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1. Ashlee Simpson Was Almost the Star
Think it or not, The CW truly desired The Vampire Diaries to be a star car for Jessica Simpson‘s more youthful sis Ashlee Simpson After discovering Nina Dobrevthe network ultimately cast the “Pieces of Me” vocalist on their Melrose Place revival.
Legend has it, coming off of her work on High School Musical Ashley Tisdalewas likewise used the function of Elena, however turned it down to star in Hellcatswhich aired for simply one season on The CW.
“Half of Hollywood, I think, went out for the role, for all our roles,” Dobrev later on informed E! News of the extreme casting competitors. “I guess I did something right. Here I am. We had to discover and find our characters. Every episode we learned something more and something more, and eventually we created and molded these amazing, awesome characters.”
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Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage The CW Network
2. Nina Didn’t Impress in Her First Audition
While it’s tough to picture anybody else however Dobrev in the multiple-character function that Elena would eventually become(she likewise played Katherine Pierce, Amalia Giroux and Tatia Petrova throughout her six-season stint ), the star, who was understood for her function on Degrassi at the time, didn’t precisely impress the showrunners throughout her very first audition.
“The funniest story about the first impression of Nina is that she didn’t make an impression,” co-creator Julie Plecdiscussed to Home entertainment Weekly “None of us remembered seeing her for the first time. And then she, through her agents and the casting directors, said, ‘Hey, listen—I was sick that day, I didn’t do my best work, I really really want this part.’ [She] put herself on tape, which then got sent to us and it was so magical and so perfect that she basically had the job from that minute forward.”
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Harper Collins
3. Ch-Ch-Changes
After Dobrev was revealed as the program’s Elena, fans of the initial book series raged she did not have the character’s signature blonde hair and blue eyes.
Other modifications from page to screen consisted of offering Elena a struggling teenager bro (Jeremy, played by Steven R. McQueenrather of a 4-year-old sis Margaret, altering her auntie’s name from Judith to Jenna, altering Matt’s surname from Honeycutt to Donovan (he’s likewise unrelated to Vicki, who is his sibling in the series) and making Caroline a friend of Elena’s instead of her opponent.
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Moviestore/Shutterstock
4. The Search for the Salvatores
After discovering their leading woman, TVD required the 2 male elements of the necessary love triangle. No simple job.
“We looked high and low to cast Stefan and Damon,” Plec described, keeping in mind Dobrev “did chemistry read after chemistry read with multiple actors.”
A few of the stars who check out for either (and often both!)functions? Zach Roerig (who would go on to play Matt Donovan), Michael Trevino (who would land the function of Tyler Lockwood), Nathanial Buzolic (later on cast as Kol), and 7th Heaven star David Gallagherwith Plec confessing of the latter, “He impressed us so much originally…but the whole 7th Heaven thing, I wonder if he’ll ever be able to get past that.” (She would later on cast him as a monster after seeing Super 8)
And after that, lastly, they discovered their guys: Paul Wesleyand Ian Somerhalder
“Paul and Ian kind of came in late in the process. Paul auditioned like 15 times, and Ian kind of appeared out of the blue,” Plec statedFor her part, Nina remembered Paul (who initially checked out for Damon!) standing apart from the remainder of the guys checking out opposite her in the chemistry checks out: “The only one who wasn’t trying too hard, that didn’t speak to me at any point unless we were filming, was Paul Wesley,”she informed EW “so it’s funny to think that he did the right thing,”
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Getty Images; Hbo/Kobal/Shutterstock
5. Ian Almost Starred on Another Vampire Show
Before the Lost alum landed the function of Damon, Somerhalder in fact truly wished to sign up with HBO’s Real Bloodauditioning for the function of Jason Stackhouse.
“I auditioned for True Blood. I just couldn’t convince Alan Ball that was my role,” he stated throughout a Q&Aabout the part which eventually went to Ryan Kwanten “And then I didn’t get it, and I was very bummed. I couldn’t watch True Blood until now.”
Somerhalder later on exposed on Enjoy What Happens Live that another star tried to mess up him throughout the audition procedure.
