If you’re a die-hard fan of The Vampire Diaries, there’s a good chance your brain is exhausted right now.

Friday’s last hurrah went full throttle for an entire hour, throwing endless twists — some wonderful, others devastating — at confused fans, leaving a lot up to interpretation. And while we’ve already shared insight into Stefan’s death and Klaus’ letter, there’s always more to be mined.

Because everyone loves leftovers — my two favorites are Thanksgiving food and cold pizza, in no particular order — here are a few more assorted answers we got from executive producer Julie Plec:

TVLINE | I love that you got Tiki’s grandad back! What’s the story there?

That Twitter handle brought me so much joy over the years, so much hilarity and laughter, that when we made our list of characters that never died, we realized Tiki’s grandad was still alive — very old, and probably senile, but still alive! As we were trying to figure out how we could layer in fun little Easter eggs, that was one of them. And it was actually on the cutting room floor temporarily, but it made its way back in. We could afford two seconds to honor Tiki’s grandad.

TVLINE | Were there any cameos you simply couldn’t make happen?

We had an availability conflict with Joseph Morgan, which is how we ended up with the letter. We were also hoping to see Emily Bennett again, Bianca Lawson, but she also had an availability issue. And Malese Jow was in New Zealand working. There was definitely a pitch that we might see Anna and Pearl at peace, but I think that was made pretty obvious in Season 3. We’ll let them be.

TVLINE | I half-expected Bonnie to end up with Jeremy, years after losing Enzo. Was there ever talk of giving her a new love interest?

Ever since Episode 305, I’ve quietly shipped Bonnie and Matt. Linking the Donovan/Maxwell bloodline with the Bennett bloodline in the flashback episode we did earlier this year was my effort at trying to make — what do we call them, ‘Monnie?’ — happen. If you lose your epic love, you’re not meant to go without love. You can still be happy, have a partner in life, have children, have a family. I thought, “The two people who have fought so hard to save the town and these people should get that.” I thought it would be nice if they had each other. There was a pitch on the table where they had kids and a white picket fence and everything was dandy. Ultimately, everybody else thought it was sexier that — with Enzo being her ultimate soulmate — that she could just go on and take dozens of lovers and enjoy the world until it was time to move on.

TVLINE | We didn’t get to see how Damon reacted to being human. A bumpy ride, I imagine?

I think there’s some terrific fan fiction to be written about Damon’s first years as a human, but he was ready for it. He wanted it. He wants her. And when all is said and done, after going through such a trauma, to be able to grow old and die with your one true love is a beautiful solace in an otherwise difficult time.

TVLINE | Speaking of being human, was there ever a plan to use prosthetics to make Damon and Elena look old in the finale?

The pitch was on the board, but Kevin Williamson — who knows a lot and is very brilliant — walked in and was like, “Over my dead body.” To be fair, he said, “I like stories that end in the here and now. I don’t think you need to rely on 50-year flash forwards to deliver the same emotional closure.” And he was right.

TVLINE | I know this show is about more than just ‘ships, but there were a lot of references to past relationships in the finale. Was that your goal, to acknowledge all the important ones?

The couples that we loved, whether we broke them up or let them live happily ever after, were all important to us. We wanted to give a nice, respectful nod to each of them and say, “You are as important as the next one.” It was important for us that Stefan and Elena got a proper goodbye, but also that Stefan and Caroline didn’t get overshadowed by Stefan and Elena. It felt like the right thing to do.

What did you think of the finale, now that you’ve had some to reflect? Do you wish Bonnie had ended up with Matt? And do you wish you’d gotten to see old versions of Damon and Elena? Whatever’s on your mind, drop it in a comment below.