‘The Vampire Diaries’ season 5 spoilers: Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev’s path

“The Vampire Diaries” has constantly been about ways to try and surprise us with various twists and turns, and with their season 4 finale on Thursday night, they certainly managed to do that and then some. We had Katherine end up taking the cure thanks to the actions of another, Bonnie become a part of the ghost army, Klaus and Caroline have a moment, and the revelation that Stefan is actually a doppelganger for Silas … which is definitely going to create all sorts of interesting problems.

For the sake of this article, though, we plant the focus on a certain character played by one Ian Somerhalder. What becomes of Damon now? While he has been with Elena before, this is arguably one of the first times in his life where he can look at the relationship without suspicion that there is a sire bond or anything else keeping Elena from feeling what she wants to feel.

Speaking to TVLine, executive producer Julie Plec makes it clear that this is in fact an issue that Damon is going to have to deal with very soon on the show, as he finds the confidence within himself in order to be a good partner to someone else:

“Damon’s a character who’s been driven by feeling like he’s not worthy of love. Now that he’s on the receiving end of that love, what will that mean for him? And where will he have to make changes in him, in his behavior? Or will he still be, “I am who I am. You love me for who I am. I’m not going to change for you”? It’ll be a fun dynamic to see him either trying to exercise restraint or not being able to exercise restraint in the name of love of this girl, especially as he’s got a new houseguest. He’s [living] with Jeremy Gilbert as Elena goes off to college.”

In going through some quick-hits on some other important vampire-related topics, here is what we have. It looks as though Katherine is going to continue to be a part of the show now that she is a human, and it is possible that Michael Trevino could also come back, given that he is under contract. However, Tyler has to also decide if he wants to return, given that there is some exciting stuff concerning what he has been up to.

If you want to read some more news on the future of Kat Graham’s Bonnie, we’re also a good source for that.

Photo: The CW