Fans of "The Vampire Diaries" have a lot to look forward to when Season 6 kicks off this Thursday, featuring new plots, twists and hookups.

As "TVD" fans will recall, Damon and Bonnie sacrificed their lives and died in the Season 5 finale as The Other Side was being destroyed, leaving their family, friends and lovers in total despair.

However, executive producer Caroline Dries says that the new season will not begin with a woeful undertone.

"When we started this season, [there was a fear that] it's going to be such a downer, we're ending it in such a sad spot. How can we reinvigorate the show and keep it feeling fresh and alive and not so heavy to start with?" said the EP, according to The Hollywood Reporter. "Our solution was to have Elena being in this happy alternate reality in her own mind," she said.

After being resurrected from the Other Side, Alaric will work at Whitmore College as a professor of occult studies. He will also run into trouble in his love life.

"One of the problems he's going to be facing is how to go on a normal date and be a normal guy again." In addition to carrying around "emotional baggage," he also "internalizes" his grief, said the EP. However, Elena's new mentor, Jo, played by Jodi Lyn O'Keefe, is "going to bring out that side of him," Dries hinted.

Although Tyler will be grieving the loss of his girlfriend Bonnie, another woman will catch his eye and sparks will fly between Tyler and Liv, played by actress Penelope Mitchell.

In the meantime, Stefan is going to deal with the loss of his brother, Damon, by hooking up with a new woman named Ivy, played by Emily C. Chang.

"Ivy's a potential love interest and she opens the door into this world of Stefan's that we've never seen before," Dries said. "We start to understand his process as a vampire ... of starting over and living a different identity, because we've only seen him as Stefan Salvatore, high school student turned Elena's boyfriend."

However, fans rooting for Stefan and Caroline to hook up shouldn't give up hope.

"We're seeing layers of it and I don't think Caroline is realizing how deep her feelings are. She just feels hurt and lied to and ignored," Dries said, adding, "It's a very slow build for them."

Meanwhile, when Caroline isn't fixated on Stefan, she will focus on brining magic back to Mystic Falls.

"She's going to keep trying. It's more of a symbolic thing for her and less of a plot drive," Dries said.

Dries also dropped spoilers about the new villain in Season 6, revealing that Kai, played by Chris Wood, will wreak havoc when he comes to town in episode 3.

"He is a crazy person and he's super fun to write," Dries revealed, describing him as "charismatic," "charming," "psychotic," and "likable and unlikable in the right ways."

There are also new teasers about the highly anticipated crossover between "The Originals" and "The Vampire Diaries."

Julie Plec, the executive producer of both shows, revealed that "TVD" star Nina Dobrev will take a trip to "The Originals" universe, reports E! News.  However, Dobrev won't be playing Elena Gilbert; instead she will play the original doppelganger Tatia, whom Klaus and Elijah were both in love with in the past. However, Tatia's life came to a tragic end when Esther Mikealson killed her in order to use her blood in spell prevented Klaus from becoming a hybrid, reports Entertainment Weekly.

When asked if the scenes between Tatia, Elijah and Klaus would be "steamy" or just conversational, Dobrev told TVLine that viewers should expect "a little bit of both, in different capacities. ... I'm always going to be in a love triangle. I can't escape it, so I might as well just accept it."

Season 6 of "The Vampire Diaries" will return to The CW on Oct. 2 at 8 p.m. EST.