Nina Dobrev

Nina Dobrev's exit as Elena Gilbert came as possible the most shocking character departure in The Vampire Diaries season 6. For Dobrev, the reason for quitting the show was pretty straightforward, and she didn't delay in informing the same to her beloved fans via her Instagram post in April 2015. She wrote, "I always knew I wanted Elena's story to be a six-season adventure, and within those six years I got the journey of a lifetime." Clearly, Elena's journey on The Vampire Diaries was the most fulfilling of all characters.

She was even given a worthy send-off by putting her on magical comatose, leaving room for her character's resurrection. And as we know, she did return in the series finale episode.

Sara Canning

Guardian to orphan Elena and Jeremy Gilbert, Aunt Jenna (played by Sara Canning) filled the initial seasons with her warmth and infectious attitude. Sadly, Jenna was tragically killed off at the hands of Klaus Mikaelson. Much to the surprise of The Vampire Diaries fans, there was no concrete reason for such an exit.

In fact, per an interview with TV Line, it was revealed that writers had absolutely no clue on how to proceed with Canning's character. Nevertheless, at that time, Canning had a lot happening in her career, starting with the film The Hunt for the I-5 Killer, and she was working on another noir short film project that needed her undivided attention.

Steven R. McQueen

Steven McQueen, as Jeremy Gilbert, parted ways with The Vampire Diaries in an even more dramatic way. Quite similar to Jenna, the writers felt the need to write off Jeremy, too, to keep the plot of the show fresh.

And they did rightly so by driving him away from Mystic Falls under the guise of attending art school when he, in reality, became a vampire hunter. In an interview with E!, the show's creator and executive producer Julia Plec explained her decision to part ways with Jeremy: "Every year we assess where our characters are, and we decide is it time for them to grow up and move on, is it time for them to die, where are they going, what can their departure do to other characters, what can their departure do for their character."

Joseph Morgan

Joseph Morgan deserved all the praise he got in his way for playing the uber-powerful villain turned anti-hero Klaus Mikaelson. But despite being held in high esteem in The Vampire Diaries universe, Klaus had to depart from Mystic Falls to settle unfinished business in New Orleans. Before fans draw any uncomfortable assumptions about his departure, rest assured that the show's creators had even bigger things planned for Klaus' arc that were impossible to cover on the show. And hence, actor Morgan left The Vampire to star as the lead in the spin-off The Originals alongside Daniel Gillies as Elijah.

Michael Trevino

The creators of The Vampire Diaries have, time and again, established that they would go to any lengths to keep the storyline fresh. Keeping true to their words, they did the absolutely necessary for Tyler's character as well. In season 6, Tyler (played by Michael Trevino) accidentally reactivated his supernatural curse, and to keep his friends safe, he leaves Mystic Falls, marking an end to his story.

However, in reality, Tyler was written off to stop the arc from turning repetitive.

Shortly after his exit, Trevino opened up about his character's end: "I had a sit-down talk with Julie Plec and honestly, it's just difficult. They also don't want to keep me on the show and have a repetitive storyline. Not only for myself, personally, as an actor, but then also for fans – they don't want to see the same recycled storyline."

Matt Davis

Alaric's exit from The Vampire Dairies came sooner than expected when, in fact, there was much to be explored about the character's depth.

That said, Matt Davis was relatively happy with his send-off. He felt that he and the show's creators had plenty of creative differences about Alaric, and it was better to end his character than give an unsatisfactory arc to him. Following this, Plec decided to wrap up Alaric's arc in Season 3 when Davis' contract was up for renewal. But as fans are aware, the departure didn't last long: Alaric was resurrected in season 6, which was a win-win for all.