The good news for all Vampire Diaries fans is that Nina Dobrev, despite verbal threats to leave the series, will still retain a crucial part in the show, as claimed by Paul Wesley, The Inquisitr reports.

The surprising revelation comes as The Vampire Diaries Season 7 makes its premiere this October. While rabid followers of the series expect Elena to bow out gracefully from the show, it now appears that the creators of The Vampire Diaries have merely exercised an age-old tradition of maneuvering audiences to the edge of their seats by publicizing the exit of a much-loved character.

However, Wesley says this is not the case: "Elena's still a very big part of the story." He had erroneously anticipated with Elena out of the picture, but apparently her character (in whatever form) remains ever alive on the show.

Just prior to the end of Season 6, Elena was cursed into lifelong sleep for the duration of Bonnie's life. Elena is kept in Salvatore's crypt, with Bonnie doing a cloaking spell to keep the body safely. New twists and turns are coming up as some baddies will attempt to put the body in danger. It now falls on Stefan and Damon's shoulders to keep Elena's bodily remains in the casket safe and away from harm.

However, there's a chance that Stefan will not really have a laser like focus on protecting the dead as he'll have enough distractions in store by way of Caroline's charms. Apparently the romantic tension between the two will increase, and there'll be more sticky sweet involvement in store for this couple.

Nina Dobrev, on the other hand, doesn't seem all too saddened by stepping out of The Vampire Diaries. The Canadian native is scheduled to come out in Arrivals, a movie set in Cape Town and which also stars Game of Thrones' feisty little assassin, Maisie Williams.

TVLine also reports that viewers can look forward to a new set of baddies who will outdo even the worst of the worst from the previous Vampire Diaries seasons. Season 7 pulls back the curtains for the Heretics, a horde of vampire-witches who will be woken up from their hundred-year-old slumber. Wesley assures that there will be enough fodder for comedy as the Heretics adjust to a new world of iPhones and high-tech gadgetry. However, their penchant for horror and doing horrible things, Wesley promises, will be unequaled.

Catch The Vampire Diaries Season 7 on October 8 on The CW.