It is clear that there is a visible shift in The Vampire Diaries considering how many characters died last season and with the decisions Nina Dobrev, Steven R. McQueen and Michael Trevino made to leave the series.

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The show's executive producer, Caroline Dries, chatted with The Hollywood Reporter recently about all the changes coming up in the brand new season.

The Salvatore brothers, Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder), are definitely key components of this season especially with such a big focus being on family due to their mother Lily's (Annie Wersching) other family (the heretics) coming to Mystic Falls.

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"Right now, she is the heart and soul of the conflict," Dries revealed, adding, "When I talk to directors when we do our tone meetings, I say, 'Lily Salvatore is the most complicated character on this show. She has a lot going on in her brain; she has different loyalties. She's made huge mistakes, but you can also root for her.'"

"She is kind of our villain, because she wants things our characters don't want to happen. But she's also very grounded. She can kind of manipulate them differently. Her goal is to turn them against each other," Dries added.

Lily will work hard to pit Stefan and Damon against each other, but it might not play out as she wishes.

Aside from trying to put her biological sons at odds with each other, Lily will gift viewers with flashbacks into her life. Dries dished the third episode of the season is a flashback one.

The series returns to The CW in the fall for Season 7 on Oct. 8 at 8 p.m. ET.