Julie Plec was on VRO today to do an interview. I caught just some part of it, and here is what I got (as it contains some spoilers & hints for next season, so I'm putting it here -as I listened and wrote down at the same time and did not have a chance to go back to check, I may have misunderstood some stuff, though...)
She pretty much confirmed Mayor Lockwood is dead in her VRO interview and said we'd see Ms Lockwood stepping in now as the Mayor. And Tyler needs to deal with all that hurt & will continue to have moments of violence that he can't explain. And although she didn't give a certain on whether Jeremy would be dead or not, but mentioned being aware of the friendship potential between Jeremy/Tyler -which I assume they'll be exploring come season 2.
When Stefan lies to Elena again, it is possible it will be a huge deal for since Bloodlines they have an understanding 'no more lies' and his lies during the "hig on human blood" period was overlooked due to being part of the 'disease' but him doing it in 'normal' relationship will probably won't.
Next season's flashbacks will deal with 1864 and what happened AFTER the brothers were turned. (and there will probably be 3-4 flashback episodes again).
Stefan's dark side will always haunt him and Damon's good side will always haunt him. Damon was a pure soul back in his day too, he was innocent and he is now always trying to fight that good side inside of him, just like Stefan always tries to fight the dark side. There is a hero deep within Damon... Damon will always be the villain and Stefan will always be the hero but over the series we will see them switch roles back and fort, and probably for longer periods too...
She said the whole 'can't vampires hear the heartbeats? Wouldn't Katherine lacking one attract Damon's attention and let him know it is not Elena' question would be answered come Season 2 so she won't answer it now...
Bonnie may have some guilt in Season 2 due to what happened in the finale, like it would be domino effect... I think she is hinting at Bonnie feeling sorry for causing Tyler's father's death? She is probably NOT the only witch in TOWN btw!!! Maybe she's (the other witch) "evil" and working for/with Katherine?
She said Anna is not coming back. That she & Pearl were actually supposed to be gone long before (in episode 13), but they loved them so much that they kept them longer. When the crew found out about Anna's death, they had "save Anna" t-shirts... Anna was there to help with Jeremy's journey. (But she may be back in flashbacks... Kevin actually is himself interested in exploring what happened with Katherine and Anna in Chicago.)
She refused to answer whether Isobel will come back or not. (Meaning she'll probably show at some point, I'd say)
Uncle J may be ALIVE! Julie refused to confirm him as dead (as opposed to Mayor & Anna)... But maybe he'll be fighting for his life in the 1st episode and then die. But they always did say his story would go into S2.
Julie said they are still discussing whether or not to give the werewolves the same kind of 'choice' the vampires have. I'd
that. The vampire-werewolf relationship will be as complicated as the witches-vampire one. And they want to show the vampire-werewolf animosity but to make it their own unique way if possible. So they're trying to find out about what to do with it, and also playing with the idea of why the Lockwood werewolf is 'special'.
On Jeremy's non-reaction to Anna being taken: He is a kid who is not even 16 who has had so much trauma to deal with that he has kind of shut-down the moment Anna was taken from him. Which also was kind of foreshadowing for his suicide...
She gave a very guick and certain 'yes' to the possibility of Meredith being introduced.
From what I understand from twitter recaps, in the parts I couldn't listen she also mentioned KLAUS not being out of the cards, Said of Damon & Alaric: "They're like the greatest Hardy Boys, Scooby-Doo..." & mentioned Ian being a great leader and called Damon the greatest villain.