Exclusive | Candice King on her pregnancy — and why the ‘We Were Liars’ cast was ‘reduced to tears’

She’s feeling fang-tastic. 

“The Vampire Diaries” actress Candice King, who is also in the Prime Video thriller “We Were Liars,” just announced her pregnancy with “Yellowjackets” actor Steven Krueger. 

“It’s getting past the point now where I just look like I ate a really big dinner, so I have some explaining to do,” King, 38, exclusively told The Post. 

The actress, who is due in May, has two other daughters from a previous relationship with The Fray singer Joe King, who she was married to from 2014 to 2022. 

The “Supernatural” actress announced her engagement to Krueger, 36, in May. While they have “a bunch of ideas” for their wedding, she declined to say a date, and joked that between the baby and the wedding, “we like to do everything at once” and keep their family and friends “on their toes.”

King recently starred in the Prime Video thriller “We Were Liars,” which follows a wealthy family with dark secrets. Season 1 is currently streaming, and the show has been renewed for a Season 2. 

 David Morse, Mamie Gummer, Joseph Zada, Esther McGregor, and Emily Alyn Lind co-starred. 

“We’ll be filming season two next year,” she explained. 

Since the final twist involves major character deaths, the cast was “reduced to tears, and had to take breaks” during the last table read.

“And there is nothing more emotional than hearing sweet David Morse say, ‘I need a minute,’ with tears streaming down his face – because you know the words that everyone is reading is just so gut wrenching,” she told The Post.

Her fiance, Krueger, was in “The Vampire Diaries” world, too, appearing in the spinoff show “The Originals.” Surprisingly, that’s not how they met.

“You would think! But no, we were never scene partners,” she noted.

“The invisible string theory is definitely there,” she explained. “There’s many moments where we were probably at the same bars and restaurants, and crossed paths in office hallways, without really coming into contact with each other.” 

The cast is still close, she said, so she eventually met Krueger at a dinner, “almost as two complete strangers who had all the same friends.”

King ascribes her long-lasting friendships with co-stars like Nina Dobrev to the fact that the show ran for eight seasons (from 2009-2017 on the CW), for 22 episode seasons. 

“When I look back, the thing that is really unique to the experience is that nowadays, we see so many series that are like, eight episodes.”

And even when an eight-episode show runs for multiple seasons, there are “big gaps” in filming, she noted. 

For instance, “Stranger Things” is currently airing its final season after a three-year hiatus, “Euphoria” will air in the spring after a three-year hiatus, and popular shows such as “Severance” took nearly three years between seasons. 

“Whereas, when we filmed ‘The Vampire Diaries,’ we were all in our 20s for the most part, and relocated to Atlanta, Georgia… We all spent nine to ten months out of the year together, for eight years straight. And so, there is a bond and a connection and the language that we all speak.”

The “Juno” actress explained that the schedule pushed them to form a “put together family” that is “unique.” 

“That’s something that I’m really grateful for….I don’t know how often that will happen anymore, with shorter running shows.” 

“The Vampire Diaries” had two spinoff shows: “The Originals,” which ran on The CW from 2013 to 2018, and “Legacies,” which ran from 2018 to 2022. 

If the franchise were to continue, King said “my heart says yes” to reprising the role of Caroline. 

However, since Caroline is a vampire frozen in time at age 17, and King is now 38, she joked, “I think my skin elasticity to play a 17-year-old says ‘no.’”

But thanks to modern skincare technology, she joked, “who knows – maybe we could all play 17-year- olds! So, you never know.”

Since Caroline had various love interests, including Tyler (Michael Trevino), Klaus (Joseph Morgan) and Stefan (Paul Wesley), King can’t choose a favorite.

“I always leave that up to the fans. Because I fangirl over TV shows, and it hurts my heart when an [actor] is like, ‘this is who they’re meant to be with.’ And I’m like, ‘no, you’re wrong!’” 

Referring to Katie Holmes and Joshua Jackson’s characters on “Dawson’s Creek,” King quipped, “even though we can all agree as a society that Pacey and Joey were end game, forever.”