2016 Fall TV Scoop: Babies, Deaths and zaidi 

2016 Fall TV Scoop: Babies, Deaths and More

Unfortunately, Damon and Enzo\'s dark future remains a mystery — even to the Vampire Diaries writers. "Aside from the reveal and the origin story of this unknown villain," executive producer Julie Plec says few things about Season 8 have been set in stone. (And that\'s fine by us — we\'re itching to find out what\'s connected to that gnarled hand we saw in the season finale.)

In addition to casting Oliver\'s unpredictable/"charming" new adversary, Season 5 will also introduce the recurring role of a cocksure/reckless ex-Marine turned vigilante. And as for Oliver\'s stint as mayor, showrunner Wendy Mericle has said that as with DC Comics\' Batman, "City Hall, that institution, is crucial to our series." But it just might be that the big draw will be meaningful flashbacks, as Oliver fulfills his promise to Taiana (you know, the girl from the island). "It\'s a very good possibility that we\'ll finally find out how he got that Bratva tattoo and how he learned to speak Russian," says Mericle. "When Oliver says, \'No one can know my secret\' and he kills that guy in the pilot, we\'re going to get some insight into that."

Don\'t expect Bernadette to give birth this fall on the CBS hitcom. Considering that the Season 1 premiere will pick up right where May\'s finale left off, Melissa Rauch\'s expectant alter ego will "still only be a few months in," points out showrunner Steve Molaro, who admits he has no interest in accelerating this particular storyline. "We\'re taking it slow," he says. "The plan is to just let it roll out like a regular pregnancy."

Despite the fact that Weller put Jane in handcuffs at the end of Season 1, showrunner Martin Gero says the FBI\'s New York office will actually be more united following Jane\'s arrest. "Even though they\'re really upset at Jane, they all have a common goal now, which is bringing down the people that did this to Mayfair and trying to find out what this is all about," Gero tells us. "For the first time since the pilot, they\'re all operating with the same amount of knowledge. Everybody\'s going to be on the same page, everyone will have access to all the information that Jane has, and Jane will have all the information that they have."

"There are a lot of things that we want to wrap up — including some stuff that started Season 1," teases co-showrunner Michael Peterson of the Fox drama\'s abbreviated 12th and final season, which was recently pushed to midseason (aka early 2017). "There are also some key issues for Booth and Brennan that we want to tackle, and we think we found some pretty cool ways to do it."

Could someone be leaving Firehouse 51? "The main battle going into next season is [between Jimmy and Boden], and one of them isn\'t going to be around [after it]," executive producer Matt Olmstead says. While recommitted to each other, Dawson and Casey will face "complications" when it comes to fostering little Louie. Meanwhile, Stella and Severide "have to take a break from each other" after his "knock-down, drag-out fight" with her unhinged ex-husband.

Dr. Rhodes isn\'t staying single for long! "You can\'t have a guy who\'s that talented and goodlooking and not have him be in love a little," executive producer Andrew Schneider teases. Elsewhere, Dr. Choi will move up professionally and face "some new challenges," while "a little surprise" is revealed about Dr. Charles, EP Diane Frolov adds.

After Roman\'s departure, Burgess will be "looking for a new partner," not to mention "going through a little bit of a celibate period of time" after two disastrous workplace romances, executive producer Matt Olmstead previews. Elsewhere on the romantic front, Halstead and Lindsay will move in together, while Antonio may finally get a love interest.

Asked to characterize her plan for Season 3 of Fox\'s hip-hop soap opera, EP Ilene Chaiken has this to say: "What we\'re setting up is a battle of dark vs. light. Who are the Lyons and how will they continue to define themselves going forward? Can they ever change? Is Lucious the dark lord, pulling them all in the other direction? And really, where does Tariq fit in with all of this? I would venture that if Tariq really is Lucious\' half-brother, there probably isn\'t a good one and a bad one." Furthermore, Chaiken adds, Cookie\'s decision to walk away from Lucious over his sham marriage to Anika will reverberate going forward. "The family is together, the company is together, and Lucious and Cookie will be in one another\'s faces and lives," she teases, "but her [being finished with Lucious] is going to color everything."

In addition to adding three new faces for Season 3 — The Mad Hatter, a young villainess "who uses her sexuality to entrap men," and an ambitious female journalist — there is the looming matter of who/what we glimpsed at the close of the May finale. EP John Stephens teased the reveal of Bruce Wayne\'s emo doppelgänger as "a development that is in line with all the other story we\'ve been telling [in Season 2], but one piece that we\'ve kept hidden," adding that with the release of Strange\'s bus full of monsters, "the nature of the city of Gotham will change."

