The Vampire Diaries Inspired My Life With The Walter Boys’ Love Triangle

My Life With The Walter Boys is the latest teen drama to take over Netflix and the internet. The show, which premiered on Dec. 7, follows one teenage girl’s journey after a tragic accident leaves her orphaned. As Jackie moves from Manhattan to rural Colorado to live with her new guardians (and their ten children), she finds herself in the middle of a complicated love triangle between two brothers, Cole and Alex.

Already, the show has drawn comparisons to The Summer I Turned Pretty, but that’s not the series author Ali Novak had in mind when writing the story. In fact, an entirely different love triangle served as her inspiration: one that’s significantly bloodier than TSITP. “There's always something to be said about love triangles, but it was inspired by Damon and Stefan from The Vampire Diaries," she told Entertainment Weekly on Dec. 7. "There's just something so compelling about a love triangle, and there's so many YA books that have been influenced by that show."

However, that doesn’t mean My Life With The Walter Boys’ love triangle will follow completely in The Vampire Diaries’ footsteps. "We wanted to make sure that both boys have equal weighting," Novak said. "And I think there is so much more to this story than just the love triangle."

But she admitted that when it comes to the Stefan versus Damon debate, she falls clearly on one side. “If I had to pick a Salvatore, I would definitely say Damon,” she told EW.

Here’s how My Life With The Walter Boys stacks up to its inspiration so far. Spoiler alert: This post discusses plot points throughout the Walter Boys series.

The Older Brother’s The Bad Boy

In My Life With The Walter Boys, Cole Walter is painted as the stereotypical bad boy. He sneaks girls into his house and even ditches school to get drunk. But, similar to Damon Salvatore, he’s got a more complex backstory than first meets the eye. Cole recently suffered a career-ending football injury, turning his future into one big question mark.

Damon’s past wasn’t quite as clean as Cole’s — as a ruthless vampire, he had a history of murdering innocent people. But he did have a painful backstory that impacted his moral compass. Damon was manipulated and betrayed by his first love, Katherine, which drove most of his more violent tendencies.

The Younger Brother’s The Nice Guy

In both shows, the younger brothers — Alex Walter and Stefan Salvatore — are seen as the nice guys. In Alex’s case, he is instantly kind to Jackie, warming up to her right away. He supports her at a track meet with a “Team Jackie” foam finger and shows her Colorado’s version of Manhattanhenge.

Similarly, in The Vampire Diaries, Stefan was initially the kinder brother. He bonded with Elena over their shared classes. Plus, when they first met, he was committed to not drinking human blood to survive.

The Plot Seems To Follow The Same Trajectory

Fans of TVD know that although Elena dated Stefan first, she eventually moved on to the other brother. Similarly, in My Life With The Walter Boys, Jackie’s first romantic connection is with Alex — but she gradually opens herself up to one with Cole.

The Brothers Have A Longstanding Rivalry

In TVD, Damon and Stefan’s contentious relationship stretched all the way back to when they were still humans and fought over the affections of a vampire named Katherine. When Katherine turned both brothers into vampires, against Damon’s wishes, that set them up as enemies.

My Life With The Walter Boys issn’t as high-stakes, but Cole and Alex do have issues related to Paige, Alex’s first girlfriend. Alex blames Cole for stealing Paige after the two of them kiss at a party. But Cole didn’t know that Alex and Paige were dating at the time — he had been away, doing rehab for his football injury. In reality, Paige came onto him, betraying Alex, while Cole was none the wiser.

The Older Brother Gives The Main Character A Sentimental Gift

In Season 3 of TVD, Damon returned Elena’s necklace to her. (The gift was originally given to her by Stefan.) “My necklace. I thought I’d never see it again,” Elena told Damon at the time.

A similar scene goes down in My Life With The Walter Boys. After one of the younger Walter siblings breaks Jackie’s tea pot (which was a gift from her late sister), Cole puts it back together again. “Nothing is so broken that it can’t be fixed,” he writes on a note with the gift, quoting what Jackie’s mom used to tell her before she passed.