A regular character on "The Vampire Diaries" will be leaving the show.
Steven R. McQueen will be leaving the supernatural drama on the CW, according to Hollywood Reporter.
McQueen has played Jeremy Gilbert, little brother to main character Elena, since the series began in 2009. He is scheduled to leave early in the current season - in episode 14, according to the website. The next episode, scheduled to air on Jan. 22, is number 11.
"His final episode will be episode 614, and the episode leading up [to it] will be him grappling with whether or not it's time for him to say goodbye to Mystic Falls," The Vampire Diaries executive producer Julie Plec said. "Every year we look at which characters we feel like are ready to move on, whether to better things in life or to the Great Beyond. This year, we realized that Jeremy has truly grown into a man, and as the victim of so much pain at the hands of the supernatural universe, we felt like it was time for him to go out on his own and start a fresh new life - with a twist."
A big reason for Jeremy's departure is to help wrap the show up, though it has just been renewed for a seventh season.
"We're in the third act of our storytelling of the show," Plec said, according to Entertainment Weekly. "Everything that we're doing is moving towards the end. Over the course of the next few years, we will need to start having the characters make choices about what they want with their lives and say goodbye to some people. It's all part of moving toward the end, however long that takes."
But since he is will exit the show alive, there is a chance he will make surprise appearances - like at weddings, funerals or the series finale.
