Ian Somerhalder recently spoke about "The Vampire Diaries" season 7 and the future of the franchise.

Australia Network News reported that Ian Somerhalder may have hinted at Nina Dobrev's "TVD" return in one of his interviews. The publication noted that the actor may want the "Final Girls" actress to return to the highly-popular CW show.

Speaking to E! News, Somerhalder revealed how he reflected on how far the series has gone. "I looked at myself in the mirror and I said god, man, 154 episodes, seven years of your life you've navigated through this, wow," he told the publication.

Apparently, the 37-year-old actor hopes that the upcoming season of the series will place the spotlight once more on the core characters.

"What made people fall in love with this story was its characters, not 40 of them, like eight of them, six of them-this core group of actors, of characters that really move you," he said.

"We don't know where that's going to go but leaving the audience with the fact that by that time they will have spent eight years of their life with these people, I want the audience to feel closer, more afraid, more in love, more in tune with these characters than they ever have been."

ANN noted that his comments may have revealed his true desire: to have Nina Dobrev return to "The Vampire Diaries."

Meanwhile, Ian Somerhalder also revealed what the future holds for some characters in "TVD" season 8. Speaking to TV Guide, he reminisced on how exciting it was when Elena asked Stefan what he really was.

"And now, we have to kill six or eight people, blow up three cars and a house to get that same emotion," Somerhalder said. "I would look at this season as being a very, very important time to notch up our belts and really put our big boy and big girl pants on in terms of telling stories that connect back to the ways this show [once was]."