The Vampire Diaries Season 6 News, Spoilers: Elena Welcomes a New Life, a New Romance and a New Frenemy!

By Kara Michelle Oct 02, 2014 07:48 AM EDT

The Vampire Diaries Season 6 News, Spoilers: Elena Welcomes a New Life, a New Romance and a New Frenemy!

With The Vampire Diaries Season 6 release date set for October 2 on CW, a lot of new experiences are in store for Elena Gilbert, played by Nina Dobrev.

It seems that a hallucinatory spell, school, and an upbeat attitude are helping Nina move on from the loss of Damon (Ian Somerhalder) when the "Other Side" collapsed at the end of The Vampire Diaries Season 5.

"When we were starting this season, I was like, this is going to be such a downer. How can we reinvigorate the show without it being so heavy? So this was our solution - to have Elena being in this happy, alternate reality," said The Vampire Diaries executive producer Caroline Dries.

Here are more The Vampire Diaries Season 6 spoilers:

There's a new frenemy - Caroline. The tension heats up between the two. "There are a lot of things that are straining their relationship," Dobrev says. "The fact that they can't go to Mystic Falls, the fact that Elena is in denial, but there's also [Caroline's] friendship with Stefan straining things." Plus, Caroline discovers something about Elena that further complicates their friendship.

Elena goes back to school. She finally takes her studies seriously, and is good at it. Dobrev shares, "She tries to immerse herself in school and create a new life [there] with new friends...I haven't really had to do any class scenes... so I'm having to learn and familiarize myself with a lot of terms and concepts and doctor-type verbiage."

New friends, and a new love perhaps? Be on the lookout for one of Elena's schoolmates in The Vampire Diaries Season 6, as he just might make a move. Elena also bods with Luke, who helps her cope with Damon's death. Meanwhile, Alaric becomes a more regular fixture in Elena's life.