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‘The Vampire Diaries’: Nina Dobrev Return Confirmed In Season 8, But Not As Elena Gilbert

By Viraj Mahajan
Published on: 04:30 PST, Aug 2, 2016

The Vampire Diaries is officially coming to an end with its Season 8. Now it has been confirmed that show’s lead actress and Ian Somerhalder’s ex-girlfriend, Nina Dobrev, is indeed making her comeback. The xXx: Return of Xander Cage actress, however, is not returning as Elena Gilbert, but will be seen portraying a new role.

Dobrev left TVD after Season 6, but as many of the viewers will recall that in the last episode of Season 7, it was shown how Somerhalder’s character, Damon, was lured into the vault after hearing to Elena’s voice. This made many fans speculate that the actress is coming back, but not in the character she always played.

During her conversation with E! News, Kat Graham, who portrayed the role of Bonnie Bennett, teased about the new female villain that is going to feature in Season 8.

“The villain, as of right now, is this amazing female badass. It’s going to be good,” she teased.

Did Graham just confirm Dobrev’s return?

Meanwhile, show’s co-creator Julie Plec also talked about show’s favorite character. During their presence at San Diego Comic-Con 2016, Plec confirmed that Dobrev has made a promise to her that she will be back when the series will come to an end.

“Not to put too much pressure on anything Nina Dobrev, but a promise was made. An emotional promise that I’d like to see come to life.”

Well, this is not the first time that Plec has publicly reacted on Dobrev’s return. In her earlier interview with TV Line, the 44-year-old Plec stated that when the supernatural series will come to an end, Dobrev will indeed make her return and The CW will try everything to make that possible.

“Obviously, things can change throughout time, if the show goes on longer than we expect it to, or if we all collectively decide it would be fun to bring her back earlier, and she wanted to. But in my opinion, 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.”

Apart from Plec, even Somerhalder shed some light on Dobrev’s return. During the conversation, when he was asked about her reprising the role of Elena Gilbert, the actor stated that there was only an “18.75 percent chance” of her reprising the same role.

In other news, it looks like Somerhalder is not too happy with the news that Dobrev is making her comeback. Many reports suggests that if the actress will make her comeback, then it will directly affect on Somerhalder’s salary. According to an earlier statics from TV Guide, for each episode of The Vampire Diaries, Somerhalder earns around $40,000. Now, if his ex-girlfriend will return, then according to Celeb Dirty Laundry, it will cause him to lose a lot of money.

Furthermore, Somerhalder’s wife, Nikki Reed, can also be the reason behind the Lost star’s unhappiness.

[Photo by Dave Mangels/Getty Images for Entertainment Weekly]
When Somerhalder and Dobrev were dating, it was reported by many critics and viewers that the reason behind their amazing onscreen chemistry is because of their real life romance. Now, as Somerhalder is happily married to Twilight actress, the rumors about him getting involved with his ex would be the last thing that he will be needing.

Well, now as it has been confirmed by different outlets that in The Vampire Diaries Season 8, Nina Dobrev is indeed making her return, fans of this supernatural series just have to wait for an official confirmation from the production team or for the air of Episode 1 of the final season.

The Vampire Diaries’ final season premieres Friday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. on The CW.

[Photo by Rich Polk/Getty Images for Marie Claire]

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