You knew they couldn't hide in their coffins forever. With the season four premiere of "Vampire Diaries" on October 11, new casting and plot details are dripping out almost daily like so many pints of freshly tapped blood.

Executive producer Julie Plec recently told TVLine, "This year, Damon is the Damon of Season 1, minus the posturing and posing. ... He is who he is. He's got attitude. He's always right. He's rarely wrong. He might do the wrong thing, but he's always the one who's like, 'I told you guys. You should have listened to me.' So this year is going to be very much about, 'You don't like me. You want to judge me. You don't like who I am, how I do things? Well, screw you.' It's going to be a great shift for him... He's still going to be the Damon we know and love - he's still going to be kicking ass and taking names. But he just has this devil may care attitude about it. He's just not going to change for anybody anymore. He did that. That's over."

Damon's been through a lot lately. Before he even knew about Elena becoming a vampire, he lost his drinking buddy in Alaric, and found out Elena chose Stefan. However, everything's going to be changing now that Elena's transitioning, which should also lead to some more conflict between the brothers.

Ian Somerhalder teased back at Comic-Con that "Matt's gonna have a tough year." However, he's lived this long, and with Elena now a vampire, meaning her emotions-including her protective nature-are heightened, it doesn't seem likely anything will happen to Matt that threatens his life. However, he is going to have to deal with Damon taking out his frustrations on him in all probability.

TV Guide has confirmed that when Elena turns vampire, she will not waste any time in embracing her newfound vampirism. Elena's new state will change things completely on the series.

According to TV Guide, "once the transition starts, there's no turning back. Fortunately, she's got a ton of friends who have already been through it themselves! In the season premiere, Stefan will have a heartfelt chat with Elena about her new strengths and weaknesses. He'll also present her with her first daylight ring - made especially for her by Bonnie."

And it won't take long at all for Elena to begin embracing her new role as vampire. Now that she's a vampire Elena is going to have plenty of friends to turn to for some advice about what comes next, especially Caroline since she most recently went through the same thing.

Elena chose Stefan, which he will have to find out about in "The Vampire Diaries season 4"- she hadn't told him, but had told Damon, before she drowned. Elena's going to be dealing with enough as she adapts to being a vampire in the season premiere. Elena and Stefan had talked about being a vampire before, the best and worst parts, Bonnie making her a daylight ring, and most importantly, that Elena never wanted to be a vampire. Will they recall that conversation when Stefan talks to Elena in the premiere?

As for Meredith, with Alaric's exit fans are wondering if this will mean her exit is near. TV Line revealed the following about what is next for her character from Julie Plec:

"Meredith in the beginning is just trying to keep her head above water, realizing that she's found herself dropped into this supernatural world she never really meant to get involved with. She has a choice to make: Does she want to dive in head first and embrace it? Or does she want to pull back and say, 'Hey you know what? Why don't you guys leave me out of it.' We'll be seeing a little bit of her in the beginning of the season."

David Alpay, best known for his work on "The Borgias" and "The Tudors," is set to play a college professor who has a particular interest in the supernatural. Professor Shane will share a particular connection with Bonnie when he first arrives in the fourth episode. TVGuide reveals that he knows her through her family, so we're hoping his introduction will open us up to a little more of Bonnie's background and family history.

No word yet on whether he'll be a love interest for any of the characters.

In Season 2, when Damon, Alaric, and Elena visited Isobel's offices at Duke University, we learned that Isobel had been doing some serious research on vampires as part of her studies. Let's just say that Shane has a lot in common with Elena's departed bio-mom.

Alpay will recur this season. His storyline will introduce us to the local university, which will help ease the show's transition into the post-high-school world after most of our favorites graduate in the spring.

In other "Vampire Diaries" news, Alaric, or Matthew Davis has been dating "Alphas" actress Azita Ghanizada for the past four months, after first dating her nearly eight years ago. She just wrapped production of "Alphas" in Toronto and has supposedly been visiting Davis in Vancouver. Since Davis exiting the show, he has a new CW program of his own coming out called "Cult."

What do you want to see happen in season 4? Let us know in the comments.