Of all the deaths on last week's action-packed episode of The Vampire Diaries - heck, of all the deaths ever on this suspenseful series - the most tragic and personal by far was that of Jenna.

Why did producer Julie Plec and company write out Elena and Jeremy's aunt?

"The loss of life in the sacrifice ritual needed to be as deeply personal as possible in order to show how big of a move it was that Klaus is making and how profound of an impact it would have on not only Elena's life, but on everybody," Plec tells TV Guide, adding that the staff didn't decide to kill off Jenna until recently.

With Elena's birth parents and adoptive aunt out of the picture, we've been wondering what will happen to her and Jeremy. But Plec appears to have provided a spoiler by telling the magazine:

"She's going to be in her own way a parent to Jeremy and she's going to be the adult in the family and that's all going to be a part of the road that we're sending her down."

Guess there's no reason why Elena can't soon turn 18, right?

Plec also confirmed other Vampire Diaries spoilers that have hinted that this week's finale will be character-based. She says Caroline and Tyler's relationship will not be mentioned in "As I Lay Dying" and adds:

"The story we wanted to tell in our season finale is actually the emotional resolution of the season. We also want to really give the audience a window to where we're going in Season 3, a taste of what the series is going to be like as we move forward."

Matt Richenthal is the Editor in Chief of TV Fanatic. Follow him on Twitter and on Google+.