The rumors and speculations about the impending return of Nina Dobrev in the upcoming Season 8 of the American supernatural drama series “The Vampire Diaries” have been non-stop since it made it online following the Season 7 finale of the show on The CW on May.
Nina Dobrev’s return to “The Vampire Diaries” has almost been confirmed by executive producer Julie Plec after being absent during its full Season 7 run. The biggest question among fans is whether she will come back to reprise her Elena Gilbert role or not.
Some rumors are alluding that Dobrev will not return as Elena Gilbert because Ian Somerhalder, who plays Damon Salvatore in the TV series, does not like it to be since his character is already happy with Bonnie Bennet, played by Kat Graham, there are also some speculations suggesting that Nina would reprise his all-time role in Mystic Falls.
Interestingly, the return of Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert could actually mean the demise of Bonnie Bennet, who incidentally is the current romantic lady love of Damon in the TV series.
Placed under a jinx spell
It can be recalled that during the Season 6 finale of “The Vampire Diaries,” Elena and Bonnie were placed under a jinx by former villain Kai Parker, played by Chris Wood.
The jinx placed Elena in a deep slumber and there would be no physical or magical means of waking her up from the curse. The only way to wake her up is through Bonnie’s death, details the Christian Times.
Since Nina Dobrev was already on the way out of the show back then, it was agreed that Bonnie just live the days remaining in her mortal life while Elena lies asleep in a protected coffin.
So if Elena Gilbert wakes up from her deep slumber, it would automatically mean the death of Bonnie.
However, there are also rumors saying that Damon shall reportedly be the one to kill Bonnie in order to wake up Elena, reports the Parent Herald.
All these remain as speculations, however, pending the confirmation or denial from the showrunner or the cast members themselves when filming for Season 8 begins soon.
Big story to unfold
In a recent interview, showrunner Julie Plec revealed that she wants Elena Gilbert to return because she is planning to unfold a big story for the character for the eighth and reportedly last season of “The Vampire Diaries.”
It is the vestige of humanity that prevented Damon from killing Bonnie during the Season 6 finale just to bring back Elena. However, with all the goodness stripped from Damon and Enzo St. John by Sybil, Bonnie will surely be in danger come Season 8.
Bonnie shall reportedly be able to go so far without her magic and friends in “The Vampire Diaries” Season 8 and Julie Plec even confirmed that the character will have a rough sailing on the upcoming season of the hit TV series.
Julie Plec promised that Nina Dobrev will be reuniting Elena Gilbert with Damon Salvatore either at the start or at the tail end of Season 8, which actually hints at the possible end of the show.
But Plec added that if “The Vampire Diaries” gets picked up by The CW for Season 9, Nina Dobrev will definitely be around then.
However, the show may already be up for another problem by then since Ian Somerhalder and Kat Graham had previously stated that they will only be good until Season 8 of “The Vampire Diaries.”
Basically, it will be up to the ratings of “The Vampire Diaries” in Season 8 if it deserves a renewal for Season 9 or not and if Nina Dobrev is able to perk things up as expected for the popular TV show.
The poor ratings of “The Vampire Diaries” during its Season 7 speak for itself, which only points to the fact that the reason for the slide is because of the absence of Nina Dobrev.