The eighth and final season of The Vampire Diaries is only hours away and fans are closer than ever to discovering how everything shakes out for the Salvatore brothers.
While Damon ( Ian Somerhalder ) and Stefan (Paul Wesley) have been through a lot over the years, fans can expect at least one of the brothers to go through a lot of relationship drama this season.
Will fans finally see Stefan get with Caroline (Candice King)?
“Stefan and Caroline start off pretty strong … and then it kind of spins out of control,” Wesley told TV Line . “It can get dark for a second. But the ultimate thing is, ‘Will they end up together?’ And that I actually don’t know.”
According to Hollywood Life , Stefan and Caroline will confront some serious issues in the coming season.
Not only are they dealing with Damon and Enzo’s possession – which includes a significant amount of carnage – but Caroline is still working through her relationship with Alaric’s (Matt Davis) twins.
With their future up in the air, King admitted that their “relationship will definitely be tested” in Season 8.
“They have to balance some pretty adult things,” King added. “[Stefan] will always choose his brother first.”
As fans will recall, Stefan and Caroline finally got back on track during the Season 7 finale.
The only question remaining is whether or not they can keep it together in the middle of all the drama with Damon.
“They’ve got a really beautifully bumpy journey so far, but I think fans of that ship, as the kids say, will really enjoy it,” King told E! News .
Does this mean the two will finally tie the knot ?
“Definitely not intact the entire time, but perhaps towards the end—although that I can’t even surmise, because I don’t have any inclination as to what the finale will be,” Wesley shared. “I know there were some discussions about it and we have talked about it a little bit, but I ultimately genuinely don’t know what will happen.”
With Stefan being distracted with all the mayhem Damon is creating in Mystic Falls and Caroline raising her kids, they definitely have a lot of distractions.
“Stefan’s trying to save Damon from the big bad that we don’t really know about yet and Caroline is busy juggling relationship and motherhood and co-parenting and work and all those things, so we’re seeing these characters in a little bit more of a grown-up light, which is nice,” King explained.
To complicate everything, Caroline just broke up with Alaric, but still has to raise their children.
King admitted that there is still tension between Caroline and Alaric, though Davis added that working with King in Season 8 of The Vampire Diaries has been a blast.
What about Alaric’s friendship with Stefan?
Apparently, Davis promised that there are no hard feelings between them, only respect.
“Stefan and Alaric have, I think, a mutual respect for each other—I think very similar to the way Paul and I have a mutual respect for each other,” Davis shared.
Apart from Stefan’s relationship with Caroline, fans still don’t know if Nina Dobrev will make an appearance this season.
According to International Business Times , creator Julie Plec might use Dobrev’s Elena Gilbert to help bring Damon back from the dark side .
Although Dobrev’s return hasn’t been confirmed, Plec did tease fans that the actress made a promise to return for the show’s finale.
“Not to put too much pressure on anything Nina Dobrev, but a promise was made. An emotional promise that I’d like to see come to life,” Plec told fans. “You heard it here…there’s been friendship promises made, and now we’ll see if we can deliver on them.”
Whether this means that Dobrev will be an instrumental part of Season 8 or only show up during the finale is yet to be seen.
Unless more information is revealed, fans will have to tune in to find out if Dobrev makes one final appearance.
Season 8 of The Vampire Diaries is slated to contain 16 episodes and will continue on Friday nights.
The opening episode of Season 8 is titled “Hello Brother,” which is a tribute to the first words Damon spoke to Stefan way back in Season 1.
The official synopsis for the episode reads as follows.
“Months after Damon and Enzo mysteriously vanished from the Armory vault, Stefan tirelessly pushes forward with their search, while Bonnie struggles holding onto hope that they will be found. Meanwhile, a dangerous encounter with an unexpected visitor leaves Caroline and Alaric fearing that someone – or something – may be targeting their family. Finally, after following some mysterious clues, Stefan realizes that whatever has a hold of his brother may have a more damaging grip over him than he could have ever imagined.”
The final season of The Vampire Diaries premieres tonight, Oct. 21 on The CW. Check out a couple of sneak peeks below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_BSM5-DJ9s
[Featured Image by Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images]