A week before the season 7 premiere of "The Vampire Diaries," fans of the show are still hoping that the new season will see the return of Nina Dobrev, who played Elena Gilbert for six seasons. Given that the Elena and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) love storyline is one of the things that has made the show very popular among young viewers, fans are keeping their fingers crossed that the actress will make her return to the series. Elena, instead of being killed off, was put into an enchanted sleep during the season 6 finale.
But Dobrev has said time and again that her time in the series is done. When she announced that she was leaving the show back in April, she stated that she has always envisioned that Elena's adventures will end after six seasons and, moreover, she bade her character goodbye in an emotional speech at the 2015 Teen Choice Awards last month.
In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, Dobrev confirmed that she won't be appearing on "The Vampire Diaries".
"That chapter is closed, sadly—bittersweet," she told the website.
But although she won't be on the show, she said that she will be tuning in and that she "can't wait to see what the new season will look like."
"I'll be watching. I'm very excited for my friends," she said.
With Elena gone, expect some of the characters to feel the effects of her absence when the new season premieres. Aside from Damon, one person who will feel the impact of Elena's loss is Bonnie (Kat Graham). In the finale, it was revealed that Elena will remain in the enchanted sleep unless Bonnie dies.
In an interview with TVLine, Graham previewed how her character will be coping after what happened to Elena.
"Bonnie's not very sympathetic to a lot anymore because she lost Elena," said Graham. "She's lost everyone but Caroline and her mom that she cared about, so she's going into this season in a different mentality."
"The Vampire Diaries" season 7 premieres on Oct. 8 at 8/7c on The CW.
