QUESTION: Nina and Candice, when you joined the show, were you told you were eventually going to be playing vampires and actually kicking ass?

NINA DOBREV: No. I don't think so. I mean, I don't know about Candice. I wasn't told. I knew that I was playing Elena, who is this wholesome, sweet girl in a tragic scenario, and here we are a year and a half later and she's being hunted and killed, and I'm also Katherine, who is crazy and psychotic, but it's been awesome. It's been a great kind of arc.

QUESTION: Nina, what is it like being the moral center of the show and then also being a seriously bad girl at the same time, who is trying to kill yourself?

NINA DOBREV: For one I mean, as Katherine...as Elena. I hope that I don't kill myself as Katherine. Wow. It's confusing to be in my head and to do this. It's not easy, and I think I'm slowly becoming a schizophrenic because of it, but it's cool. It's interesting. Sorry, I even forgot the question. I'm so like confused now.

QUESTION: Erica, can you talk about working on the show when you know it's the end and what that was like for you guys?

ERICA DURANCE: It's pretty bittersweet. I think that there's so much work to do that to look forward towards the end, you miss doing justice to the scenes that you're working on. Because you have people that have been watching it for ten years, you want to do justice to that and work as hard as you can, but there are certainly moments that you think, "My gosh. This is the last time I'm going to work with you." 

QUESTION: Kick ass women on TV have changed over the years. Just to refresh your memory, there was BIONIC WOMAN, WONDER WOMAN, HONEY WEST, POLICE WOMAN, wonderful women who really paved the way for you to kick ass, but look good in high heels at the same time. Would each of you give me an example of a classic kick ass woman on TV that you admired and why?

ALY MICHALKA: Let me think. I don't know if I can think of one on TV, but I'm thinking of one because I'm a huge James Bond fan. So I would say like Honey Rider. James Bonds chicks are like pretty kick ass to me. So if they were to make a TV show out of James Bond, I think that would be pretty kick ass. 

I think Farrah Fawcett was pretty kick ass, CHARLIE'S ANGELS, I gotta say. I mean, she had the look down, so I would say that's probably the main one. I mean, not that looks matter, that looks are everything because they're not, but obviously we're all really ugly. But no. But I think it takes confidence. The most kick-ass attribute you can have as a woman is being confident and showing it and being proud to actually show your strengths, whatever those are.

CANDICE ACCOLA: You know, I know it's not necessarily stunt work, like kicking booty, but I think Lucille Ball was a pretty kick-ass woman. She paved such a beautiful path for women in television, and she could be clumsy and make a fool of herself and still just carry herself with such grace and poise and you still laugh your ass off. I think she's pretty kick ass.

NINA DOBREV: I think Lyndsy and Maggie and Aly and Candice.

LYNDSY FONSECA: You totally took my answer. I'm leaving.

NINA DOBREV: I think that there's been more recently. Just like Candice said, Lucille Ball has paved the way, but there's more opportunity now and there's more women in higher positions. We're a great group and there's a lot of television with strong women. It's good now because it's reflective of the society and the way it is in reality.

MAGGIE Q: Lynda Carter. Forget it. I used to dress up as her. I was too poor growing up to afford Underoos. Do you remember those when it was okay for kids to run around in their underwear and go to school? So I used to make her outfit out of paper and put it on my body and my head and my wrists and jump from roof to roof and fall and my parents used to go, "What the hell are you doing?" I was like, "Oh, you don't understand. I'm Wonder Woman." So that was my thing. Lynda Carter. I have all the seasons, so there it is.

LYNDSY FONSECA: Nice. My gosh, just being in present company is pretty awesome, but I don't know. I'm a big Audrey Hepburn fanatic, and she always had such great confidence. I always aspired to be like that. Action hero? Okay. Lucy Lawless, Xena, Warrior Princess.

ALY MICHALKA: Yeah.

CANDICE ACCOLA: Yeah.

ERICA DURANCE: You know what? She was she also was fantastic. She embodied a little bit of everything, and that's what I like that's actually coming out a little bit more. We as women, we can go out, we can kick ass, we can cry, we can be the femme fatale. We can do it all, and at the end of the day, we still get the guy.

LYNDSY FONSECA: Totally.

QUESTION: How much pressure is it to be a kick-ass woman? And what if you wake up in the morning and you feel kind?

ALY MICHALKA: I think you can be kind and kick ass.

MAGGIE Q: That happens, though.

