The midseason finale of "The Vampire Diaries" ended with a shocking twist that will likely lead to more thrills and excitement when the season returns next year.

In the winter finale, "Cold as Ice," Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) lost their battle against Julian (Todd Lasance), who stabbed Damon with the Phoenix stone sword. As a result, Damon's soul was sucked into a prison world where he will be forced to re-live every bad thing that he has ever done, reports Entertainment Weekly. 

Later on in the show, Nora (Scarlett Byrne) stabbed Stefan with the Phoenix stone too in retaliation against the brothers for kidnapping her on-again, off-again girlfriend Mary Louise (Teressa Liane).

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, executive producer Julie Plec opened up about what's to come in the second half in the season and the shocking cliffhanger that left both of the Salvatore brothers trapped in their own hell-like universes.

According to her, being trapped in the stone will have a huge impact on the brothers. She also teased that the rest of the season will largely focus on "exploring the dynamic between the brothers and the lengths that they're willing to go to protect each other but also epic ways that they have disappointed each other and have continued to do so. It's a really powerful brother storyline that I'm really excited about."

Because the brothers will be reliving horrible memories from their past when the series returns, Plec revealed that fans can expect to see more flashbacks of Damon as a child before he became a vampire.

"It's no secret that Episode 10, which is our winter premiere, has a lot of Civil War elements to it," said the showrunner. "We see a lot of Damon back before he was a vampire and we put him through a pretty big ringer as his experience. It all ties into his childhood and his relationship with his brother and his mother."

The EP also opened up about Caroline's pregnancy with Alaric's unborn Gemini twins

"She's certainly not going to have the world's most glorious pregnancy," Plec told THR about Candice King's character.

"There are two witch babies inside of her. There are definitely going to be some hurdles that she'll have to cross before she gives birth. I can't guarantee that the birth is going to be the easiest thing in the world. I think that Caroline wants everything to go perfectly and as such, anything that goes wrong is going to shake her. And shake Stefan because of course even though they're not his, he's there to support her and he cares for her so deeply that seeing her in any kind of jeopardy is going to be a profound experience. But that's all stuff that we get to play within the next chapter."

"The Vampire Diaries" returns Friday, Jan. 29, 2016 at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.