Warning: The following contains spoilers from Thursday’s season premiere of The Vampire Diaries.

The Vampire Diaries returned for Season 6 on Thursday night, but not all of its players were back to their old selves.

Elena, for one, was suppressing her grief by taking witchy drugs to “see” Damon and feeding on humans on the outskirts of Mystic Falls — not that it was helping. To truly make the pain go away, she asked Alaric for a drastic favor.

Then there’s Stefan, who was off living a new life with a new girl, while Damon and Bonnie were bonding… somewhere.

Below, executive producer Caroline Dries weighs in on the duo’s whereabouts, Ric’s response to Elena’s request, the love triangle’s future and much more.

LOST IN…? | So where are Damon and Bonnie hanging out? “We’ll figure it out in the next episode,” Dries reveals. “They’re discovering it along with the audience.” Could the presence of Collective Soul’s 1993 ditty “Shine” and Damon’s flannel attire mean that they’ve gone back in time? “It’s supposed to make you ask questions like that,” is all Dries would say. (Hmm, could the upcoming 1990s Damon/Stefan flashbacks in Episode 4, which “help tie together a bunch of storylines,” have something to do with all this, too?)

FORGET ME NOT | Overwhelmed with the idea of feeling the loss of Damon for eternity, Elena asked Original vamp Alaric to compel her to forget she was ever in love with the elder Salvatore. But will Alaric actually go through with her request? “That’s a big part of the next episode,” Dries replies. “Damon is his friend, too. For her, it’s a hard decision. But for him, it’s also like, ‘I don’t know if I can do this to my friend.’ So that will be his emotional journey in the next episode.” Continue Reading at TVLINE

With Elena’s boyfriend and best friend gone to Plec-knows-where, Nina Dobrev tells TVLine that her character’s choices in The Vampire Diaries‘ sixth season “will ultimately define who she is.” And that’s not necessarily a good thing.

Below, Dobrev discusses Elena’s “odd” response to Damon’s apparent death in Thursday’s premiere (The CW, 8/7c) and addresses some major developments — like why the heck Elena and Stefan are holding hands in the official Season 6 poster.

TVLINE | Elena looks to be at her lowest point in Season 6, which must be rough for you as an actress. Has this been some of your most intense work yet?
Weirdly no. To be honest, the past six years have kind of blurred together. I can’t even separate specific episodes as being more difficult than others, though I’ve definitely had difficult experiences that have pushed me as an actress. This is just another one of those experiences. I mean, Jeremy’s died, Bonnie’s died, my parents have died, I’ve died — about three or four times — so I’ve had to go through a lot on this show. It’s like actor boot camp, I love it. Continue Reading at TV Line

Elena Gilbert has lost a lot of loved ones in the past five seasons. Not only did The Vampire Diaries start with the death of her adoptive parents, but from there, she lost friends, an aunt, birth parents, a caregiver, and her brother. But in the season 5 finale, she experienced a new sort of loss when Damon, the man she loved, died.

However, as fans of the show now know, Damon might have died, but he is by no means gone. (And the same goes for Bonnie.) So where we will we find Damon and Elena when we pick back up for season 6? Physically, they’re in two very different places. And emotionally? Well, the same rules apply.  Continue Reading at EW