Death, break-ups and some killer urges plagued The Vampire Diaries winter finale earlier this month.

After the eventful episode, TVLine spoke with executive producer Julie Plec about the loss of Tyler’s mom, Damon and Elena’s struggles and the future of Caroline and Klaus.

And now we have even more scoop from that chat, so read on to find out how the Christmas outing will affect the Salvatore brothers’ relationship, whether Caroline and Tyler are going to make it through this rough patch and what’s in store for Jeremy, romantically and professionally (he’s a hunter now, you know).

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TVLINE | Damon did break the sire bond, sort of, but it was a little too late where Stefan’s concerned. What does that mean for their relationship?

That’s unfortunate. Damon was a little bit late in his realization that he was being selfish and needed to do the right thing by Stefan. The jig is up as far as Stefan’s awareness of what Elena and Damon have been up to. It’s not going to be pretty. Stefan is heartbroken. He feels incredibly betrayed and angry. We’re going to see a lot of his point of view as we move forward.

TVLINE | From the promos, it looks like Stefan also lashes out at Elena.

Yeah. He’s pissed. [Laughs] When the break-up is civil, it’s usually the beginning of some pretty dark stuff still to come. The calmer the break-up, the worse the fallout.

TVLINE | Tyler’s grown a lot this season. Will recent events help him mature further or set him back?

It’s a setback in that his confidence came from this feeling that he had a place and he had people that were looking to him. As his mom said, “You’re a leader of people like your father was.” He was really growing into that, and to feel like they all paid the price for that confidence will definitely set him back a bit. The question is, how will he rebound from that?

TVLINE | Are Caroline and Tyler OK?

Tyler’s going to struggle, and Caroline’s going to struggle in trying to help him. But if there’s one thing those two have proven again and again, it’s that when situations are at their most dire and their most extreme, they find a way to be there for each other. I think we can rest easy that that won’t have changed yet.

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TVLINE | Klaus is a great bad guy, and Joseph [Morgan] has said in the past that he doesn’t want to soften him up too much. But at some point, for the longevity of the character, does he have to soften up?

The beauty of Klaus, much like Damon, is that his horrible misdeeds are all born out of a place of a complete lack of trust and faith as a result of being repeatedly betrayed and rejected in his life. I’m not saying I excuse his horrific behavior, but it’s born from a very human place. Once someone’s got a strong core of humanity, there’s hope for them – [they may] just not necessarily wake up tomorrow as Man of the Year. Klaus will continue to be a very complicated character. Much like Damon in the first couple seasons, when he feels backed up against the wall, he lashes out in very, very destructive ways. It makes it impossible to forgive. And yet, the redemption of Klaus as a character-long arc is something we always talk about.

TVLINE | What is Shane’s journey in the next chapter?

Shane is the captain of the crazy train in the next chapter, which is really all about revealing more about his agenda, learning more about this mythical character of Silas that he keeps mentioning, getting closer and closer to the location and the means to dig up both the cure and Silas — and then the fallout of that choice and what that all means.

TVLINE | When you introduced April, my first thought was, “Love interest for Jeremy.” Is that safely out of the question now that we see that she’s got a lot more to do with the mythology and Rebekah’s storyline?

Yeah, in April’s current situation, romance and roses are not necessarily instantly on her horizon.

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TVLINE | There was a Jeremy/Bonnie moment in the winter finale. Is that a romance that picks back up?

It’s in there to remind us that they had a history together that was really deep and important. For Bonnie to be Jeremy’s emotional touchstone and to find a closeness with each other that was abruptly shattered back in Season 3 definitely brings up memories of that relationship and makes us wonder if there’s any road for them to travel together.

TVLINE | How is Jeremy going to be dealing with controlling his hunter urges?

He’s going to be a hardcore, lean and mean vampire-fighting machine over the next couple episodes – but with an unlikely coach in the form of Damon Salvatore. So there’s some fun to be had there and a lot of danger for both of them. … They’re definitely going to have to figure out how to get that mark to grow. Damon’s not going to just unleash Jeremy into the vampire den until he feels like he’s properly trained and ready.

TVLINE | The next episode is kind of Breakfast Club-y. Who’s trapped together, and what emotions does it bring out?

It has a lot to do with what Rebekah’s up to. She’s been gone for quite some time. She’s missed a lot. So [in] her efforts to try to get information out of everybody…she gets caught up on the goings-on in Mystic Falls in her absence, including that Stefan and Elena are broken up, that Elena slept with Damon, that there’s a sire bond at play, that the cure hasn’t been found yet – all kinds of great things which she gets out of them in the form of a pretty malicious detention at school.