Nina Dobrev’s ‘Vampire Diaries’ Return Officially Confirmed

Nina Dobrev posted a picture on her Instagram and officially confirmed her return in The Vampire Diaries’ finale episode.

Earlier today, Nina Dobrev took to her Instagram account to share the final draft of The Vampire Diaries’ Season 8 Episode 16.

The uploaded picture instantly became viral on social media with more than 660,000 likes on Instagram only.

Nina Dobrev left TVD at the end of Season 6 in 2015 when her contract was up with the network. After lengthy talks with showrunner Julie Plec and the CW’s president Mark Pedowitz, Nina Dobrev has officially signed on to return to the series for its upcoming finale.

Showrunner Julie Plea confirmed the news of Nina Dobrev reprising her role of Elena.

“I’m thrilled to bring this show to an end the way we always intended – with Nina back to help us say goodbye,” Plec said.

Co-creator Kevin Williamson added, “I’m so excited to have Nina back to ensure our farewell episode is truly epic!”

Ever since the network announced that Season 8 will be The Vampire Diaries’ last season, fans of Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder were eagerly waiting to get some positive news about their reunion. Prior to this, Plec assured the viewers that the network will try their best to bring back Nina Dobrev for the finale episode.

“It’s what she and I kind of agreed on when she decided to move on, and it’s what I’ve got in my head… She was very clear about what she wanted the next step in her life to be, and she’s doing a great job of achieving that. So I’m sticking with my side of the plan, which is to bring her back at the very end,” Plec told TV Line when asked about Nina’s return to The Vampire Diaries.

Not only the show’s creators, but even Ian Somerhalder has recently dished out the possibility of Nina Dobrev reprising her role of Elena Gilbert in The Vampire Diaries.

During his recent conversation with Variety, Nikki Reed‘s husband told the outlet that as an actor he has absolutely no idea what Kevin and Julie have kept in store for the characters of the award-winning supernatural series. That being said, he teased the fans about the possibility of Nina’s return.

“Let Elena wake up and have these boys gone and never know any of this happened. As a producer, I do have a lot of information and then there’s a lot of information I don’t have. I want the audience to be happy, but I also am very pro-human. I don’t think these guys should have the ability to wreak havoc, kill everybody, ruin the lives of so many and then get out with a happy ending. I think the happy ending is that we got to go on this amazing ride with these two guys. They’ve lived long enough.”

Over the years, a lot has been said about Nina’s return to the show. However, it could have been very hectic for the Bulgarian actress to take time out from her busy schedule to shoot the final episode of TVD. A lot of her fans and followers do not know this for a fact that, there was a time when she made it very clear that she is done portraying any character for The Vampire Diaries.

“I had decided years before that I’d go the run of my contract and I wouldn’t extend, but it was a surprise for everyone else that didn’t know that. I always knew that I’d signed up for a certain amount of time and I fulfilled it. I had a great experience, but everything has to come to an end and this was my time. It’s like high school, you do four years and then you move onto the college.”

The last episode from The Vampire Diaries Season 8, titled “I Was Feeling Epic,” is scheduled to air in March. Now, as it is an official news from Nina Dobrev herself that she is indeed reprising her role of Elena Gilbert, fans are now speculating whether they get to see her sharing the screen with Ian Somerhalder or not. Are you excited for Nina’s return to the show? Sound off your views in the comments below.

[Featured Image by John Phillips/Getty Images]