'The Vampire Diaries' Season 8 spoilers, plot news: Nina Dobrev returning to show as new character?

The upcoming eighth season of the hit supernatural drama series "The Vampire Diaries" is expected to feature the return of its former de facto female lead, Elena Gilbert. Rumors are rife that "The Vampire Diaries" alum Nina Dobrev will once again enter the show and complete the story arc left untouched when she decided to leave the show during the Season 6 finale. However, according to the latest reports, Dobrev may not necessarily return as Elena. There is a chance that she will take on a new mysterious character.

Long-time fans and viewers of "The Vampire Diaries" became thrilled when the Season 7 finale featured the voice of Dobrev on a particular scene with the actress' former boyfriend, Ian Somerhalder. The scene showed Somerhalder's character, Damon Salvatore, hallucinating inside the forbidden vault of The Armory, where he heard the voice of Elena. As for the show's executive producer, Julie Plec, Dobrev's return to "The Vampire Diaries" will not be a shocking surprise as she had already promised it when she first left the show.

"It's what she and I kind of agreed on when she decided to move on, and it's what I've got in my head," Plec revealed in an interview with TV Line. "Obviously things can change throughout time, if the show goes on longer than we expect it to, or if we all collectively decide it would be fun to bring her back earlier, and she wanted to."

It can be recalled from the Season 6 finale that Elena and her witch best friend, Bonnie Bennet (Kat Graham) were placed under a jinx by the show's former villain, Kai Parker (Chris Wood). The jinx would place Elena in a deep sleep and there would be no way, even by physical or magical means, that anyone can wake her up from the cursed slumber.

The jinx, however, stated that the only way to wake her up is through Bonnie's death. The main characters of the show, including Elena's past and present vampire flings, Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon, have then decided to let Bonnie live her remaining days as a mortal witch. Elena, on the other hand, will continue to sleep until her friend's death.

There is also a possibility that the jinx on Elena will not be over when the eighth season arrives. It is because Graham's character will still be alive and around the show, thus Elena will still be asleep. Therefore, if Dobrev would be coming back in Season 8, she is not going to be Elena. Some rumors suggest that the actress will play a new villainous character.