‘Vampire Diaries’ Season 7 Premiere: Nina Dobrev’s Exit Does Not Affect Storyline?

Nina Dobrev's anticipated leave from the paranormal teen series, The Vampire Diaries, is making long-time fans question how the show will continue without its lead female character. Paul Wesley, who plays the handsome lead and Dobrev's former love interest, Stefan, claims that her character will still play a large part in Season 7, which returns on Oct. 8.

In a recent interview, Wesley explains how Dobrev's character, Elena Gilbert, will still be present. He states, "Elena's still a very big part of the story. Her body's in danger in the first few episodes, and Damon is doing everything he can to make sure it stays safe if and when she wakes up. We all had imagined this complete reboot where Elena was gone, but she's talked about so much!"

Wesley continued to described the opening episode, explaining, "The season premiere opens before the town is destroyed. The episode goes back three years, so by the end of it, you'll understand what happened. Each episode will jump back and forth."

Season 6 ended with Elena slipping into a coma that can only be broken by the death of Bonnie (played by Kat Graham). The Salvatore brothers' mother, Lily, is now the present-day third wheel with sons Stefan and Damon (played by Ian Somerhalder.)

The Vampire Diaries executive producer Caroline Dries shares, "In the wake of losing Elena, Lily kind of organically filled that third point in the triangle... And so, even though it's not a romantic love story, it is this relationship story of them trying to get to know their mom better, and she's trying to pull them into her life, and sometimes she'll manipulate one against the other to win him over, and so it becomes a complex love triangle among the three of them. But, the boys kind of figure out, 'Wait, is mom using us? What is going on?' And then they realize, 'Look, we need to stick together if we're going to beat Lily.'"