The CWOh. My. God.
Did you make it through The Vampire Diaries season six finale alive? Because we sure didn't. Executive producers Julie Plec and Caroline Dries killed us.
Not only did we have to endure all the nostalgic and heartbreaking goodbye scenes between Elena (Nina Dobrev) and all her loved ones as she prepared to enter a 60-70 year "sleeping beauty" coma thanks to Kai's (Christopher Wood) spell linking Bonnie (Kat Graham) to her, but we also had to watch as Alaric (Matt Davis) lost his new wife Jo (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe) and tried to shoot himself in the head and Tyler (Michael Trevino) had to kill his dying girlfriend Liv (Penelope Mitchell) to trigger his werewolf curse to save his own life.
Phew. This was like the scariest horror movie and the most gut wrenching romantic drama all rolled into one. We were left a blubbering mess by the end of the hour, drowning in a puddle of our own tears. Dead.
And that's not to mention that final scene: Mystic Falls, completely trashed and abandoned at some mysterious point in the future. What. Happened?! We had to get TVD boss Dries on the line immediately after watching the finale to get as much season seven scoop as possible.
E! News: That final scene looked like the apocalypse hit Mystic Falls.
Caroline Dries: That's the tease we're leaving with you to mull over the summer: what the heck happened to Mystic Falls without Elena? It's to be answered in the premiere, but the time jump is part of the narrative and story of episode 1. Why are there boarded-up windows? Why is there garbage everywhere? What the heck happened? Why is Damon standing on that clock tower looking so pissed off?
Can you say how far into the future that is?
We are keeping it all a mystery for now. It will be covered in the premiere. Those questions will all be answered in the premiere.
Is the entire season going to take place in the future or are we going to jump back and forth?
We'll catch up to that time period. It will make sense when you see the premiere, but we'll stay in that time period after the premiere.
The heretics were finally let loose upon the world. Are they going to be the new big bads of next season? I'm extremely terrified to see you try to top Kai as the ultimate villain.
I know! At the helm of the heretics is Lily Salvatore, who is incredibly frightening because she has the ability to manipulate her sons. The conflict of season seven will become the Salvatore brothers vs. their mom and her family of heretics. It's going to be two warring factions pitted against each other.
What can you tell me about how Damon and everyone else are faring without Elena? Who's grieving is going to surprise us the most?
We're not going to do a ton of "grieving," besides Alaric who is grieving the loss of his future family. But Elena left on great terms with everyone and I think inspired them with her goodbyes. If anything, they're empowered by what she said and less grieving. They also feel freedom to have life after her. She granted them that.
Speaking of Alaric, I'm pretty sure I will never forgive you guys for making me watch him try to shoot himself in the head.
It was really, really heartbreaking. The funny thing is we knew we were going to have Jo die on the altar from the beginning of the season. That was even before we cast her or really knew who the character would become. When we finally got to it, and it happened, it was so much harder. But it was very appropriate for the story.
That might have been the most devastating thing you've done throughout the entire series to date.
[Laughs] I agree with you.
Early in the episode, Tyler triggered his werewolf gene and that scene was so heartbreaking, but correct me if I'm wrong, we didn't see him leave town, right? How are you going to explain Michael Trevino's absence?
Actually, he does leave town. We're going to explain it in season seven. It was in a scene that we ended up cutting for time. He jumped in Jeremy's truck with him. The implication is he's off with Jeremy, and letting his werewolf fate be the thing that makes him extraordinary. It was his call to arms. He's running off with Jeremy to go hunt vampires.
I would totally watch that spinoff.
[Laughs] Me too!
I really loved seeing Jeremy return! Was there anyone you wanted to come back for a goodbye to Elena that you couldn't get for any reason?
Was anyone else still alive? I don't think so! I think Jeremy is the only one left alive in her life, honestly. [Laughs] So he was the big surprise.
Stefan and Caroline's future seems very hopeful—one of the only happy, hopeful storylines on the show right now. What can you tell me about what we're going to see from that relationship next season?
That relationship in season seven will become the heart and soul of the season. You'll be rooting for them, there will be external conflicts working against them, but they will be committed to fighting for each other. You'll be seeing a lot more of them.
What was the hardest goodbye scene to write?
Probably the Stefan/Elena scene, because they have so much baggage in their relationship. It was really hard to just wrap that up and have them say goodbye. How do you even begin to say goodbye to someone like that? But all the scenes were so beautiful. My favorite was Bonnie floating the feathers for Elena and seeing that look of awe on Elena's face. It reminded me of the innocence of season one and you remember how far they've come.
Speaking of Stefan and Elena, I loved the speech where Stefan confessed how Elena helped bring him and Damon back together, and that's why she was so important to him. That felt very important for the show to explicitly state after all of these seasons so focused on the love triangle.
Yeah, it was our way of appreciating the Stefan/Elena relationship and then cementing what will ultimately become one of the love stories of season seven, which is back to basics with Stefan and Damon and their love story as brothers.
Now that's a love story we definitely need to see...right now. If only to make up for our absolutely devastated hearts.
Watch Elena's goodbye to Damon here and cry just a few more tears: