AceShowbiz -

The producers of "The Vampire Diaries" have found an actress to fill in the role as a grad student who will assist Damon, Alaric and Elena in their research about werewolf. Courtney Ford, last seen portraying Trinity's daughter on "Dexter", has been cast in the role of Vanessa who will appear in the upcoming second season.

The character, who is described as "very attractive and smart", will help the trio in going through Isobel's old research at Alaric's alma mater, Duke University. Producer Kevin Williamson told EW back at Comic Con, "She's not without her own intrigue. It'll be a nice little part for someone. And it's a part that could evolve into this massive story line or we could gut her like a fish."

The news that werewolves will be part of the story was first revealed during Comic Con. Now that Tyler realizes he's not mere human, he is going to go through a transformation. "The transformation will be a combination of prosthetics, CGI, and sort of really cool stuff, we hope," Williamson said about Michael Trevino's character. "And, we're gonna use a real wolf, and we're trying to figure out exactly what kind of wolf best represents Mr. Trevino."

"The Vampire Diaries" returns September 9 on The CW. There is no news yet when Vanessa will pop up for the first time.