"The Vampire Diaries" season five will premiere with episode 1 on a different date than originally announced. The CW will now push up the premiere of season 5 of "Vampire Diaries" to the first week of October.

The network announced that "The Vampire Diaries" premiere is being moved up by a week, to Thursday, October 3 at 8/7c.

The schedule change is caused by the debut of "The Originals," a spin-off series from "Vampire Diaries," which will premiere on the same day, after season 5 episode 1. According to TV.com, the CW is hoping that viewers stick around for "The Originals" on Thursday, and will continue to watch it when it moves to its regular time slot on Tuesdays at 8pm, starting October 8. 

According to IBTimes, bumping up the premiere dates is also a way for the network to allow "additional exposure and time to launch."

"Vampire Diaries" will pick up three months later in Mystic Falls from the season four finale. TVGuide.com reports that executive producer Caroline Dries dished in a recent interview that Elena and Damon will finally have a chance to enjoy each other's company.

"Elena and Damon are a super-sexy couple and happy for once," Dries said.

Nina Dobrev, who plays Elena, told Entertainment Weekly that the three months was a good start for the new pair.

"It's been a fun summer for Elena and Damon," Nina said. "And Elena's going to college now, so they're going to try to make the long-distance thing work."

While the characters of "Vampire Diaries" were having a fun summer, poor Stefan has "been drowning, dying and coming back to life," Dries said, though no one knows. His friends think that Stefan has gone off the deep end and are staying far away from him as he wreaks havoc on Mystic Falls. Unfortunately, it's not Stefan at all, but is actually his doppelganger Silas, IBTimes reports.