The Vampire Diaries showrunner Julie Plec opens up about the writers’ decision to keep Klaus around despite earlier plans to kill him at the end of season 3, and shares some season 4 spoilers.

Speaking to TV Line, Plec reveals the reason for letting Klaus survive Alaric’s attack:

Our intention was to kill Klaus at the end of season 3. We created the character last year… and our intention was, that after a long, arduous year of trying to vanquish and defeat the villain, our heroes would prevail and he would be no more. But when you have actors [like Joseph Morgan] who are that good, making such a distinct mark in the roles that they are playing, you have to let your storytelling evolve and wrap around that a little bit. We collectively decided around the middle of season 3 that we weren’t done with Klaus — or Joseph. We also weren’t done with the Original family, because with the addition of Rebekah and Kol, there’s still a lot of story to tell.

She also talks about Rebekah, and what her role will be next season:

What I’m excited about with Rebekah [in season 4], specifically, is that we have never had a true antagonist on a human/teenage level. As we get into the second half of their senior year, here’s Rebekah, still in Mystic Falls, heading back to school, completely ostracized from the community of people that she knows because of what she did to Elena and Matt [in the finale]. She’s completely loathed by the one guy [Matt] that she had a crush on, and also by her past love [Stefan]. What’s she going to do about that? How does a vampire, who has all kinds of mind control capabilities and sass, carve her way into the high school world when the people that we love hate her guts? Once she gets over the hump of being “World’s Most Hated” in the yearbook, how will she live? And what will her life be like?

Finally, Plec reveals that this will be the year all the characters graduate from high school. “Each of them is going to have a transitional journey about where they go and what they’re meant to be,” she says. “It’s going to be a really exciting year because it’s one of endings as much as it’s about new beginnings.”