If Owen and Amelia\'s relationship continues to follow the "First comes love, then comes marriage" pattern in Season 13, next up should be a baby in a baby carriage. "I think she wants children," says Caterina Scorsone, who plays the newly minted Mrs. Hunt. "She remembers her pre-tragedy childhood with Derek and their sisters fondly, and I think she would want to recreate that kind of boisterousness in the house. That\'s one of the reasons she wanted to move in with Meredith and Maggie — she likes a boisterous household!" The question is, having lost her baby on Private Practice, will Amelia be able to face her fears of trying again? That, Scorsone says, "I don\'t know. And I\'m sure Owen\'s got his share of trauma that will make things difficult, too. But I think the intention is that they want to have children."

All magic has consequences, series co-creator David Greenwalt warns, and Nick\'s mysterious stick is no different. "That stick unlocks things that should never have been unlocked," the EP says. "There was a reason that was buried for all time."

You know the Asher-Michaela bathroom hookup that took place at the end of Season 2? Don\'t be surprised if showrunner Pete Nowalk further explores the unlikely pairing of "Doucheface" and the most upright member of the Keating Five come this fall. "I think it\'s fun. I really understand how these young people who have been living in a powder keg would grasp at each other," he offers. "Michaela is going to have to deal with the fact that she just found out another guy she trusted, Caleb, was a crazy, freaking sociopath, so it makes sense to me why she might want to just choose the simple guy who\'s right in front of her. In many ways, Asher is a really good boyfriend, and I think he\'s probably a generous lover." Nowalk adds he\'d also like to dig deeper into Michaela\'s backstory — "to learn about her adoptive family" in Season 3.

"We\'re going to be exploring the idea of growing up and what that means for various people in our family," executive producer Jennie Urman says of Season 3. "What do you hold onto and what do you let go of as you move forward?" More concretely, Michael\'s fate will be revealed "very early on," Jane will have sex "not too far in the future," Anezka will take in her "Petra-fied" sis, preggers Xo will consider abortion, and Rose and Luisa will go to the most dysfunctional couples\' therapy ever.

Savage has been vanquished, but the team\'s legendary journeys shall continue, as steered by the season-ending arrival of Hourman (played by Suits\' Patrick J. Adams). With the DC Comics hero presenting "a fork in the road" for the Waverider crew, Season 2 will boast both "new characters" (including a ">powered Han Solo type and a female soldier from the 1940s) and "a new dramatic engine," says showrunner Marc Guggenheim. And whereas Season 1 only dabbled with an ill-fated Ray/Kendra fling and simmering Sara/Snart sparks, the EP says, "There are seeds that we\'re going to start planting in Season 2" for other romantic developments.

"Mum" is of course the word heading into Season 2, seeing as Lucifer and Amenadiel\'s mother has escaped Hell for surely nefarious reasons. Previewing the yet-to-be-cast role, showrunner Joe Henderson says, "For a while we\'ve seen that Amenadiel\'s been trying to be \'God\'s favorite son,\' emulating himself after his father. So you can imagine that Lucifer might be \'his mother\'s son.\'" The EP also hints that viewers should "definitely read into" the fact that Maze went MIA after saving Amenadiel, as well as shares his Season 2 wish to feature "more of Dr. Linda (played by Rachael Harris) with our other characters," serving as "a confidante at the very least."

Having had to lay a foundation for Michael Weatherly\'s season-ending sendoff, showrunner Gary Glasberg is "super-eager to reset, to move on and move forward ... and get back to the lightness and the mystery that NCIS is known for." And doing so might involve a couple of newer faces, in Sarah Clarke\'s FBI agent Tess Monroe and Duane Henry\'s MI-6 agent Clayton Reeves, either (or both) of whom could become series regulars. ("That\'s the next thing we\'re going to have to figure out," Glasberg said at finale time.) As for a near-casualty of Trent Kort\'s reign of terror, Glasberg plans to have Fornell\'s recuperation play out in real time, versus the usual TV quick fix: "To actually see him have to work towards it, and the frustration of that, is exciting for us."

Showrunner Josh Safran promises "a surprising twist at the end of Act 1" of the Season 2 premiere, adding that it\'ll have to do with Alex\'s new role at the CIA — and the secrecy involved. "We\'re very interested in the fact that the FBI\'s so much about being honest, truthful and living up to your badge," he says, "and the CIA is the opposite. You succeed if you can deceive. So it\'s going to be interesting to see. It\'s like a funhouse mirror of what we\'ve seen."