Mark Pedowitz, the president of the CW network, spoke about Nina Dobrev’s possible return to The Vampire Diaries at the 2016 TCAs.
There’s a lot of things The Vampire Diaries fans want to see in the season 8 finale, which will serve as the conclusion for the series. However, at the very top of that list is the return of Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert.
While nothing is set in stone yet, TVLine reports that Pedowitz admitted that “there are discussions going on with Nina,” and that they’d “love to have Nina back.” This echoes the sentiments of The Vampire Diaries showrunner, Julie Plec, at 2016 San Diego Comic-Con this year.
Related: 10 things we learned from The Vampire Diaries final appearance at SDCC
Since Dobrev’s many characters have been absolutely integral to the series from day one, we really can’t imagine the show ending without a final appearance from her. Many fans are particularly anxious to see one more reunion between Elena Gilbert and Damon Salvatore before the show’s end.
That being said, the show apparently has a back-up plan if she chooses not to return. Pedowitz followed up his statements by saying, “hopefully she’ll be back, but should it not work out, Julie has planned a great series finale [that will satisfy fans].”
Although obviously discussions are ongoing, Plec has previously stated that the possibility of Dobrev returning for the series finale was discussed when she decided to leave the show at the end of season 6, and that she intended to return at the time.
We don’t see how a finale without Dobrev could possibly be completely satisfying, so we’re definitely hoping she’ll decide to return to the series that she helped to build.
Related: Sarah Salvatore returning to The Vampire Diaries in season 8