'Vampire Diaries' Season 7 spoilers, release date, cast & plot: Paul Wesley reveals Elena Gilbert still a big part of the show

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Oct 05, 2015 07:03 AM EDT

It's only three more days before The Vampire Diaries returns to television, this time without Nina Dobrev's Elena Gilbert, who has been cursed into slumber for the foreseeable future. However, Paul Wesley says that Elena is still a pivotal part of the series, despite Dobrev's departure.

Inquisitr reports that according to the actor, "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."

Wesley added that contrary to speculation that the series would have a do-over once Dobrev stepped out, they are in fact continuing on with the story. He said, "We all had imagined this complete reboot where Elena was gone, but she’s talked about so much!"

But without Elena to create tension between the Salvatore brothers who have been at it since season 1, who will step up?

"In the wake of losing Elena, Lily kind of organically filled that third point in the triangle," executive producer Caroline Dries told Yahoo TV. "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."

Dries added that "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.’"

Speaking of Lily, who is played by Annie Wersching, viewers will get to see more of her story unfold, as Dries explained, "Lily’s real drama will be about trying to find a balance between her two families and decide who she’s more loyal to if she were to have to pick a side. She’s actually one of our most complicated characters because she means well, but she surrounds herself with pretty intense, crazy people."

As for Bonnie, Kat Graham said she sees her character as the hero, and that she enjoys every minute of it. The 26-year-old actress turned singer told Who Say, "I like that I'm playing a little bit of a heroine character. I like that she's become a force that does things because she wants to, not because she feels obligated. I really think the character has come into her own [and] that she has her powers back...There's a lot of action."

When asked to describe this upcoming seventh season of The Vampire Diaries, Graham says that fans should expect it to be "Unexpected, volatile, and sexy."

The season premiere of The Vampire Diaries airs on Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. on The CW.

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