Ever since Nina Dobrev bid adieu to The Vampire Diaries after Season 6, rumours have been rife that she would return to the show close to its finale to wrap up Elena Gilbert's storyline. Showrunner Julie Plec, too, had earlier expressed a desire to bring back Dobrev, but it looks like producers of the show are yet to come to an agreement regarding this.
Recently, during an interview at the American Music Awards, Dobrev was questioned about returning to the show, and she said the decision wasn't hers to make. "That's a very good question, you should ask the producers, you should ask the powers that be above," she said with a smile.
Have producers dropped the plan to bring Dobrev back? Quite a number of fans believe actor Ian Somerhalder, who plays Damon Salvatore, could be the one standing in the way of Dobrev's return.
Dobrev and Somerhalder dated for almost three years, and they broke up in mid-2013. One year later he started dating Dobrev's friend Nikki Reed, and this is said to have caused a strain between Dobrev and Somerhalder. Reports also claimed that Reed is insecure of Dobrev's return. Somerhalder's response at the San Diego Comic-Con to queries of Dobrev's return also indicates that he isn't too happy with her reprising Elena.
"No! You're not gonna get them! Sorry, bud. Zero," Somerhalder said when asked about the possible return of old cast members.
A video of the interview shows the other cast members visibly uncomfortable with Somerhalder's abrupt reply, but executive producer Julie Plec was quick to point out that she was holding on to the friendship promise Dobrev made before quitting the show.
"Not to put too much pressure on anything, Nina Dobrev, but a promise was made," Plec told TVLine at Comic-Con. "An emotional promise that I'd like to see come to life. There's been friendship promises made, and now we'll see if we can deliver on them."
Shortly after Plec expressed hope about Dobrev's return, Somerhalder interjected: "I'm sorry, I thought we already had a conversation about this. Apparently not." He also said that there was just an 18.75 percent chance of Dobrev returning.
