Will Elena Return For ‘Vampire Diaries’ Season 8? Nina Dobrev Is In Talks To Join Final Season

The end of “The Vampire Diaries” is near, and that could mean audiences will be seeing Elena again. Though Nina Dobrev left the show in 2015, her storyline made it very clear that she could return to the CW drama one day. CW President Mark Pedowitz confirmed at the Television Critics Association summer press tour that the network was speaking to the actress about reprising her role.

“There are discussions going on with Nina, we’d love to have her back...These are discussions that go on, hopefully she’ll be back,” Pedowitz told reporters (E! Online). “But should it not work out, Julie [Plec, showrunner] has planned out a great series finale for fans.”

Audiences have been waiting for Dobrev to come back. In the “Vampire Diaries” Season 6 finale, Elena was cursed to be asleep for as long as Bonnie (Kat Graham) is living. Elena will only wake up from her “Sleeping Beauty”-like curse when her best friend dies. She’s currently in a coffin in a Brooklyn warehouse while her friends fight new evils.

Plec told fans after Dobrev’s final episode that she’d likely be back for the end of the series. “Nina has always said that if there’s something for her to do in the series finale that she will be there to do it,” Plec told Entertainment Weekly in May 2015. “When she left, she said, ‘I want to see this character to its end at the end of the show, so I can’t wait to come back and put her to bed again.’”

However, once the announcement was made that “The Vampire Diaries” would end with Season 8, Plec couldn’t be positive that Dobrev would return. Nothing is official until she signs a contract. “Not to put too much pressure on anything, Nina Dobrev, but a promise was made,” Plec told TVLine at San Diego Comic-Con last month. “An emotional promise that I’d like to see come to life.”

Viewers will have to wait and see if Dobrev signs on to revisit Mystic Falls. “The Vampire Diaries” would have to work around Dobrev’s movie schedule. She is currently filming a horror flick called “Flatliners” and will likely have to promote the action movie “xXx: Return of Xander Cage” in January.

“The Vampire Diaries” Season 8 premieres Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. EDT on the CW.