We chatted with The Vampire Diaries' leading lady Nina Dobrev and she spilled answers to all of your most burning season 6 questions.
All right be honest — who else has a severe case of whiplash from all the twists and turns in The Vampire Diaries' season 6 premiere?
We finally reunited with our favorite Whitmore blood-suckers (formerly of Mystic Falls,) and we discovered it has been about four months since the jaw-dropping events of season five finale. Unfortunately, despite the months that have passed, it seems like all of our characters are still struggling to cope with their losses and maintain their sanity.
Here’s what you need to know…
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Stefan is MIA in some random town pretending not to be a vampire, Tyler has some serious pre-werewolf anger problems, and Caroline dropped out of college so she could literally live on the border of her past and present self. Meanwhile, Jeremy has been drowning his Bonnie-loving sorrows in the arms of any floozy he can find, Matt has joined some Mystic Falls safety brigade, and Alaric hates being a vampire with a fiery passion.
Lastly, Elena has been so desperate to cling onto Damon that she’s been blackmailing Luke to get her hands on a dangerous witchy herb which allows her to hallucinate conversations with her former beau. Oh and as for Damon and Bonnie? In the final few seconds of the episode, we discovered that our dearly departed duo seems to be in some kind of kitchen in the great beyond, eating pancakes and reading the newspaper. Ummm. crazy, right?!
To help sort out that whirlwind of an hour, we chatted with The Vampire Diaries’ leading lady Nina Dobrev and she spilled answers to all of your most burning season 6 questions. Read on to find out what’s next for Ms. Gilbert, your favorite charcters and if there is any hope left for a real Delena reunion!
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ETonline: Spill it, Nina: Where are Bonnie and Damon?
Nina Dobrev: [Laughs] They don’t really clear it up for a while. It's very kind of ambiguous and confusing for a while, for both the characters and for the audience to figure out where they are, what they're doing, and what they're going through.
(Writer's Note: We can confirm that more questions of Damon and Bonnie's whereabouts will be answered in the next week's episode. Additionally, ETonline exclusively reported that by episode four, Damon has figured out that his best chance to get back to the present is by delving into his past.)
Despite her delusions, Elena seems to be headed down an extremely dark path—yet again. How does this loss compare to the ones in her past?
ND: I feel like I've had a lot of dark and emotional stuff to deal with in the whole six years that I've been on the show, so it just feels like another day at the office to me. But it's so exciting to have a new storyline and a new change. Change is always good and I welcome it, so it feels great to have these new challenges and this new chapter.
Do you ever just wish Elena could be happy for a change?
ND: I love when that happens! It's really fun to have happy Elena but because of the circumstances that she lives in, that’s rarely the case.
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Looking ahead, what’s going through Elena’s mind now that it seems like she has lost Damon for a second time?
ND: She's lost him and she's very aware of this loss and obviously she's very devastated. She kind of flips the switch, like her vampire switch where she shuts off her emotions. Only this time, she chooses to store them or see them differently, and that kind of cheats the system in a way. Ultimately, this is very unhealthy for her and for everyone around her, but that's the only coping mechanism for her at this time.
How has it been having Alaric back into the mix? It feels like he’s the parental figure that Elena desperately needs right now.
ND: I love working with Matt Davis, and so when I heard that he was coming back I was thrilled. I've been working with him a lot this season, and you're right, his character signifies the parental figure. Now he's back in the real world and he can't live in Mystic Falls either, so he's with us at Whitmore and it's been nice to have there.
Are we going to be focusing on Alaric newbie vampire problems a lot this season, or skipping over them since the fans already know all the side effects so well?
ND: I feel like the amount always depends on what new character goes through it, but you're definitely going to see it [with Alaric]. It never stops being exciting. Seeing a vampire in transition kind of bring us back to the roots and reminds you of where we started at the beginning. I always like seeing it, personally.
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Stefan has completely abandoned his old life, why is he choosing to deal with his grief in this way?
ND: Just like Elena, he has coping mechanisms, and the way he's decided to deal with his loss is by shutting himself out of his previous life and shutting himself off to all of his old relationships. He feels like this is the only way to get through it.
Caroline and Elena have had a strained relationship in the past couple of months, what is their friendship going to be like moving forward?
ND: I think they're going to be brought together by this loss, but also torn apart but other things that are going to come up. It's going to be very testing of their friendship, but I feel like ultimately as in life, and on our show, our friendships and our relationships in general are strengthened by conflicts or by the difficult things that we come across. These conflicts make you deal with things and kind of show your true color, so I think it will ultimately make them stronger.
Lastly, please tell us there’s hope for Damon and Elena to reunite and re-kindle their love?
ND: Well Damon has been obliterated into who knows where, so I don’t know what kind of hope we can hang onto. I feel like anything could happen, but they don’t tell me because they know that then I’d tell you, and they don’t want me to give it away.
The Vampire Diaries airs Thursday at 8 p.m. on The CW.