Sob: Nina Dobrev and 'Vampire Diaries' boss talk Elena's emotional exit

Spoiler alert! The following contains spoilers for the Vampire Diaries season six finale. 

Even though we knew it was coming, saying goodbye to Nina Dobrev's Vampire Diaries character Elena Gilbert wasn't any easier on Thursday night. While many fans thought Elena would die in the season six finale, the character actually survived the episode but fell victim to a Kai curse that put her in a coma until Bonnie dies, which will probably be a while.

Vampire Diaries executive producer Julie Plec told The Hollywood Reporter that killing Elena woudl ahve been "the worstpossible way to say goodbye to that character. She continued:
"I don't know if anybody — Nina Dobrev herself! — could have talked me into that. We had to tragically put an end to a character for the moment and make it seem final and permanent — which it is — (while) also leaving a door open with hope for the future. Which there is. That was what we set out to do, and I think we succeeded in doing that."
Dobrev herself weighed in on Elena's exit to THR:
"The whole six years, I always respected Julie Plec's opinion. What she does is for the best of the show and the characters … it's a beautiful episode, a tribute and a sad goodbye."
"Sad goodbye" might be a bit of an understatement. Fans could barely keep it together on Thursday night:

Bye Elena. We're definitely going to miss you (and we will never accept anyone else with Damon, let's be real).