“In the last test of the show, there was a guy who showed up, and he was just trying to play super cool and kind of like psych me out in the room, and I just shut it down, and I said, ‘No way, man—this is my role,'” he remembered. “And I went in there and just made it happen.”
When asked if the public would recognize with his competitors, Ian responded, “You may know. I honestly don’t remember his name.”
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Sam Morris/Getty Images
6. Brush With the Law
Simply as the series best was lastly airing on Sept. 10, 2009, news broke that Dobrev and her co-stars Sara Canning Candice Accola and Kayla Ewellin addition to superstar professional photographer Tyler Shieldswere captured by authorities on disorderly conduct charges in Georgia after they were declared to be sidetracking passing drivers throughout a picture shoot that occurred on a highway.
After they were all cooperative and paid a fine, they were launched by the Monroe County Sheriff’s Department.
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Rick Diamond/Getty Images for Warner Bros
7. On-Set Romances
Just like onscreen, love was progressing on the set throughout its eight-season run.
Wesley outdated TVD guest-star-turned –The Originals lead Phoebe Tonkin for numerous years following his split from Torrey DeVittowho played Meredith Fell in season 3. Accola and Roerig remained in a two-year relationship after she quickly dated McQueen.
And Joseph Morgan and Persia White fell in love on the set when they both signed up with the program in season 3, going on to get wed in July 2014.
And after that, obviously, there’s the most significant IRL TVD relationship …
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Allen Berezovsky/WireImage
8. Dobrev and Somerhalder’s Romance-Turned-Epic Friendship
Delena fans were delighted when it was exposed the co-stars were dating in real-life, ultimately calling it stops in 2013 after 3 years together … simply as Damon and Elena were getting together on the program.
The previous couple rapidly compressed any reports of bad blood when they joked about their separation while accepting the 2014 People’s Choice Award for Best Chemistry.
When Dobrev discussed their split in their joint speech, Somerhalder included, “And yet our characters are still dating on the show.” Nina’s reply? “It’s a good thing it’s not awkward…Well, it’s a good thing we have chemistry!”
And after Somerhalder’s April 2015 wedding event to Nikki ReedDobrev had absolutely nothing however kind words to state.
“I don’t think that’s weird at all,” she reacted to a See What Happens Live audience who noted it was odd that she was buddies with her ex and his other half. “That’s great. Why can’t everyone be friends?”
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Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for InStyle
9. Paul and Nina Didn’t Get Along
While they were representing among television’s most precious brand-new couples in the program’s very first season, Dobrev and Wesley “didn’t get along” at all throughout the very first 5 months of recording, she exposed.
“I respected Paul Wesley; I didn’t like Paul Wesley,” she confessed on the Directionally Challenged podcast in 2019. “I remember everyone would walk up to me after the show aired and they’d be like, ‘Are you and Paul dating in real life?’ because everyone thought that we had such good chemistry. I realize now that there’s a fine line between love and hate and we despised each other so much that it read as love.”
Ultimately, the 2 figured out their distinctions, with Dobrev describing how Wesley is now among her friends.
“We ended up getting to a good place and it was fine, but of everyone, I think I probably see him the most and hang out with him the most [now],” she stated. “We’re probably the closest, like, we hang out a lot and we’re really good friends and I love his wife. It’s so funny how much has changed.”
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The CW
10. Taylor Swift Inspired This Character
A substantial fan of Taylor Swiftco-creator Kevin Williamson informed E! News in season one he was “desperate to have [Swift] come play a vampire.”
He included, “Wouldn’t she make an amazing Kirsten Dunst circa Interview with the Vampire-type? Oh my god, I cannot tell you how hard I’m trying to get her. I would kill to have her on the show!”
He even had her in mind when producing and casting the function of Stefan’s BFF Lexi, which would ultimately go to fan-favorite Arielle Kebbel
Alas, Williamson confessed she was “too big” for the program.
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Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage
11.
While they weren’t fans of stunt-casting, Plec’s dream was to have Joshua Jackson(a.k.a. Pacey Witter)sign up with the program.
