by making daylight rings and keeping her safe. She kept a low profile but lived a full life full of supernatural happenings. She was ultimately burned at the stake, but Emily's character and choices made for excellent viewing.
Mason Lockwood
Tyler's uncle had the potential to be a main character on the show, and many fans felt his absence when he was killed off too soon by Damon. His history was the thing of legends: laidback surfer boy from Florida meets beautiful vampire with an insidious motive and ends up turning into a werewolf.
Mason was tricked by Katherine, but his personal struggles with his new wolfy identity were far more interesting. He was a genuinely nice guy, who got into the wrong crowd. He even tried helping Tyler and making peace with the vamps, so fans would have liked to see his arc unfold more positively.
Nadia Petrova
Daughter of Katherine, the most fearsome and wily vampire around, Nadia was very much like her, but with a heart. She had inherited the intelligence and capabilities of her mother but hadn't become hardened and cruel like her.
Nadia's softness didn't come from a lack of hardship: she had gone to great lengths to become a vampire, hunt her mother down, and even try to save her. This modification of Katherine's personality made her fit to be the lead in her own show, and fans would love to see her track down Katherine and become a vampire herself.
Isobel Flemming
A total black sheep and extremely unpredictable, Isobel's fascination with the occult as a human led to her becoming a part of that world, which is rare for groupies of the supernatural. After giving birth to Elena at seventeen, she went on to marry her future guardian Alaric and immersed herself in vampire lore.
Her journey was a complex one, and ultimately she asked Damon to turn her into a creature of the night. After deceiving and toying with her own offspring, Isobel decided she had had enough and died by self-immolation in front of Elena. Her human to vampire transition was quite something, and her rollercoaster ride could easily be a spin-off.
Esther Mikaelson
Born in the 10th century in Norway, Esther was the reason why the Original vampires existed. The love for her children drove her to change them into the earliest vamps. That, coupled with an affair with a werewolf resulting in a child, Esther's life was full of drama and action.
She could be evil, having drained Tatia of her blood to turn her children into vampires. Esther had tapped into dark magic to do this, but her quest later in life became to end the unnaturally long lifespans of her children. By virtue of her power and the events that she set into motion, Esther made sure the world revolved around her.
Kai Parker
Kai was an arresting character. Along with being devious and shameless, Kai also managed to be meme-worthy and funny, which is what makes him so nuanced and interesting. He had the potential to be an anti-hero (he even dabbled with it) just like Damon was.
He was on the way to becoming a redeemed killer until he got out and killed Jo. His mannerisms were hilarious, his jokes about his own state of mind ironic, and he owned his flaws. Kai was a main character disguised as a side villain.
Pearl
Initially positioned as an antagonist, Pearl softened up almost immediately. She was one of Katherine's friends in the 1860s, but the vampire was actually born in the mid-1400s, which made her way older and wiser than most others.
Historical glimpses of different eras were a specialty in TVD, and Pearl lived with Anna in a time when being supernatural was a crime. She got Katherine to turn her daughter as she struggled with consumption and even managed to be pals with the crooked vamp. Her time in the tomb, followed by her adjustments to modern life made her main character worthy.
Amara
The original immortal woman, Amara had a sorrowful story that made her a bit of a tragedy queen. As a young human, she made the mistake of falling for Silas and taking the Immortality Spell, which resulted in Qetsiyah's wrath.
For almost twenty centuries, Amara was the anchor to the Other Side, punished for her love, while her romance with Silas birthed a line of Petrova doppelgangers who kept finding each other in their respective times. Amara's arc was short but epic and her place in supernatural history made her a leading character who deserved more than a short stint on modern Earth.