The Vampire Diaries returns this fall with the air date in early next month and showrunner Caroline Dries shared a ton of season spoilers ahead of its season premiere.
Caroline Dries shares some insights to The Hollywood Reporter and the new "love triangle" inside the Salvatore family that was sparked with Lily Salvatore (Annie Wersching) family being lost in the Mystic falls that will further complicate her relationship with her two sons, Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder).
Dries said, "It's this love triangle, if you will, which we've created between Damon, Stefan, and Lily. Lily has naturally entered as the third point in the triangle." The complexity in Lily's relationship with her two biological sons will actually give her some advantage working around this 'love triangle,' Dries added.
"They love her, and care for her, in different ways," Dries she continued, "They hate her, they have mixed feelings towards her, they have resentment, they love her, because they used to love her and raised them. They feel guilty because she died and they didn't know she was still alive. There's just a million emotions."
Lily's complicated character will make her a central figure in the next The Vampire Diaries series. Dries added, "Right now, she is the heart and soul of the conflict. When I talk to directors when we do our tone meetings, I say, 'Lily Salvatore is the most complicated character on this show. She has a lot going on in her brain; she has different loyalties. She's made huge mistakes, but you can also root for her.' She is kind of our villain, because she wants things our characters don't want to happen. But she's also very grounded. She can kind of manipulate them differently. Her goal is to turn them against each other."
Heretics Will Spell Trouble
During the recent Comic-Con, Dries announced the introduction of the heretics in season 7 of The Vampire Diaries. But the large number of heretics will spell trouble for the Salvatore.
Dries share, "There's six heretics in total: three men and three women. We meet five of them in the premiere. The three women are this little posse of bad girls. Valerie, who has this brooding darkness to her. We learn early on in the season she got burned in the past, and it transformed her into this person; she wasn't always this way. And then there's Mary Louise and Nora who are very fun and a gallon of pep and fireworks. They're very different -- they're dating, but they have different desires. One wants to explore the world; Nora, is like, 'Look, we just got out of prison, let's stretch our arms and legs a little bit.' And [Mary] is like, 'I'm insecure in letting you go.' They're fun to watch, because they have this great, normal relationship in an abnormal environment.
"[And for the boys] there's one guy named Beau, who is Lily's henchman-y guy," she continued,. "He's very loyal and mysterious. And so he is very scary and weird. And then there's this guy, Malcolm, who is the kiss-up, Lily's pet. And then there's a mystery guy, Oscar, who is only mentioned in the premiere. We're wondering where is that guy? But he's a real trip when you meet him."
The Vampire Diaries will officially air on Thursday, Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. on The CW.