Julie Plec: ''Even Elena Gilbert could die on "Vampire Diaries."

So what of Alaric now, going forward from the
shocking conclusion of "Do Not Go Gentle?" 

"He's very clearly a badass vampire killer with a pretty magnificent deadly and unburnable stake," Julie said of the newly Esther-enhanced history teacher. "I definitely think he's going to be a conflict provider; not to make it an understatement. He's not going to be the friendliest version of Alaric we've ever met. He's pretty hardcore, which is going to be equally exciting and devastating, because he's one of our heroes who is no longer one of our heroes."

As for the remainder of the season, it was clear (as ever) that nobody is safe. Esther said Alaric will die after he completes his vampire-killing mission. Michael joked that the handful of people whose names "are at the top of the call sheet" are probably safe, but Julie insisted that even Elena Gilbert could die on "Vampire Diaries." 

Alaric's mission will continue next week. "Alaric wants the Originals dead, and the very first thing that we see and the head of the next episode is Alaric in high school, where Caroline and Rebecca are having a little post-dance clean up," Julie revealed. "It's a very extreme, hardcore episode of Alaric on a tear. No one is safe."

"Do Not Go Gentle" revealed that Esther has been manipulating Ric from the other side each time he "died" and was resurrected by his magical ring. Even though Jeremy hasn't been hearing the whispers of the Original Witch (we think), that doesn't mean his ring is safe and sound following that revelation. "There's always going to be a concern of consequences for cheating death one too many times. It just might not come in the form of a Jekyll and Hyde alter-ego" said Julie. "The ring's going to stay in play for a while, because ultimately it's that coin toss of 'I can't be in the fray, fighting the good fight, if I can be killed, so you roll the dice.'"

What else can we expect before the season ends? Klaus will learn that his favorite hybrid (other than himself, naturally) has broken the sire bond. "Tyler finally sticks up for himself," Michael promised. "He's tired of getting bitched around and he acts on it. It gets messy." 

We will definitely find out which Original bloodline is responsible for siring Stefan, Damon, Katherine and Caroline. And Julie assured, as she has in other interviews, that Elena will finally make her choice.  

"Definitely I would say the [the rest of the season] is very adrenaline-infused. There are some big mythology moves that happen, and it's a pretty big deal." She promised that the season finale will be "half closing the door to one season and half blowing the lid off the next."

So what of that ultimate choice between Stefan and Damon? Caroline made her Stelena allegiance clear this week, but, where will Elena ultimately stand? 

"Stefan was hanging on by such a very tenuous thread for the first half of the season," she said. "Then he lost his mind for a nice chunk in the middle. He's been terrified of opening himself back up and letting those feelings in. Seeing [Elena] at her most vulnerable, and needing to give her the support that she's been trying to give him all season—it's finally him saying, 'It is okay to feel. I heard you, all of those times that you told me that it's okay to feel, and it's okay to have hope. I heard you. Now let me give that back to you.' I think that this is illumination for [Elena] in this point of her life, with these two men who are so important to her. She has no one—she's lost everyone who has ever mattered to her. How do you choose, in a moment like that? The two episodes of the season that follow are really going to be about her asking herself that question and trying to understand how she could possibly let one of them go, when she's already lost so much."

When she does pick, the Salvatores are going to make a choice of their own. Whereas Katherine and now Elena have always been there as a wedge between their brotherly bond, they will learn how to draw closer together. 

"They will get stronger instead of weaker as brothers in spite of this looming conflict, this looming decision," promised Julie. "There's a really nice scene in next week's episode that shows that they might just survive this no matter how it plays out, and that when all is said and done... 'bros before hos.'  

The cliche is that the girl tears them apart, so how can we let the girl bring them even closer together?"

Next season will wrap up the gang's stay in high school as they all figure out where they will be headed afterward. "They're all going through some extraordinary changes in their emotional lives, personal lives, romantic lives, and supernatural lives," Julie said. "They are making decisions about their future, and what that will bring. All of those great things leading up to graduation—the choice of, 'Do I stay? Do I go?' And no, there will be no 'Mystic U.'"