Victoria Winters - Character Development

Character Development

Dan Curtis first dreamed of a dark-haired girl riding a train to an estate, which was the inspiration for Dark Shadows. In Shadows on the Wall, the series' bible, Victoria was initially called Sheila March until the name was changed to suggest a more regal, older time. Her search for answers to her mysterious past, which was the driving force behind her accepting the governess position at Collinwood, would have originally led to the revelation that Victoria was the product of an affair between Paul Stoddard and Betty Hanscomb. Elizabeth was to have discovered Victoria's existence the night she "murdered" Paul, and her guilt over his death prompted her to send money to the Foundling Home. However, these plans were eventually scrapped--despite early references to Betty (which can be seen as red herrings)--when the Dark Shadows production team decided that Victoria would be Elizabeth's illegitimate daughter instead. This was due, in part, to Alexandra Moltke's close resemblance to Joan Bennett--so much so that when Bennett first saw Moltke (at a distance) she thought Moltke was one of her own daughters. In 1987 Joan Bennett recorded a special video for fans in which, in character as Elizabeth, revealed that Vicky was her daughter.

As the Adam/Eve storyline of 1968 began to wind down, Ron Sproat was in the stages of slanting the plot to reveal Victoria's lineage when Moltke left the series due to her pregnancy. She was briefly replaced twice, but neither actress was (reportedly) accepted by the audience. Attempts were made to persuade Moltke to return, but, unhappy with her diminished role and content to be a stay-at-home mother to her new son, she declined. Any and all plans for the character were ultimately shelved, and Victoria Winters was unceremoniously written out with an off-screen death, leaving her as much of a mystery as when she first arrived.

It is also worth mentioning that there are numerous early hints of there being some connection between Vicky and Josette. It is unknown, however, if anything was ever meant to come of this. Many characters remark upon their resemblance to one another (including Vicky herself); Josette's ghost not only actively protects and guides Vicky but also uses her as a medium on several occasions; at one point, Vicky wears a dress that had belonged to Josette at a costume party and claims to feel as if she has worn it before. Although discarded in the original series, these aspects would be built upon and expanded in all subsequent versions of Dark Shadows.