ALY MICHALKA: I think that actually it's all about being kind because then people don't perceive you as kick ass and then you kick their ass. You know what I mean? So yeah. I don't think it's really that much pressure. I think it's more of a cool responsibility. I think that it's something good to strive for daily to be not just like, "Oh, I'm kick ass," but to be a good example, to be somebody that a young female can look up to, regardless of how old or young you are, for somebody to have a role model. I think that's really important in this day and age. And I don't know why people think it's so wrong to be a role model. I think that we're in a position where we kind of have been thrown into that and that's an awesome opportunity for us. I mean, at least for myself, I would say.

ERICA DURANCE: I think those moments where you get up and you're nervous, you put a lot of pressure on yourself. I grew up and I was not a physical person. I knew nothing about going up and actually smacking someone or doing anything expressing that part of myself, and it was to not take myself so seriously. And when you're shooting these scenes and going out and doing that, any of these ladies will tell you, you are surrounded by this whole plethora of amazing people and your stunt people and they work it through with you and you have a lot of fun and it's all about that trust factor and you just rehearse. But for me, that's what I would tell myself. I go, "Breathe, Erica. Have fun. Don't take yourself so seriously and go for it."

ALY MICHALKA: The thing about being kick ass, too, is being confident and comfortable with yourself. I think it's called "kick ass" because it's just women who are okay with being the way they are and stand up for themselves and stand up for their friends and fight for each other and support each other. That's why we call it "kick ass." It's just really embracing being normal and natural and happy and healthy and awesome.

QUESTION: Were you just natural athletes and in competitive sports growing up or is this a brand new thing to learn physical moves and to control your body?

CANDICE ACCOLA: I was going to be a professional dancer. I grew up taking dance classes down the street and what's actually been the most helpful in the stunt work is counting out the steps and "5, 6, 7, 8, and punch." It is funny how those little things that you don't think are going to translate -- things that you learned as a kid -- help you out in your job as an adult. So that was something I did when I was young, physically.

QUESTION: Aly, I think you did a basketball movie once, didn't you?

ALY MICHALKA: Let me think. Nyeah... no. I've done a magic movie. I've done a movie involving cows.

MAGGIE Q: Maybe that's the one you are thinking about.

LYNDSY FONSECA: That's it.

NINA DOBREV: Cows.

LYNDSY FONSECA: Cows and basketball is very similar.

ALY MICHALKA: Cows, basketball.

QUESTION: Anyway. Aly, did you do physical stuff like sports or dancing as a kid?

ALY MICHALKA: Yeah. I was on competitive dance squads as a teenager, and I was really involved with hip hop and freestyling. That was something that I was really passionate about. So when I got the call to come in and they were like, "We need to see you dance and stuff, and it's not serious," I was like, "No. I think it's going to be serious.” They always say that so they don't scare you. So I was like, I'm going to bring it to the audition. 

QUESTION: A lot of male actors say that one of the things that got them into acting was they liked the idea of shooting guns, they liked the idea of fighting. For any of you, was one of the attractions of getting into acting the idea that you might get to hit, shoot, bite somebody someday?

LYNDSY FONSECA: God, I had never thought about that ever in my life. I just kind of experienced it on NIKITA. I was like, "Whoa. That was fun. I just kicked her ass," but I never dreamed about that. I don't know about you guys.

NINA DOBREV: I think watching Angelina Jolie movies is always kind of inspiring and awesome, but you guys get to do it on a weekly basis and kick butt, and some of us get to do it depending on the episode. But it is really cool. I remember watching TOMB RAIDER, and there's this woman who's beating up all of the guys. It does feel very empowering.

ALY MICHALKA: Beating up all of the guys? Is that what you said?

NINA DOBREV: Yeah. She beats up all of the dudes.

ALY MICHALKA: Yeah. I know. I love that. I like that you said "bald" not just guys.

NINA DOBREV: I said "guys."

ALY MICHALKA: Oh, I thought you said "bald guys."

NINA DOBREV: No.

CANDICE ACCOLA: I was probably as a child aspiring to bite people as an adult. That would probably make you a little bit of a creepy child.

NINA DOBREV: Yeah.

CANDICE ACCOLA: You know, I think it's been the cherry on the cupcake. It's been really fun things to do. I mean, you've been doing it for a long [looking at Maggie Q]...

MAGGIE Q: If I say how long I've been doing it, I'm going to tell how old I am.