“I think our show works so well because we don’t really stunt cast. That being said, if there’s some big hot TV star that’s available that we love, then…” she kept in mind. “As I always joke, I have my Joshua Jackson fantasy: Pacey in Mystic Falls.”
Preferably, he would’ve handled the much-anticipated function of Original vampire Klaus, a part so vital that more than 200 stars auditioned for it before relative unidentified Morgan caught the atrocious function that would introduce an effective spinoff, The OriginalsIf Jackson had actually ever wound up in the function, it likely would’ve stayed a one-season arc, as initially meant before Morgan showed too alluring to exterminate.
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20th Century Fox Television/Kobal/Shutterstock
12. Buffy Rebuffed Them
In what was The Vampire Diariesone real effort at stunt casting of sorts, the manufacturers connected to Buffy the Vampire Slayer icon Sarah Michelle Gellarto play Rose, a vampire who established a connection with Damon.
“Originally me and my pipe dreams had us trying to get Sarah Michelle Gellar for Rose,” Williamson exposed to The New York Post “She was very appreciative but just said no. She was the only stunt casting we’d have ever agreed to.”
The Walking Dead star Lauren Cohan captured the vampire part rather.
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13. A Star’s Shocking Exit
While The Vampire Diariesfanbase was utilized to seeing lots of stars reoccur (with a great deal of on-screen deaths and resurrections), Dobrev’s statement that she would be leaving the program at the end of season 6 stunned lots of.
“I always knew I wanted Elena’s story to be a six season adventure, and within those six years I got the journey of a lifetime,” the star composed in an Instagram post.
Plec likewise released a declaration. “Saying goodbye to Nina is both bittersweet and beautiful,” she stated. “We will miss Nina and the four hundred characters she played, but we look forward to the insane and exciting challenge of continuing to tell stories of our Salvatore Brothers and our much-loved and gifted ensemble.”
The series went on for 2 more seasons without Nina, who returned for the series ending.
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14. OG Ending
Method back in season 2, Plec and Williamson determined their supreme ending while consuming in a shopping center food court, and it’s one that most likely would’ve pissed off both Delena and Stelena fans.
“Both brothers should die in the name of saving their girl and then be watching her like ghosts—because we had introduced the Other Side—as she went off into the sunset to live her life,” Plec exposed to EW, “and maybe marry Matt Donovan or maybe become a doctor, but that those brothers would be side-by-side watching her live.”
As the series continued and the love triangle basically moved, their end-game altered. A lot.
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Alexandra Wyman/Getty Images for Grey Goose Vodka
15. OG Ending … Part 2
After Dobrev’s exit and Stefan’s relationship with Caroline, Plec and Williamson, who went back to compose the series ending after leaving the program at the end of season 2, disputed 2 endings.
“There were two pitches on the table: One that gave perfect closure to the season and then another that gave closure to the whole series,” Plec discussed to EWincluding they had “just as many discussions over killing Damon as we did over killing Stefan, and let me tell you, for a very long time the pendulum swung the other way.”
Eventually, Stefan compromised himself, providing Damon the possibility to live out his human life with Elena. And after eventually choosing the fate of among other television’s other renowned love triangles with Dawson’s CreekWilliamson confessed to being torn over who Elena ended the series with.
“It’s no secret I was always a fan of Stefan and Elena ending up together,” Williamson, who was a Dawson fan in the Dawson-Joey-Pacey love triangle, confessed. “In another universe, that would’ve been the ending, but we didn’t have time to tell that story in the last season because we didn’t have Elena. We couldn’t get them back together.”
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Frazer Harrison/Getty Images for PCA
16. The Original Final Line Revealed
“Hello, brother.”
Damon’s very first line in the pilot functioned as the last line of the series, as the Salvatore siblings were reunited after Damon’s human death, a poignant and full-circle ending for the series and the characters’ relationship. It was at first composed to be a totally various line.
“The original version was, ‘Oh, I see they have hero hair in heaven,” Williamson exposed to EW “Then they hugged.”
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