After a lot of speculation about the show's future, it has been confirmed that "The Vampire Diaries" Season 8 will be the show's final run. The announcement was made during the show's San Diego Comic Con 2016 panel.
"It's bittersweet and emotional," co-creator Julie Plec said at Comic Con about the show's impending end, as reported by Deadline. On a brighter note, "The Vampire Diaries" co-creator Kevin Williamson is returning to write a few episodes for the show.
"There is this really great thing to happen with this final bad," Williamson said about his return to "The Vampire Diaries" Season 8. Plec added that the villain is something the show has never done before.
With "The Vampire Diaries" Season 8 being the final season, Plec revealed that the show's writers are piecing together a mid-season finale that is peppered with a lot of Christmas elements. "It is all about bringing it all back home," Plec teased, hinting that the mid-season wrapper may be one emotional tearjerker.
The panel did not discuss Nina Dobrev's rumored return in "The Vampire Diaries" Season 8. However, Plec has previously shared that she intends to bring back Dobrev for the show's final episode.
"Nina has always said that if there's something for her to do in the series finale that she will be there to do it," Plec told Entertainment Weekly in an interview. When she left, she said, "I want to see this character to its end at the end of the show, so I can't wait to come back and put her to bed again.'"
Meanwhile, Allison Scagliotti is the newcomer on "The Vampire Diaries" Season 8. She stars as Georgia, who is described as a research intern with "existential anxieties." She will channel her anxieties into a new field of a study that will force her to face her dark past. It is said that her research may be useful for saving Damon and Enzo.
A new character named Sybil will also be introduced in "The Vampire Diaries" Season 8. She's an "immortal who uses her immeasurable power and influence to control other people, manipulating them into twisted games and tests for her own amusement and glorification."
Will Damon and Enzo ultimately be saved? Will Nina Dobrev return to the show for a final hurrah? Questions will be answered when "The Vampire Diaries" Season 8 returns to The CW on Oct. 21.
Watch "The Vampire Diaries" Season 8 Comic-Con trailer below: