The Vampire Diaries Bosses Spill on Damon, Elena and the Craziness Ahead

Exclusive scoop on what to expect when blood-sucking CW fan favorite finally returns

Boom, boom, boom. Let's go back to that tomb!

That is the plan as the CW's highly addictive Vampire Diaries finally returns tonight, picking up several weeks after the show's best shocker yet: Katherine (Nina Dobrev) wasn't in the tomb. Gaaah! And there is a woman in the world who does not want to be with Ian Somerhalder. Double gaaah! (And wait...really?!)

Turns out, according to the show's boss Kevin Williamson, the tomb opening without Katherine inside was just one of six—yes, six—major cliffhangers he's planning for the rest of the season...

"He has to realize, 'Wait, this woman didn't want me?' " Williamson says of Somerhalder's character Damon, who realized in the most recent episode that the love of his life has been avoiding him for nearly century and a half. " 'One hundred and forty-five years I have pined for her, and she's not there? And she knew it?' And he's furious."

Kevin also hints that Damon may end up being a smidge more decent when all is said and done. "To watch him spiral out of control and then watch him put the pieces back together," Williamson says, "oddly enough, this may hurt so much it may just bring out some humanity in him."

Executive Producer Julie Plec reminds us that there are far greater things to worry about than Damon's poor wittle bwoken heawt. "The biggest thing that happens when the show comes back is that the tomb didn't necessarily close," she says. "The vampires coming out of the tomb, that's a big deal. That's a problem for our poor little good vampires in Mystic Falls."

Julie also hints that the Katherine blow may bring Elena and Damon closer: "Katherine is such a naughty, evil little minx. She just blew Damon's whole reason for being, in one move. A lot of what's happening for Damon is he's lost all will to live. And watching him express himself is actually really funny."

Bring on the booze! "He's pretty much drunk for a couple episodes. Then he starts to realize that he may not have Katherine, but there's Elena kind of in the picture and watching him look at her in a different way, not under the lens of 'she looks like the woman I love,' but 'the woman I love doesn't give a crap about me and here's this girl that I'm building this friendship with.' "

Still, before you Damon-Elena shippers get too excited, Julie adds: "They go through some ups and downs. He's done some nasty stuff that she finds out coming up. She finds out something that he did that is not forgivable in any way, and it really puts a divide between them."

The question remains, what kind of woman would stand up Ian for 145 years, hiding out (presumably) in Chicago? "One of the things we will reveal is the why," Kevin says. "And it's a little interesting. It's a little diabolical. Katherine is Katherine. Katherine is a beast. She is a fickle little narcissist, and she gets what she wants. And she can have anything that she wants. And the idea that having a hot guy like that pining away for her for 145 years just can soothe an ego so well I'm sure on a rainy night."

Sounds like match made in heaven...or that other place a little farther south.

Which Vampire Diaries couplings are you rooting for as the show returns tonight?