The Vampire Diaries will return to the CW on Friday with a brand new season that will mark the beginning of the end of the vampire drama.
Season 8 will be the final season for The Vampire Diaries and it will see Ian Somerhalder's Damon and Nina Dobrev's Elena reuniting. It is not immediately known if Dobrev has agreed to return to the show to wrap up Elena's storyline, but showrunner Julie Plec recently revealed to TVLine that Elena has a strong presence in the final season.
"We set up at the end [of Season 7] that Stefan had kept up with writing in the journal to keep [Elena] up to speed with everything they've been going through," Plec reminded TVLine. "We really keep that up in the beginning of the season. Everyone has their turn telling their stories in the journal. With that, we've gotten to both keep Elena's character alive, but also return to the nostalgia of Season 1 when 'Dear diary' was a thing."
Describing Season 8 as a "year of finallys," Plec said that the "because it's the last season, we get to deliver on all the things we've been keeping a nice Santa's wish list of."
Season 8 episode 1 is titled Hello, Brother and it can be watched online on Cwtv.com. The synopsis for Hello, Brother reads:
Months after Damon and Enzo mysteriously vanished from the Armory vault, Stefan tirelessly pushes forward with their search, while Bonnie struggles holding onto hope that they will be found. Meanwhile, a dangerous encounter with an unexpected visitor leaves Caroline and Alaric fearing that someone – or something – may be targeting their family. Finally, after following some mysterious clues, Stefan realises that whatever has a hold of his brother may have a more damaging grip over him than he could have ever imagined.
The Vampire Diaries airs Fridays on The CW.
