Vampire Diaries Boss on Enzo's Next Move, the Fate of the Other Side and Three Major Deaths

Enzo is down, but he's not out quite yet.

Although the witty vampire was killed on Thursday's Vampire Diaries, he will still be a villainous force throughout the rest of the season

On Thursday's episode, Damon's one-time cell partner Enzo (Michael Malarkey) finally found out the fate of his love Maggie (Heather Hemmens). He not only learned that she was dead, but also that his best friend Damon (Ian Somerhalder) had killed her in the 1960s. Taking his anger out on Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Elena (Nina Dobrev), Enzo ultimately ended up in a battle that forced Stefan to rip Enzo's heart out. But even though Enzo is on the other side, he made it clear — in ghost form — that he's still out for blood.     

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"We purposefully had him show up at the end as a ghost to imply his story is not over," executive producer Caroline Dries told a small group of reporters after screening the episode. "He is going to become this ghost villain moving forward and we'll see him all the way through to the finale as the bad guy."

But just how much wrath can Enzo inflict when the other side is crumbling? And how long before Damon finds out that Enzo is dead? Plus: Now that The Travelers have figured out how to break the witches' curse, are magic and the supernatural at risk? Dries answers our burning questions below.

What exactly can Enzo do from the other side?
Dries: You can do a lot ... it turns out. He's determined to make Damon and Stefan's life a living hell. We realize why and how he's able to do that and it's because what's happening on the other side is giving him more liberties than some of the other ghosts have had. So, his story isn't just about him being the villain, but about us seeing a new set of eyes into this other side world. It's like, "God, what's going to happen over there?"

Will Enzo's plans on the other side run parallel with what The Travelers are doing?
Dries: They're two separate things, which if we were slightly more clever we would've found a way to make it all happen. But what we were trying to do is give The Travelers the simplest goal in the world, which is a place to call home. The other side component is more of our desire to get rid of it. Moving forward, when characters do die it's deadsville.

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So will there be any permanent deaths by the season's end?
Dries: I can think of three off-hand.  

What exactly does the ingestion of doppelganger blood do for The Travelers?
Dries: It literally undoes magic. So, what we saw with Sloan (Caitlin McHugh) is that it strips away her vampirism and leaves her in the state before she was a vampire, which is dead. If you were do that to Damon the same thing would happen. If they can do this globally, will this get rid of all vampires? That's the threat. [Travelers] care less about vampires and more about undoing the curse put on their people. So, for them, passengering into 25 innocent people is worth the entire Traveler community finding a home. We address it in Episode 21.

Is Tyler (Michael Trevino) permanently a Traveler now?
Dries: Michael Trevino had an interesting story line this season where he's missing Caroline (Candice Accola) and going through angst. We [needed] to channel that and find a story line where he can be more front and center and not just based on a love story line. We thought, let's have what happened to Katherine happen to Tyler and the drama is there's no getting out. That knife is gone — he's stuck. So, you'll see what happens in the finale.

Speaking of Caroline, is love (ahem, Stefan) in her future?
Dries: She's got feelings for someone that will creep up to the surface and that'll cause a potential rift between her and one of her friends. But it's going to be under the surface. In Season 6, we'll see her set her sights on [that] someone and make that move.  

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Damon told Elena they can't be friends. How long will this last?
Dries: As writers, we were like, "Let's see if we can do a whole episode where Damon doesn't really look at Elena." They do interact [this episode] when he's rescuing them, but there's no scene together; he puts her in bed and disappears before she opens her eyes. Moving forward in the next episode, we purposely throw them into a world together where they can't help but be on top of each other. So, we're playing into the drama of this purgatory in the relationship like, "How do we act when we can't escape each other?"

Bonnie (Kat Graham) made the decision not to tell Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) she's probably dying. Will she keep it a secret?
Dries: We thought, "How can we play this out and what would Jeremy's reaction be when he finds out she's destined to die?" We decided, "What if Jeremy doesn't find out? Is that a nicer gift for him to have since he's gone through this and she's been through this before?" What if she's like, "You know what, I'm living on borrowed time anyway. I'm not supposed to be back here, so why don't I just treat every day as a gift and not be putting this burden on other people?" It's her way of coping.

What's next for the group?
Dries: Pushing towards the finale, they have a united cause because the Travelers are trying to rip away their home and this is something they rally around. The question is: What will happen to Bonnie and our friends who are over there? Do they just go away like Vicki (Kayla Ewell) did? These things are spiraling out of control around them and ... when you see the finale, this giant thing happens. We're breaking Season 6 and we start with everyone in a different orbit in a way. Season 6 will be a lot of bringing people back together [and] picking up the pieces.

Catch up on The Vampire Diaries with last week's episode here and check out the cast playing "Shag, Marry, Stake" below:

Additional reporting by Natalie Abrams

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

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