Warning: This article contains spoilers for the series finale of The Vampire Diaries.

Since the announcement of the end came over a year ago, fans of The Vampire Diaries have been dreading this night and torturing themselves with every teaser and spoiler they could get their hands on. Now that the series finale has officially aired, and most fans have seen the last episode of The CW’s greatest vampire saga, executive producers Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson are speaking openly about the final chapter of The Vampire Diaries, but is it really the end? Amid discussions about how the series finale came together, the TVD bosses also reveal that there may yet be more to come.

Is The Vampire Diaries Really Over?

'The Vampire Diaries' series finale finally brought Nina Dobrev back as Elena Gilbert. [Image by CW]

When asked that ultimate question by Deadline, Kevin Williamson seems deadly earnest in his confirmation that, yes, The Vampire Diaries is over, and aside from the already established The Originals, spinoffs aren’t even a possibility. Elena (Nina Dobrev) is alive and happily pursuing her future in the healthcare field, Caroline (Candice King) has been looked after by Klaus (Joseph Morgan), who has never really forgotten about his TVD muse, and the Salvatore brothers, Damon (Ian Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley), have been reunited. What more is there?

Again, Williamson says there’s nothing more. Yet, Julie Plec hesitates. Often considered the senior showrunner on The Vampire Diaries, Plec doesn’t sound quite as steadfast in that decision as her co-creator. Instead, Julie will only commit to saying that there are currently no plans for a spinoff, but using that as a mere stepping off point, The Vampire Diaries’ boss seems more open to the possibility of giving fans something more.

“I do not have a spinoff in the works but yes I have spinoff ideas in my brain,” Plec says, taunting fans of The Vampire Diaries further.

Julie adds that any new series won’t feature Ian and Paul as the Salvatore brothers. Their chapter is finished. The two TVD leads have said as much themselves, suggesting they’re getting too old to keep playing eternally young vampires in a convincing manner. Ms. Plec echoes those same thoughts in her own extended answer, suggesting a new spinoff of The Vampire Diaries would focus on other characters.

Mr. Williamson adds, almost as an afterthought, that a new series might focus more on Caroline, as she opens a magic school for their twins and other supernatural children. That would also allow for more to be done with the Caroline/Klaus situation.

“I don’t see any reboot or spinoff opportunities right now,” says Plec, finally. “I think the point of the finale was to say goodbye.”

Caroline Forbes Gets The Future She Needed

'The Vampire Diaries' bosses hint Caroline Forbes may return in a new spin-off, starring Candice King. [Image by CW]

Even without a direct spinoff, the story of Caroline Forbes may live beyond The Vampire Diaries saga with possible cameos on The Originals, but even barring that possibility, Entertainment Weekly shares that the character played by Candice King does get a happy ending. It may not be the future that the leading female vampire on TVD envisioned for herself, but as life rarely works out the way it has been planned, Caroline does come out of things pretty well.

Just as Caroline opens up the new boarding school, alongside Alaric (Matthew Davis), and begins to face the very real problems of operating an educational institution, an unexpected letter from Klaus brings more than just an emotional goodbye.

“First of all I have to give a special shout-out to Carina [Mackenzie], who wrote that letter for me,” Plec says. “We have her to thank for that. And when I read it and I saw ‘however long it takes,’ I just about died. She nailed it.”

As with her previous statements, Plec again emphasizes that the words “the beginning of another story,” spoken within tonight’s finale of The Vampire Diaries, does set the stage for a new series, but she’s quick to add that it’s with the hope of a spinoff. It’s not a guarantee at this point.

In speaking about getting more on the “Klaroline” front, Julie dashes hopes that we’ll see Caroline King on The Originals. In fact, she breaks fans’ hearts even more with bad news for followers of the spinoff series as well.

“I can’t make any promises for many reasons: One, because we don’t have a fifth season of The Originals,” says Julie Plec. “Two, because while I love the world of the boarding school and all that it represents, that would be an entirely new show that I haven’t even begun to think about, but the doors were not left open unintentionally.”

[Featured Image by The CW]