The Vampire Diaries
Pictured: The poster for Season 8 of The Vampire Diaries.Facebook/The Vampire Diaries

The Season 8 premiere of The Vampire Diaries featured a number of shoutouts to Nina Dobrev's Elena Gilbert. The episode titled Hello, Brother saw both Bonnie and Stefan continuing their habit of keeping a journal for Elena so that she is able to catch up with all that happened in the 60 years or so since she has been in a magic-induced sleep.

The premiere also revealed to us more about the new villain, and it looks like she will be targeting someone close to Stefan in next week's episode titled Today Will be Different. And sadly, it is none other than Sarah Salvatore, the character essayed by Tristin Mays.

Talking about Sarah Salvatore's return to Mystic Falls, showrunner Julie Plec told TVLine that what brings the character back is something totally disconnected from what's happening with all the key characters.

"It's actually a mystery what brings her back," Plec said. "It's seemingly disconnected to everything, and yet when we realize the what, we understand that it's tied into exactly what the villain is attempting to do."

The synopsis for Season 8 episode 2 reads:

After learning that someone from Stefan's past may be Damon and Enzo's next target, Stefan, Bonnie and Caroline head to North Carolina. There, Bonnie takes drastic measures in an attempt to break Enzo free of whatever has a hold over him. At the Armory, Alaric and Georgie stumble upon a mysterious symbol that may be related to the supernatural force controlling Damon and Enzo. Finally, Caroline gets an unexpected surprise from Stefan.

The Vampire Diaries is aired on Fridays on the CW.