The Vampire Diaries aired episodes.
The Vampire Diaries . The pilot episode attracted the largest audience for The CW of any series premiere since the network began in 2006 . The first season averaged 3.60 million viewers . Dobrev returned to record a voiceover for the seventh-season finale . Trevino appeared as a guest star in season seven and returned for season 8 . On March 11 , 2016 , The CW renewed the series for an eighth season , but on July 23 , 2016 , announced that the eighth season , which would have 16 episodes , would be the show 's last .