The Vampire Diaries Finale: How Elena's Presence Will Be Felt

Much like Alaric (Matt Davis) and Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) before her, Bonnie (Kat Graham) has become a vampire hunter on The Vampire Diaries.But unlike her predecessors, Bonnie isn't just any ol' hunter; she's the hunter, which is going to make bringing her back to the good side even more challenging.

Can Damon (Ian Somerhalder) save Bonnie before it's too late? Will Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Caroline (Candice King) get back together? And what was with that Elena (Nina Dobrev) name-drop in the trailer?! Check out our interview with co-executive producer and the finale's writer Brian Young to find out.

Damon has always been this very selfish character, but he's been doing some soul-searching recently. Is he really at a place now where he's willing to make sacrifices for those he loves?
Brian Young: Well, he is still Damon, so I'd always take with a grain of salt Damon's willingness to sacrifice. But I think that over the course of this season, over the course of the show, he has undergone a big character arc and has learned about love and caring about other people, and learning that you can be a selfish person, but at the same time that leaves you a lonely person. I think Damon is struggling with the trade-off of between being the selfish, devil-may-care kind of guy that he always is and what that means for his relationships, and if he can keep them while still being that person and if he wants to still be that person.

We know Damon goes into the vault in an attempt to save Bonnie. What can you say about what he finds in there?
Young: It's bad! It's really bad. And it's something that we've been teasing over the past couple of episodes and it's something they'll be dealing with in this episode and moving forward into the next season.

Everyone's freaking out over Damon saying Elena's name in the trailer. How will Elena's presence be felt in the finale?
Young: At Damon's core, his relationship with Elena is and always will be paramount to him. So Damon, while he's willing to do anything for his friends, if he even hears a glimpse of what could be Elena, it changes his whole perspective on anything. As much as he wants to go out and live his life, that will always be part of him. If she's in play, it changes his whole perspective.

Does the fact that Bonnie was given Rayna's life affect her bond with Elena at all?
Young: No. As far as the supernatural bond between the two of them that Kai created, that is completely separate. That still stands.

Will we see Bonnie fighting back against her hunter urges or have they completely taken over?
Young: No, she's still fighting. One of the great things about Bonnie is we've put Bonnie through so much s--t over the course of the show, and Bonnie is one of the strongest characters. And Kat's so great. She's such a great actress and great at playing it. People always give us a little bit of a hard time because of how much s--t we put Bonnie through, but it's because Bonnie is so strong and because it's so exciting and so interesting for us to see Bonnie rise up out of the ashes of these situations that she's in.

How is Enzo (Michael Malarkey) coping with the fact that Bonnie wants to kill him?
Young: It's awful! It's hard for him. He's found the love of his life and here she is trying to kill him. So I think it is not a good situation. But luckily, he's found a kindred spirit in Damon who's also willing to do whatever it takes to save Bonnie's life and make whatever sacrifice needs to be made to save Bonnie, because they both care about her so much.

If they manage to get through this, will Bonnie finally forgive Damon for desiccating himself?
Young: We'll have to see, but I think Damon is certainly checking all the right boxes.

Stefan and Caroline's relationship is in a very odd place right now. What can we expect of them in the finale?
Young: Caroline and Stefan have had over the past three years a really rough go of it because of the choices Stefan made and the choices Caroline made also. In this episode, we really wanted to tease out and figure out where they both stand and where Caroline stands in her relationship with Alaric, because she has this family now and Stefan just recently came back into her life. So it's a big challenge for her and it's a big thing that she's going to have to wrestle with. I definitely think there will be movement over the course of the episode in terms of where they end up.

Julie Plec has said two characters willnever be the same after the finale. Any hints you can give about what she meant by that?
Young: No. They're just going to be different. In Season 8, there will be a big shift in two of our characters' lives. And [the other characters will] have to rally the troops and figure out what they need to do to get them back.

The Vampire Diaries finale airs Friday at 8/7c on The CW.

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