What The Vampire Diaries' Cast Has Revealed About the Final Season

As far as the evil force that overtook Damon and Enzo goes, the backstory is soon to be revealed. "It's funny, this is the first time we've done this little story trick where we're actually withholding the identity and mythology of the new villain from the audience before the next season," showrunner Plec said during an interview with TVLine. "What could it be that's been around for thousands of years? We didn't see it, but it has some creepy ass monster hands, and it has the ability to get inside your heard and strip away everything good about you. There's a nice mystery taking us into next season about what exactly this creature is."

Of course, this mysterious evil is going to have a big impact on those characters that got left behind. Not only is it going to be tough on Bonnie, who just lost the two men in her life, but it's also going to affect Stefan. "He's very determined to get Damon back on track, and it's not going to be an easy task," Plec revealed. Steroline fans can rejoice, though, because she also revealed that the hero vampire will heavily depend on Caroline during this hard time. "I'd really like to see Caroline and Stefan enjoy some of that comfort for as long as we can eek it out, before they have to stumble across another obstacle." We also spoke to Plec at length about the final season at Comic-Con!

At a Television Critics Association panel, Plec also touched on how the series will come to a close. Other than teasing a flash forward for the finale, she also said she hopes a lot of characters will return. "I would like to see everyone’s face that I can possibly see again, whether it be in the finale or in flashbacks or the characters who are still alive finding their way through Mystic Falls one last time,” Plec told Entertainment Weekly. “This year is about delivering on eight seasons worth of passion and enthusiasm for these characters and I would be really disappointed not to be able to show off all their faces one last time.”

The president of the network gave fans a sigh of relief when he revealed that they are definitely trying to get Nina Dobrev back for the series finale. "There are discussions going on with Nina," Pedowitz said during a TCA panel. "She was integral to The Vampire Diaries. Hopefully it will work out — but, should it not, Julie has planned a great series finale for fans."

During the Comic-Con panel, Somerhalder teased that Enzo and Damon will be doing "some gnarly sh*t" on the new season. "The mind-control thing is actually really interesting because ultimately you're used to seeing Damon or Enzo or any of these characters exert that power onto someone else. So when you see them in this realm where they literally have no control over their actions . . . in their minds they're still them, so there's that conflict and struggle."

"Stefan is just crying constantly, missing his bro," Wesley joked during the show's Comic-Con panel. "He's always concerned for Damon. It is back to the original dynamic of the brothers. They were obviously much more contentious in the beginning, but the dynamic was always Damon getting in trouble and Stefan trying to save him and so I think that in particular, this is the case. Stefan is normalized, but we'll see how long that lasts. For the time, he has a broken heart over his big bro/lover."

"She's very busy splitting time for family life, and as you saw at the end of the finale, helping Stefan and Bonnie track down Damon and Enzo," Accola said during the panel. "She's juggling all those things."

"Caroline has put a lot of the past behind her. At this point, we saaw in the finale that her and Stefan came together, so she's really just trying to be a support system for him and that's her main goal right now, just supporting her love and her children."

At Comic-Con, Graham spoke about how she wants Bonnie's storyline to end, plus how involved her character will be in saving Damon and Enzo: "I think very instrumental, that's my opinion. Mind you, that might not happen. The process has begun. They're going out to find them, they're very proactive to see what's happening to try to bring them back, but there's something of a mind control that has happened, and we haven't really explored that."

During interviews at Comic-Con, Malarkey confirmed that the creature that has taken over his and Damon's body is "a being of some sort."

He also said that this season, "everything is focused on the group. The group is looking for Damon and Enzo, so everybody is together."