Vampire Diaries: 'Klaroline' And 'Steroline' Scenes

Let's begin with director Joshua Butler's big "Steroline" episode, Season 6's "A Bird in a Gilded Cage," shall we?
"I really wanted the vending machine to have a kind of electrical flicker, as if when they hit up against it, it actually created a spark," Butler tells TVLine. "We designed it that way so there could be a flickering that happens."

"I thought it'd be cool to use Dutch angles to make it look like these two people, who are standing, are actually lying on the floor together," Butler adds.

"In the next scene, I wanted to do the opposite, to make it look like they're standing..."

"...but no, they're actually by the fireplace!" Butler explains. "The choreography of it, I worked out with Paul and Candice. They have a very easy relationship, so it was nice to work out what we were going to do."

As for his contribution to the "Klaroline" community, Butler says, "One of my favorite Vampire Diaries episodes I ever directed was 'Do Not Go Gentle,' the '20s dance episode."

"I loved the scene where Klaus and Caroline are on the dance floor and he tells her that the small-town life isn't going to be good enough for her," Butler says. "She's ultimately going to want to be with him, because he can show her the world and take her out of this existence."

"Though that didn't exactly play out in this mythology — either on The Vampire Diaries or The Originals — that, to me, was a really exciting look into the character of Klaus. The vulnerability that Joseph Morgan showed in that scene in that episode was really powerful."

Bonus Klaus Quotes: Butler also directed the Season 2 episode "Klaus," Morgan's first appearance in the franchise. Butler says he knew "instantly" that Klaus was destined to become a fan-favorite character: "The dinner scene where Klaus first meets Katherine ... I was at the monitor when that was happening, and everybody was talking about it. There's something about him on screen, what he exudes, that was instantly obvious to me."