Entertainment

How Many Times Has Jeremy Died on 'TVD'?

by Christine DiStasio
The CW

Seriously, how many times has this guy died? It seems like whenever The CW runs out of ideas on who to kill on The Vampire Diaries, they kill Jeremy Gilbert. That's how many times that dude's kicked the bucket over the past five seasons. In a spoof video that premiered during TVD 's San Diego Comic-Con panel on July 26, Steven R. McQueen, who plays Jeremy, joked that he's died "like, 1000 times" and come back to life. It sure feels like it's been that many times — but in reality, how many times has Jeremy passed away? THR challenged a TVD super-fan and showrunner Julie Plec to a trivia competition and all we learned was that Plec doesn't even know the exact number of times Jeremy Gilbert's died.

Julie Plec might have a worse track record than Games of Thrones' George R.R. Martin when it comes to killing off her characters. Even if she does keep bringing them back over and over (and over, etc.) again, like in the case of Jeremy Gilbert. So when THR asked Plec and a super-fan, "How many times has Jeremy died?" and neither one of them gave a correct answer, I was shocked. I can understand the fan not remembering every detail, but Julie Plec? She gave the order for Jeremy to die in the first place — how could she not know that Jeremy's died FIVE times over the past FIVE seasons? The TVD showrunner answered with, "at least four times," which isn't necessarily a wrong answer, but it's not the right one, either.

So, take note, Julie Plec. Because this is important information:

Season 2

The first two times Jeremy Gilbert died was in Season 2 of TVD — in the season premiere and the season finale. Talk about coming full-circle. In the season premiere, Damon, in a fit of rage after being rejected by both Elena and Katherine snaps Jeremy's neck. Thankfully, he's got his magic ring on, so he bounces right back to life. But still, it's a tough break (literally). In the season finale, Jeremy gets shot by Sheriff Forbes after a lengthy speech about how his family ring protects him from all supernatural harm — well, bullets aren't supernatural and so, he dies BY ACCIDENT. But it's all good because Bonnie takes him to her ancestors and pleads for his life, which they ultimately oblige to give back to him with consequences.

So, twice in Season 2 Jeremy Gilbert faced the wrath of Plec running out of people to kill. Sigh.

Season 3

Jeremy voluntarily agrees to die to help Bonnie perform the Dessication Spell on Klaus. To complete the spell, Bonnie has to stop Jeremy's heart — which essentially means that he's dead — and create a link between his human heart and the heart of the vampire in question. I get that you just want to be helpful and that you trust Bonnie, if you've already died twice, Jeremy, why do it again?

Season 4

After Elena makes her first kill as a vampire — the Hunter, Connor — she starts hallucinating. During one of those hallucinations, early in Season 4, Jeremy approaches Elena in her kitchen, but instead of seeing her brother, she sees Connor and thinks he's attacking her. So, she stabs him in the throat with a kitchen knife. Awkward. The second time Jeremy dies in Season 4 was the real doozy, mostly because we all thought it'd be for real this time.

After the whole Mystic Falls crew finally finds Silas and The Cure, Katherine feeds Jeremy's blood to the shriveled up, ancient vampire to awaken him and when Silas finally is revived, he snaps Jeremy's neck. (I know, right? Again with the neck-snapping, couldn't they be more original?) Fans then watched Elena fall down the darkest rabbit hole of all time, set her house on fire, and turn off her humanity — but not until after she cried, a lot.