Following the season 8 finale/series finale of The Vampire Diaries, what seemed like the end of an era, it seems there is new hope that we could be seeing more of our favorite characters. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Vampire Diaries show runner Julie Plec said that she sees “a future for either The Originals or another piece of the franchise to launch off of the end of The Originals.” The Vampire Diaries began in 2009, and The Originals as a spin-off series in 2013.

The Vampire Diaries series finale was actually not even what Plec originally imagined when she first conceived the series. In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Plec said that because the series was so “successful and lasted eight years”, they had to change her original plans.

If Nina had never left, I would’ve loved to have been able to see if Stefan and Elena could’ve found their way back to each other. I don’t know if they could have, but had that departure not been a part of it, the long game would’ve been to see if we could bring the love triangle back around before the series ended and really leave a choice. But her departure sealed the romantic contract between Damon and Elena. In that moment, to me, the show ceased to be about a love triangle and became a show about the power of these brothers and their love for each other. And so there was no way in hell I was killing both of them and leaving neither of them with the happy ending. It just was never going to happen.

Given Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, and Ian Somerhalder are finished with the series (Dobrev only returned for the finale), those storylines will obviously not continue. But for the other characters, the options are still open.

On Friday, the series finale did seem to allude to continuation of character Caroline Forbes (Candice King), who opens a school for supernatural children like her own, which is financed by her former love, Klaus (Joseph Morgan). These are the two characters that many are expecting to appear again if a spin-off series does happen.

In her interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Plec made the following statement:

Obviously our timelines did not match up, so Caroline and Klaus are not coming face to face in this season. That being said, we do have crossover elements in the upcoming season of The Originals that’s about to start airing and it all brings it back to what I see as a future for either The Originals or another piece of the franchise to launch off of the end of The Originals. So I look forward to being able to play around in that sandbox and see if I can make something of it.

This week, CW president Mark Pedowitz confirmed that the future of The Originals series is not tied to Vampire Diaries, and could very well continue for more seasons, so we will wait and see if the spin-off does happen.

The fourth season of The Originals will premiere Friday, March 17 on The CW.