Like most episodes of The Vampire Diaries, viewers were left with some answers but many more questions following last night's "The Killer."

And who better to ask those of than Executive Producer Julie Plec and the episode's writer, Michael Narducci. I chatted with them on Wednesday night after The CW was kind enough to screen the installment ahead of time... and bring us pizza!

Consider yourself properly spoiler warned and enjoy the Vampire Diaries scoops and tidbits...

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The return of the voiceover: “It is the title of the show,” Plec explained. “So we always knew we wanted it to exist out there in the ether.”

But there was a reason why it came back with this episode and that, of course, had to do with a certain newbie vampire: “A diary is your most personal place to give your most personal messages and so when you’re in a functional friendship [or] functional relationship, when you feel like you’ve got something to share you can share it with a friend, a lover, a whatever and Elena has always had that in Stefan or Damon and right now she feels more lost and alone than she ever has.”

Planning Elena’s first kill: Narducci said the writers have known for awhile that Elena’s first would be Connor and it would happen in episode #405: “Something that I struggle with is I want Elena to do more things. I want her to not be a damsel in distress. I want her to go out and protect her brother."

Having Jeremy and Matt both be held hostage by Connor worked perfectly in pushing Elena to be active. Having both of them (and April) in jeopardy lead us to “what’s Elena going to do?” he continued. “Is she going to wait for all these other people to get involved and save everyone for her or is she going to get involved and do something?”

Why Connor? “I don’t think she goes into those tunnels with the intention of killing Connor,” Narducci said. “I think she goes into those tunnels with the intention of saying ‘Stay the hell away from my family.’ And Connor never gives up, Connor’s ready to kill a vampire at any moment and when he stakes her, she loses it in that moment.”

Plec added that Connor’s death won’t be without its effects: “We learn for the first time that killing a hunter comes with a price, so there’s a great kind of weird consequence to it all that she’s really going to have to deal with that takes her to some dark, dark, dark, dark places.”

Speaking of The Cure… Because it could change the vampire universe in a big way, what can we expect in future episodes? “It’s going to ask a lot of questions,” Plec teased. “It’s going to make our characters ask a lot about themselves, about what would they want, would they want it, what would they do in order to get it?”

And, of course, what will come of one dastardly hybrid like Klaus if there is a cure? Plec said: “It’s going to make them realize, ‘Wait a second. Klaus is this immortal hybrid who has been relatively indestructible. Is there somehow a way to suddenly make him destructible?’”

Added Plec: “This announcement of the cure at this point in the narrative is equal to Katherine wants a moonstone, is equal to Damon is looking for crystal. It’s just the beginning. It’s the beginning of a lot of roads that we can travel down.”

Other hot developments on the way…

The Damon-Stefan-Elena triangle is going to hit a major bump very soon. “Everything is about to change in some way or another, “ Plec carefully explained. “Those changes will have a ripple effect through the entire season. I’m not saying it’s all going to change next Thursday, but there are some pretty big moves next week as a result of this.”

She also promised that something will put a wedge between the Brothers Salvatore.

Bonnie may want to exercise caution with Professor Shane. “Unfortunately as we’ve all already seen,” Plec previewed, “he does have alternate agenda that he’s hiding. We just don’t know if it’s in her best interest or not. A lot of that will come to light over the next chapter, as well.”

Watch for Tyler to turn hero as he works to free the remaining hybrids of being sired to Klaus. Hinting that Episode 8 will be a big one for Tyler, Plec gushed: “Michael Trevino, on fire. Just a strong point of view, Tyler stepping up and becoming a man and really taking a stand and it’s good for him. I like seeing it and he’s doing a real good job at it.”

And even though we now know that Haley and Tyler didn’t really hook up, she’s not sticking around by a mere sense of randomness. “She is there for a reason,” Plec said, “and it’s about Tyler’s story and what he, as a hybrid free of Klaus, wants to accomplish and help the people that are part of his pack.”  

Elena and Jeremy could be also be coming up on some sibling strife due to her new vamp-ness, said Plec.:“I think now they’re supernaturally predisposed to be at conflict so that’s going to make Sunday dinner be a little awkward.”

And we haven’t seen the last of Rebekah, who will return sometime in the future. “That will all pay off down the road and with a vengeance,” Plec said cryptically. Of other missing faces, it’s in the works to have Elijah show his face again later in the “last chapter of the season,” she added.

And than goodness for that! So which of these storylines is most intriguing, TVD Fanatics? What has your most and least excited?

Jim Halterman is the West Coast Editor of TV Fanatic and the owner of JimHalterman.com. Follow him on Twitter.