See how Vampire Academy puts its own spin on Rose and Mason's relationship in script pages from the premiere

Samantha Highfill
·5 min read
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.
  • Oops!
    Something went wrong.
    Please try again later.

There are many complicated dynamics at the center of Vampire Academy, from the larger societal dynamics between the Moroi and the dhampir, or even the royal Moroi and the non-royal Moroi. Then there are the more personal dynamics at play: Lissa (Daniela Nieves) and Rose's (Sisi Stringer) unbreakable friendship, Rose and Dimitri's (Kieron Moore) will-they-won't-they romance, Lissa and Christian's (André Dae Kim) frowned-upon connection, and the list goes on. But there's one dynamic that executive producers Julie Plec and Marguerite MacIntyre knew they wanted to tweak from what was done in Richelle Mead's popular book series: The relationship between Rose and Mason (Andrew Liner).

"We talked a lot about the Rose and Mason dynamic in the books. Mason is that sweet, sweet Matt Donovan puppy dog who just loved her so much," Plec says, referencing a Vampire Diaries character. "Rose always kind of knew that he wasn't her guy, but she never really wanted to hurt his feelings. When we cast Drew Liner, who's just so charismatic, we realized what we'd really prefer to have is Mason as sexual competition for Dimitri, not just emotional competition."

EW asked Plec and MacIntyre to break down a scene of their choosing from the series premiere, and they chose a certain interaction between Rose and Mason.

Vampire Academy
Vampire Academy

Courtesy of Peacock A script page from 'Vampire Academy'

  1. "There's a lot of resentments in that relationship," Plec says of Rose's relationship with her mother. "When your mom is the best at what she does and, in order to be the best, she couldn't really be around to be a mother, there's some feelings." MacIntyre adds, "Rose is only seeing the relationship from her side. She's not seeing the way that the society forced these choices on her mom."

  2. With Rose and Mason both training to become guardians, they're used to hand-to-hand combat, something they practice daily. "It's all the things we love about sports until you realize it's life and death," MacIntyre says. "Until you realize they have no choice, until you realize they're being forced into this life. 1 in 3 dhampir die in the service of protecting the Moroi. This is a hard life these guys are facing."

  3. Speaking more to the changes they made to the Rose-Mason relationship, Plec says, "Rather than have him be pining away and her not looking at him in that way, we decided to give them basically a casual f--- buddy relationship that's covering his deep feelings for her."

  4. By stepping up and offering friendship in this moment, MacIntyre says, "This scene is a turning point in their relationship from f--- buddy to him actually being brave and coming in and offering friendship because he's mature enough to do it and sensitive enough to realize Rose needs a friend right now. I think that makes him that third point in the triangle. I think there's gonna be some Team Rose-Mason out there."

  5. The line "just pretend I'm Lissa" points to a scene that was supposed to run before this one, but ultimately ended up on the cutting room floor. "There's a deleted scene where Rose and Lissa do their end-of-day tradition, which is called 'Lets play worst day ever,'" Plec says. "They take turns, one lies their head in the other's lap as they go through their worst day and then they switch and then they decide who wins. We were calling back that scene with this scene in the original script and even though that scene didn't make it into the show, this scene still feels like they're emulating that great friendship and intimacy between Rose and Lissa. You get an understanding just how strong that relationship is between the two girls and how much Mason really is able to be there for her in that way."

  6. Speaking to where Lissa is in this scene and why Mason has to step up, Plec says, "Rose and Lissa have been basically torn apart at this point. They've been punished. Rose will be lucky to lay eyes on her best friend moving forward, so Mason really is understanding that there's a hole to fill here."

Vampire Academy
Vampire Academy

Courtesy of Peacock

"What I love about it is that there is this could've ended up on the cutting room floor," MacIntyre says of the scene as a whole. "In some ways it's not absolutely necessary and I felt like I would've defended it to the death. I really love this scene for what it does for those two. It's that deceptively simple scene that's really changing this relationship and giving us so much information."

Ultimately, it's a really important scene for Mason. "We broke this scene early in the process of breaking the pilot and it made us really fall in love with Mason. And in the process of cutting the pilot, another scene, which introduced Mason as a character, got cut as well," Plec says. "So all we know of Mason in the pilot prior to this scene is that he's sort of a s--- talking fighter on the floor, so this was really important to establish who this character is." Plec adds with a laugh, "But if we were in broadcast and had to get down to 41 minutes, it'd be gone."

Vampire Academy premieres September 15 on Peacock.

Make sure to check out EW's Fall TV Preview cover story — as well as all of our 2022 Fall TV Preview content, releasing over 22 days through Sept. 29.

Related content: