‘The Vampire Diaries’ Season 7 Spoilers: Caroline And Stefan’s Breakup, Matt’s Future, And More

It’s going to be a long hiatus for The Vampire Diaries Season 7 this winter. Although the next new episode isn’t airing until January 29 – the series, along with The Originals, moves to Fridays – there are a few tidbits out to help make the wait a bit easier if you’re looking to find out what’s coming up next, events that affect both the present and the future three years from now in the flashforwards.

In the last Vampire Diaries episode before the holiday break, Stefan and Damon’s search for Julian didn’t go as planned. After finding a bar full of dead Santas, they ran into Julian, who wasn’t alone. He may not have had the heretics at his side, but he did have “friends.” Stefan and Damon were left with no real choice but to take a step back, something that Stefan didn’t agree with as much as his brother.

In fact, Stefan retaliated by taking Mary Louise (which angered Nora), and Julian went after Damon. That fight eventually ended when Julian stabbed Damon with the sword (phoenix stone in place) that put him in his own personal hell. Just as Caroline was assuring Stefan that they’d get his brother back, Nora showed up to stab the other Salvatore.

Now, based on the promo the CW has released for the next new episode, “Hell Is Other People,” Damon looks to be unsure of what’s real and what’s not when he wakes up and Bonnie tells him he’s been dead for three months. Does Julian really have Stefan’s body? What’s really going on here?

Writing for Entertainment Weekly, executive producer Julie Plec offered a tease about what to expect next for Damon, and of course, it’s nothing good. It also suggests that Damon’s right to question what’s real and what’s in his head.

“The flash of the Civil War battlefield at the end gave us a glimpse of what Damon would be going through in the next episode. Damon in ‘hell’ is the first ‘concept’ episode we’ve ever done. It’s a great episode, all about Damon’s experience in the hell that the Phoenix Stone creates.”

In that video, Bonnie tells Damon that it’s been three months, and whether or not that is true at the time, there does seem to be a time jump coming up at some point when The Vampire Diaries Season 7 resumes. Executive producer Caroline Dries revealed to TVLine that “the babies inside Caroline will have to come out sooner or later.” They’re already been seen in the flashforwards with Alaric. Just because Caroline is a pregnant vampire, carrying Gemini twins, doesn’t mean there’s going to be an accelerated pregnancy. She is going to be pregnant for nine months, and that’s where a time jump seems to come into play.

Speaking of Caroline’s pregnancy and the flashforwards – she’s engaged to Alaric and Stefan is with Valerie – the big question is what leads to Stefan and Caroline’s inevitable (at this point) breakup. Dries told TVLine that “the babies aren’t what ultimately break them up.” Instead, it’s “a confluence of many little things that lead to their demise.” Do those “little things” also lead to their new relationships in the future?

In other Vampire Diaries flashforward news, it’s hard not to worry about what it means that Matt has yet to be seen three years from now. Is that just because no one is involving him in the trouble they’re in in the future, could he still be in Mystic Falls, or could it mean that he isn’t around because there’s only so long that a human could really survive with everything happening? Well, unfortunately, Dries’ comment to EW that “I don’t know if that’s a good thing,” that Matt has yet to be seen in a flashforward, not only doesn’t clear up matters but also doesn’t assuage any concerns.

The Vampire Diaries season 7 returns on a new night, Friday, January 29 at 8 p.m. on the CW.

[Image via CW]