CANDICE ACCOLA: Well, not like that, but when you are catching up and it's still very new. It's interesting. It's fun.

MAGGIE Q: I think it's fun whether you've been doing it forever or not. I think one of the mistakes in your question was whether you've been physical or not, whether you've been a dancer in your life or a hip hop whatever or ballerina or whatever you've done. Every episode and everything that you do in your physicality and your work is different than anything you've ever known. Choreography is incredibly complex. It's really intelligent, and it's not something that you can do when you are not paying attention or not something you can do whether you've done it before or not. It takes a lot of heart and a lot of time and energy. And I've seen Lyndsy and people on the show go through it, and it's whatever level you come in at, it's certainly more work than I think you are giving it credit for.

QUESTION: Is it hard to sort of find a balance between being a murderous character and still wanting the audience to like you?

ERICA DURANCE: Well, do you know what I think? It's dependent on what the writers are creating for your character. If you are lucky enough, the writers create situations for you to be well-rounded and usually justified, the situation that you are in, where you end up really putting someone in danger or, like you said, maybe actually ending up killing someone. 

QUESTION: Erica, now that you are engaged to Clark and you...

LYNDSY FONSECA: It's so exciting.

ERICA DURANCE: That script. She's very, very happy about that.

LYNDSY FONSECA: It's my first time here. Sorry.

ERICA DURANCE: That's okay. It's all good.

QUESTION: Now that you are engaged to Clark, does that change how much you are kick ass? Do you play Lois differently now that you've also got this whole love aspect of your character?

ERICA DURANCE: Well, I think, given an opportunity, she would still kick ass, but she usually kicks his a little bit more, which is kind of nice. But, other than that, they are changing her character a little bit more to be a support to him and lift him up so he is the one that is doing all of the ass kicking and that sort of thing. So it has shifted a little bit, but she still has opportunities to get in and get dirty. It's good.

QUESTION: Maggie, could you describe when you first took Lyndsy to the gym? What do you find interesting about watching her develop? Is it hard to mentor something like that?

MAGGIE Q: It's not hard to mentor Lyndsy because she's one of those people who is incredibly good at everything she decides to do...

LYNDSY FONSECA: Not true.

MAGGIE Q:  ...which is just awesome for the show. And I think that there's a difference between knowing how they actually fight and fighting on the screen. I think a lot of people come into this genre very overzealous. They come to a fight scene, and they’re like, "Oh, my God. I'm pumped. I'm going to do this. Oh, my God. Wow, I'm strong. I'm fit." It has nothing to do with that. You certainly have to be able to move, but it's all about being smart and being body aware and being safe, not putting anybody in a dangerous situation, but also being believable. And for women, we are in a tougher category in terms of being believable in this genre. It's gotten better for us, but you kind of have to learn what the fundamentals are when it comes to fights and when it comes to fluidity and when it comes to body movement. All of that takes a certain mind. In my experience I've seen people who either get it right away, or I see people who don't. And Lyndsy gets it, and she's picked it up really quickly -- quicker than I ever did when I was starting. So it's really nice to see. It's like a sense of pride. When I'd fight with Shane or you or anybody, it makes me feel really, really happy to see them getting better and better because that's what it's all about.

ERICA DURANCE: I don't know if you ladies found that as well, but when you are doing a sequence that is action orientated, it's being able to compartmentalize. So you are in a situation where you are emotionally possibly revved incredibly high, and yet you have to be cool enough to tactically do all of these things without actually causing someone else harm. Like I had mentioned before, the stunt people that you are working with and sometimes within inches of hitting them in the face or any of those kinds of things. They are there for you, and they are your rock, and yet they are able to create this situation that makes you look incredibly strong and incredibly powerful. But it's finding for me, those were some of those tough moments where I'd have to walk away, take a breath, and go, "Whoa. Okay. Now I'm emotionally into it. Now how do I put that into check, settle this here (gesturing to her face), and not actually physically, then, kind of go into that and end up hurting somebody with that. That's that's a really fine wire. I found for myself that was difficult to do. It doesn't always work out, but they are very forgiving.

QUESTION: Sometimes tough women can intimidate guys, and sometimes they like it. Who would like to comment on that?

NINA DOBREV: Fine line, I guess. It's a fine line, I suppose. I don't know.

