FRESH off the loss of Elena, “The Vampire Diaries” is adding to its female cast.

    Elizabeth Blackmore (“Legend of the Seeker”), Scarlett Byrne (“Falling Skies”), and Teressa Liane (“Neighbors”) have signed on to recur on the long-running CW series, according to The Hollywood Reporter. All three will first appear in the seventh season of “The Vampire Diaries.”

    Blackmore has been tapped to play Valerie, one of Lily’s (Annie Wersching) heretics with “powerful magic and a dark and moody attitude.” She doesn’t find life in Mystic Falls all that great, and isn’t okay with the rules Lily has laid down for the family. And when Valerie goes down her own path, she starts a “dangerous chain of events that will change the face of Mystic Falls.”

    The other newbies, Nora (Byrne) and Mary Louise (Liane), are also heretics, as well as a couple who “wreak havoc.” Nora is touted as having a “sly sense of humor,” whereas Mary Louise has a “strong point of view which she isn’t afraid to express.”

    At Comic-Con, “The Vampire Diaries” executive producer Julie Plec teased the casting, sharing that they’d be introducing “nasty, nasty, nasty girls” this season.

    Fellow executive producer Caroline Dries acknowledged that the “challenge for the writers in season seven is topping the villain from the previous season.

    “The Vampire Diaries” will return Oct. 8.(SD-Agencies)