After assigning tasks to each of her friends, Caroline (Candice Accola) attempts to deal with her current situation as reality begins to set in around her. While spending the day with Caroline, Elena (Nina Dobrev) grows concerned when she starts noticing a strange change in her behavior. Meanwhile, Alaric (Matt Davis) becomes wary when Kai (Chris Wood), who has begun experiencing unexpected consequences from the merge, turns to Jo, desperate for her help. Elsewhere, while Bonnie (Kat Graham) finds herself in an unfamiliar situation, Matt (Zach Roerig) and Tyler (Michael Trevino) contemplate a major life change. And when Damon (Ian Somerhalder) offers Caroline advice on how to cope with everything going on around her, it forces him to revisit painful memories involving his own mother. Stefan (Paul Wesley) also appears.
After a big time jump, the premiere opens with Bonnie (Kat Graham) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) still gone. While their whereabouts will be revealed quickly, the question of what happened while they were there will be a season-long arc. Elena (Nina Dobrev) will be grieving over the loss of Damon by making some surprising choices and bonding with Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Alaric (Matt Davis), who does some bonding of his own with a woman he meets. Get ready for a handful of new faces, including a militia leader (Colin Ferguson) and a tough doctor at the university hospital (Jodi Lyn O'Keefe). Matt (Zach Roerig) will be thriving as he gets involved in the new magic-less community, while Tyler (Michael Trevino), now back to a human with the werewolf gene, will return to his testosterone-filled, hard-headed personality. Will he reconnect with Caroline (Candice Accola), whom executive producer Julie Plec says will take the loss of Bonnie and Damon "in a weird way the hardest"?
The Vampire Diaries features:
Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert/Katherine Pierce
Paul Wesley as Stefan Salvatore
Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore
Steven R. McQueen as Jeremy Gilbert
Kat Graham as Bonnie Bennett
Candice Accola as Caroline Forbes
Zach Roerig as Matt Donovan
Michael Trevino as Tyler Lockwood
Matt Davis as Alaric Saltzman
Michael Malarkey as Enzo
The Vampire Diaries returns February 19