CANDICE ACCOLA: I think it just depends on men being secure within themselves. I think confidence has kind of been constant within this panel and this conversation, and I think within the meaning of being a kick ass -- not just a woman, but a person. It really does come down to inner confidence and perspective, and so finding a man that can be confident to stand next to a woman that's very sure of herself...

MAGGIE Q: I think a guy who doesn't like a tough chick is a loser.

(Laughter.)

CANDICE ACCOLA: Yeah, well said. Yeah.

MAGGIE Q: It's like, man up. Whatever.

QUESTION: Maggie Q and Lyndsy, have you found rhythms where you are not exhausted at the end of the day? Or is every day just a fight to get through?

LYNDSY FONSECA: I find, for me, that if I stopped and thought about, on set, how tired I was, I would never make it through the day. I don't know. There's just something I can't speak for Maggie, but there's just something in me that just goes, "Okay. I've been up for two days. I just took a redeye, and I have an 18 hour day ahead of me," and whatever. Maggie had stunts after that day.

MAGGIE Q: It was a terrible day.

LYNDSY FONSECA: Yeah. You just you have no other choice, and if you really love what you do, you just do it. You don't really think about, like, "Oh, God. I'm exhausted." You think about it when you get home at night and you hit your pillow. But for me at least, I just love it so much that I just I just work through it.

MAGGIE Q: We had a fight at the midseason closer where I fought 15 people, and I thought I was going to die. I mean, we did two camera tests, two camera rehearsals, and it was just one of those days where I just turned to the choreographer and I welling up a little bit. I said, "Dude, I don't know if I'm going to make it through this day. I just don't know because this episode has been way too emotional and there's just been so much going on, and there's so much choreography, and I don't know what I'm going to do." And I remember just going back to my little corner and just kind of breathing through it and just finding the energy to do it. But it's a mental sort of thing. It's not just about your physicality, but you come into something already mentally exhausted because we've got everything on this show, which you do on yours as well. You've got physicality, and you've got a lot of emotions and a lot of dialogue and a lot of procedural stuff that cannot be wrong and cannot be shifted or changed. So there's a lot of pressure throughout, and then, at the end of the week, it's like, "Well, now you are going to fight for nine hours." So it's carrying all of that over into something physical. And sometimes you feel like the stress is too much, but in the end, you get through it.

QUESTION: Can some of you give examples of particularly kick ass moments coming up for your characters, physical or otherwise?

ALY MICHALKA: I have a cool kick-ass moment. In one of the episodes, Marti gets initiated into the squad, officially. She gets kidnapped by the squad, and she has to do a suicide drop off the balcony in the gym. So I had to go through it. I actually felt very cool. That was probably the most kick ass that I felt on the show. I mean, we are doing stunts and stuff, and I've been lifted up. And I can do a high V and stuff. Whatever.  

But it was cool because I got to be on wires. And then I was begging them. I was like, "Please can I not do wires? Can I just fall off of it?" And I had to freefall into the cheerleaders' arms. Like, they are catching me. Basically, it's kind of like a stunt. So I am just freefalling backwards and then being caught and then into a pike. So anyways, I kept asking the producers, "Will you, please, let me not do it with ropes? because it's just it's going to be easier. It's going to look way better." And they were like, "Uhh, yeah. Sure. Okay." Sorry. Don't get in trouble, producers. You guys are totally safe. It was all me.

Anyways, so then I did it, and it was a pretty high fall. I just felt so invigorated, and I just was like, "Wow, I did that." And I felt really safe, and I felt secure, but I also really trusted the guys who were catching me, my bases. I really trusted them, and I knew that they were there for me. So that was that was probably the highlight of the season in moments where Marti really overcomes a huge triumphant moment where she's actually initiated into the squad and makes a huge decision to actually say "I am a Hellcat for sure. I'm not bailing on you guys."

QUESTION: Has being a kick ass woman on TV infiltrated your everyday life? Are you more confident walking down the street? If somebody came up and tried to attack you, would you fight them off?

NINA DOBREV: I would kick their ass.

LYNDSY FONSECA: Oh, yeah. I would totally kick their ass.

ALY MICHALKA: Yeah. You don't want to mess with me. I have, like pepper spray. I have, like, a small...

LYNDSY FONSECA: Have you seen her guns? They are ridiculous.

ALY MICHALKA: Actually, I do shoot. And what's funny is...

LYNDSY FONSECA: No, no, she doesn't have a gun, but her guns.

ALY MICHALKA: Oh, my guns? I thought you were talking about my....

