Where exactly are The Vampire Diaries' Bonnie and Damon? Viewers are finally about to get that highly anticipated answer.
"We'll figure it out in the next episode," executive producer Caroline Dries told a small group of reporters following a screening of the Season 6 premiere. "They're discovering it along with the audience. [The final scene was] to tease people [and say], 'Don't worry we haven't forgotten about them.'"
But before that glimpse of Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Bonnie (Kat Graham), the premiere picked up months after Season 5's fateful events: Elena (Nina Dobrev) began a hallucinatory hobby, Caroline (Candice Accola) was out of college while Tyler (Michael Trevino) began, Alaric (Matt Davis) was teaching at college — blood bag now in tow — Matt (Zach Roerig) took up a new sport in Mystic Falls, Jeremy (Steven R. McQueen) made out with a new girl and Stefan (Paul Wesley) was a mechanic down South. Although some of the gang has attempted to move on with their lives, it's clear that others are desperately holding onto the past. For Elena, the pain is too much to bear, and by the end of the season opener she asks Alaric to compel her to forget that she ever loved Damon. Will he actually grant her wish? Read on for Dries' answers to that question and more.
How will Alaric respond to Elena's request for compulsion?
Dries: That's a big part of the next episode. Damon is his friend too, so for her it's a hard decision, but for him it's like, "I don't know if I can do this to my friend." So, that will be his emotional journey in the next episode.
What's going to develop between Alaric and Jo (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe)?
Dries: What we wanted to explore is that he is a vampire hunter who was turned into a vampire and went crazy and died. Now that he's back, he'll have some emotional baggage. But he's also an adult figure in the show. So, as Elena is going through her drama and Jeremy [goes] through his drama, he can't just sit there and mope about his problems. So, he internalizes a lot of stuff. One of the conflicts he's having is he hates being a vampire ... so how [does he] go on a normal date or be a normal guy again? She's going to bring that side out of him and that's what the struggle is going to be. And I like that he's so overtly flawed. We're not going to play a blood lust story for him. It's more [an] "he's uncomfortable in his own skin" story.
What's the deal with Tripp (Colin Ferguson)?
Dries: He came about because we wanted to show Matt thriving in Mystic Falls without supernaturals. Every episode Matt is having his life in jeopardy or someone is threatening to kill him. So, what's Matt's life like when he can not have a death threat every five minutes? We wanted to give him a father figure, so that's where Tripp came out of. But it's Mystic Falls: Not everyone is who they say they want to be, but he'll ultimately become an interesting, layered character that's not necessarily a good guy or a bad guy, but represents a normal person's point-of-view unlike the whole vampire world.
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LOST IN…? | So where are Damon and Bonnie hanging out? “We’ll figure it out in the next episode,” Dries reveals. “They’re discovering it along with the audience.” Could the presence of Collective Soul’s 1993 ditty “Shine” and Damon’s flannel attire mean that they’ve gone back in time? “It’s supposed to make you ask questions like that,” is all Dries would say. (Hmm, could the upcoming 1990s Damon/Stefan flashbacks in Episode 4, which “help tie together a bunch of storylines,” have something to do with all this, too?)
FORGET ME NOT | Overwhelmed with the idea of feeling the loss of Damon for eternity, Elena asked Original vamp Alaric to compel her to forget she was ever in love with the elder Salvatore. But will Alaric actually go through with her request? “That’s a big part of the next episode,” Dries replies. “Damon is his friend, too. For her, it’s a hard decision. But for him, it’s also like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this to my friend.’ So that will be his emotional journey in the next episode.”
And although it may seem like Elena’s love life is dead, what with Damon gone and Stefan cutting off ties to Mystic Falls, Dries assures, “We definitely keep the love stories alive. They may not play out in a traditional way, but they will feel very satisfying. … I think it’s done in a way that feels fresh for a show that’s in Season 6 and has had these same characters in this love triangle for a long time. I don’t really call it a triangle because Stefan has become more of like a soul friend of Elena’s. He’s dealing with his own stuff, but these two are still very connected. It’s more of, ‘How do we maintain Elena and Damon’s love story while he’s not present?’”
ALL HOPE IS NOT LOST | Stefan’s new love interest will be sticking around “for a little while,” providing a glimpse into what Stefan’s “process is as a vampire, starting over and living a different identity,” Dries describes. Part of beginning his new life, as we learned in the premiere, is abandoning any hope of bringing back Damon – not that everyone shares that pessimistic outlook. “Enzo is going to turn out to have had a different reaction to Damon’s death,” Dries previews. “He’s not going to give up on him. His point of view on Damon is in direct conflict to Stefan’s point of view on him.” Meanwhile, Enzo and Damon’s other “bro,” Alaric, won’t be drowning their sorrows together any time soon. “If anything, they will not be the best of friends,” the EP teases.
FORGET ME NOT | Overwhelmed with the idea of feeling the loss of Damon for eternity, Elena asked Original vamp Alaric to compel her to forget she was ever in love with the elder Salvatore. But will Alaric actually go through with her request? “That’s a big part of the next episode,” Dries replies. “Damon is his friend, too. For her, it’s a hard decision. But for him, it’s also like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this to my friend.’ So that will be his emotional journey in the next episode.”
And although it may seem like Elena’s love life is dead, what with Damon gone and Stefan cutting off ties to Mystic Falls, Dries assures, “We definitely keep the love stories alive. They may not play out in a traditional way, but they will feel very satisfying. … I think it’s done in a way that feels fresh for a show that’s in Season 6 and has had these same characters in this love triangle for a long time. I don’t really call it a triangle because Stefan has become more of like a soul friend of Elena’s. He’s dealing with his own stuff, but these two are still very connected. It’s more of, ‘How do we maintain Elena and Damon’s love story while he’s not present?’”
ALL HOPE IS NOT LOST | Stefan’s new love interest will be sticking around “for a little while,” providing a glimpse into what Stefan’s “process is as a vampire, starting over and living a different identity,” Dries describes. Part of beginning his new life, as we learned in the premiere, is abandoning any hope of bringing back Damon – not that everyone shares that pessimistic outlook. “Enzo is going to turn out to have had a different reaction to Damon’s death,” Dries previews. “He’s not going to give up on him. His point of view on Damon is in direct conflict to Stefan’s point of view on him.” Meanwhile, Enzo and Damon’s other “bro,” Alaric, won’t be drowning their sorrows together any time soon. “If anything, they will not be the best of friends,” the EP teases.
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