{alltv} 'The Vampire Diaries' Season 3: Bonnie gets her due, Jeremy sees dead people, and more

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"The Vampire Diaries" cast reconvenes in Atlanta this week to begin production on Season 3... and we still have to wait two months before we can finally watch the season premiere on Sept. 15. The world is unfair.

Now that everyone is back to work, though, news is beginning to trickle out about what we're in for when September rolls around. We were all blown away by the final scenes of the Season 2 finale, when Jeremy woke up to find his dead vampire girlfriends, Anna and Vicki, prowling his house.

When Season 3 begins, some time will have passed. (We're not yet sure how much time, but knowing "The Vampire Diaries," it'll likely remain fairly ambiguous.) The dead girls are still around, and Jeremy hasn't exactly gotten around to telling everyone he's being haunted... though we're not sure why, since ghosts can't be such a stretch given what the Mystic Falls kids have to deal with daily.

"We'll see that maybe he's been keeping this a secret, that nobody else is aware of what he's been going through, and that his behavior has changed quite a bit," executive producer Julie Plec tells EW. "People are starting to wonder if he's perhaps getting back into some old bad habits. When in reality, he's just trying to figure out why the hell he's being haunted by his dead girlfriends."

The dead girls may give us access to some other departed favorites in a story that will drive the first part of the season. We're most looking forward to the impact that Jeremy's struggle has on his girlfriend, Bonnie. We have to admit that we've been frustrated by a lack of payoff for some of Bonnie's stories, but the executive producers assure us that the return of Vicki and Anna will show us a deeper side of Bonnie.

"Because of her love for Jeremy and bringing him back to life, she's given him access to two people who were very important to him romantically and emotionally. So for the first time, we'll get to see Bonnie trying to navigate the difficulties of a relationship," Plec tells EW . "It's not about being a witch or having access to the power of a hundred witches, it's about being a girl who loves a boy whose heart is a little bit torn in different directions. I think it will be nice for us to see Bonnie explore some good relationship stuff for a change instead of just being the witch on duty."

Meanwhile... we're guessing that Stefan's "What I Did on My Summer Vacation" essay this year is going to be gruesome, to say the least. If significant time has passed since we last saw our merry band of monsters, Elena and Damon will likely have spent most of that time obsessing over Stefan's whereabouts... and, we're thinking, avoiding the inevitable conversation about that kiss they shared when they thought he was about to kick the bucket.

Our biggest hope for Season 3 is that Stefan won't be reformed too quickly. We don't think he's returned to his ripper ways for good, but we've got our fingers crossed for a rather arduous rehabilitation. Paul Wesley agreed with us when we last saw him. "I'm cautiously optimistic that Season 3 maintains that [dark side]," he told us. "I don't know what's going to happen because they don't tell us anything. I hope he doesn't turn good, you know, episode two he's like 'Ah, what am I doing? Elena!' and he starts crying."

With Joseph Morgan as a series regular this year, Klaus is sure to get in plenty of face time. Now armed with vampire strength and werewolf agility -- and with Ripper Stefan as his wingman -- he's practically unstoppable, and he's looking forward to building an army of hybrids like himself. If we're lucky, though, he'll find reason to wake up his siblings... we miss Elijah, and we can't wait to meet the rest of the Originals.

What are your speculations about Season 3?