MAGGIE Q: You have guns, too.

ALY MICHALKA: But I do have guns.

LYNDSY FONSECA: No. I know you have guns, but I mean your arm guns.

ALY MICHALKA: Oh, thanks.

LYNDSY FONSECA: They are amazing.

ALY MICHALKA: Yeah. No. Yeah. As much as you guys get to actually kick ass with guns and stuff, I never get to. But at least I get to in real life. So I can go to the shooting range on my weekends in L.A., and I'm like, "Dad we are taking out the guns. Take out the .22. Let's go."

LYNDSY FONSECA: Yes.

MAGGIE Q: That's what I say to my dad.

LYNDSY FONSECA: The answer is: I feel very safe at night walking to my car alone.

ALY MICHALKA: Yeah. We all should.

LYNDSY FONSECA: Yeah, we all should.

ALY MICHALKA: Yeah.

NINA DOBREV: Yeah. If someone comes up, you are like, "Have you seen my show?"

LYNDSY FONSECA: "Have you seen me kick ass?"

NINA DOBREV: "Have you seen what I do to all of those people? Do you want that?"

LYNDSY FONSECA: "I do my own stunts, you know."

NINA DOBREV: "Think about it." And then they usually walk away. It's great. 

QUESTION: Can you give us some idea of what's coming up for your characters?

LYNDSY FONSECA: Sure. Yeah. Alex graduates to full agent, and the show shifts quite a bit when that happens. She faces a lot more responsibility. She's out on her own for the first time since she was in Russia. She's balancing going on her jobs with Division and helping Nikita out. So there's a lot of really exciting stuff coming out, and the show the show changes for the better, I think.

ALY MICHALKA: I'll jump in. There's some really cool storylines with Marti trying to find out who her dad is. She has no idea who her father is. She thinks that he's not alive anymore. So she goes searching for answers. She actually is the one who seeks out what his life was like and the fact that he was a musician. She's trying to find something to hang onto, something to give her hope that maybe he's alive or maybe there's something out there that she can relate to. And a cool connection with that is she finds a bunch of guitar picks from a certain music store. She goes in, asks them, "Is there any way you know Rex Perkins? Has he played around here?" And the girl who happens to work at the guitar shop is my sister in real life, AJ. So she's going to come on the show in late January, and she's going to be a really cool character, very different and opposite from Marti, which I think will be great, and cause a lot of problem with her relationship with Savannah, and it will cause her to be a little territorial. So it will kind of that will be the catalyst of her really reaching out to find more about her dad because Dierdre, which is AJ's name -- I'm still getting used to that -- Dierdre ends up giving her some information that's really helpful for Marti.

ERICA DURANCE: My show is in its tenth season and we are getting into the back half now. We only have seven episodes left. So my character is just very instrumental in propelling that mythology and bringing about, hopefully, seeing Superman do what everybody wants him to do. And that's pretty much all I can say, but he looks good doing it.

LYNDSY FONSECA: Yeah. He's cute.

MAGGIE Q: Who is cute?

ERICA DURANCE: It's a tough job.

LYNDSY FONSECA: Superman.

ALY MICHALKA: He's never on our set. He's never on our set because he's with you guys. We are, like, "Tom [Welling], can you come see us do cheerleading stunts?" He's like, "Yeah. Sorry. I'm busy."

LYNDSY FONSECA: How come Tom doesn't come visit us?

ALY MICHALKA: I know. Right.

MAGGIE Q: Because we are in Toronto. We don't have Superman.

LYNDSY FONSECA: No.

NINA DOBREV: I do think there's one thing that's anticipated right now that's going to be coming up, and I can't tell you too much because I don't want to give it away. But Klaus is coming at some point by the end of the season. He hasn't been cast yet, as far as I know. We don't really know that much. We won't find out until it's actually written on the page, but he's going to be a big, bad vampire. And I think Sacha Baron Cohen should be cast, do one of his crazy characters with an accent.

MAGGIE Q: That's awesome.

LYNDSY FONSECA: I'd watch.

NINA DOBREV: Right? So Sacha. Anyone can just pass along the message.

CANDICE ACCOLA: And then we are also going to be introduced to more werewolf action and  the meeting of vampires and werewolves and how they are going to play a part in each other's lives within the world of Mystic Falls. And it's going to be a little bit of a battle of territories so to say and how that affects personal relationships within friends within the town. Stay tuned.