'The Vampire Diaries' season 8 spoilers: The CW promises 'fantastic' finale with or without Elena

The question of whether or not Nina Dobrev will reprise her role as Elena Gilbert in "The Vampire Diaries" season 8 continues to be a mystery, but The CW president Mark Pedowitz has one thing he can assure.

"The best way I can answer that is, [executive producers] Julie [Plec], Kevin Williamson, the studio and The CW promise a fantastic series finale," he said during the Television Critics Association TCA winter press tour.

Pedowitz said the same thing at the summer TCA press tour. He hopes Dobrev will be back, but assured that "The Vampire Diaries" season 8 will end with a bang even though Elena will not be in Mystic Falls to see it all.

Plec has said in the past that she will do everything in her power to bring Dobrev back for "The Vampire Diaries" season 8 for an epic finale.

The actress also promised to Plec that she will be back for the series finale and the EP hopes that Dobrev will honor her word and return one last time to help give the show a much more meaningful close.

Plec holds on to Dobrev's word and that she will make good of it in "The Vampire Diaries" season 8. "Not to put too much pressure on anything Nina Dobrev, but a promise was made. An emotional promise that I'd like to see come to life," Plec told TVLine.

She said in another interview that they will first have to figure things out. "But it would be a real tragedy if we couldn't bring that story back around full-circle," she explained.

Last year, Ian Somerhalder indicated that he no longer wants to bring Elena back into the fold and end "The Vampire Diaries" season 8 with just the group that the show has currently.

"The Vampire Diaries" season 8 returns with a brand new episode on Friday, Jan. 13, at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.