The CW’s The Vampire Diaries starring Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley will be ending with season eight, and series co-creator Julie Plec said she’d love to see Nina Dobrev return to the show during the final season. During the 2016 San Diego Comic Con, Ian Somerhalder (‘Damon Salvatore’) sat down for interviews and was asked if he’d like to see Damon’s story have a happy ending with Elena. Somerhalder actually has a completely different ending in mind for the series which will kick off its last season beginning on October 21, 2016.
Ian Somerhalder Interview:
How dark does Damon get this year compared to previous seasons?
Ian Somerhalder: “I mean it’s like this show is 50 Shades of Black. How many different shades…it’s dark. Listen, we go into some pretty dark spaces and the world’s in a pretty dark f**king place right now as well and we’re right there in with them. I think one of the reasons we fell in love with this character of Damon Salvatore initially was that he had the ability to be very dark, sadistic, but at the same time he was righteous. He had ill intent, but he had righteous reasons for having those ill intentions. And those are ultimately the most dangerous people in the world. Look what’s going on in the world right now. Look at Munich, look at Orlando. Look at anything we see around us. Ill intent with righteousness makes you very dangerous, and that’s what Damon always has been. Now, when we come into the season we see Damon and Enzo – we know these guys. We know them to be very cruel, calm, collected, super dark, funny characters who basically live with an immense amount of free will. Now, that free will has been stripped from them and now they’re forced to do things they don’t want to do. And so that conflict, that push and that pull is really fun as an actor to play and it’s really fun to watch. And so the level of darkness that comes out of it…Damon is doing the bidding of some other entity that’s really got his head locked in and it’s really karma. Damon’s just done that to so many people.
I mean, the dark sh*t that we did…like season one. I remember episode two of season one of the show, Damon you remember was compelling and seducing and effectively raping 17 year-old Caroline. I mean, that’s some dark sh*t but he was funny while he was doing it and he was righteous in his intent. It doesn’t get much darker than that. You know what I mean? And so going from that guy to now having to do what some other entity wants him to do it is a cool shift. It’s a cool transition.”
Do you want Damon to have a happy ending with Elena?
Ian Somerhalder: “Happy endings don’t happen in Mystic Falls. But for Mystic Falls’ sake because, you know Kevin (Williamson) explained to me…it was really funny. I don’t know if you guys remember this name: Marcos Siega. He directed our pilot. He was our supervising producer, our on the ground director/producer of season one going into season two. He and Julie (Plec) and Kevin established the look of the show, the feel of the show. He came right off of Dexter. He does all of Kevin’s stuff now. Everything that Kevin does, Marcos Siega directs and produces. All of it. I remember the first table read for this show. He slams down the script and he walks in and says, ‘Welcome back, everybody,’ because we got picked up for the show and the pilot was great. He says, ‘I just want you to read the title of the show. It’s called The Vampire Diaries, not The Elena Diaries, not The Stefan Diaries, not The Damon Diaries. It’s The Vampire Diaries. This is a story about a town and the diaries of any vampires that we want. None of you are safe. Any of you can be killed at any given moment. Show up on time, be nice, do good work, and you’ll stick around. And I thought, ‘Sh*t, man, this just happened to me three years ago on Lost!’
But, the happy ending I could see is that this girl gets to live her life never even knowing these two brothers exist. You know, talking about the most epic case of robbing the cradle. You have these guys who are like 160, 170 years-old dating an 18 year-old. Honestly, if this town could be rid of vampires and forget that they existed, I think it would be such an amazing moment for humans. Just to be able to go back and live their life. And as a human, as an audience member realizing that these supernatural beings came in and out of time to serve the purpose of the story but at the end of the day it’s about humanity. That’s what every story is about. It’s about humanity. So, Paul (Wesley) and I think that the boys – the Salvatore brothers – should go to some beautiful island in the Caribbean in their Speedos, sit on the beach all night looking up at the moon, bonding as brothers, drinking 60 year-old Barbados rum. And when the sun comes up they should have their final toast, give each other a hug, and throw their rings into the sea and just poof.'”
That’s a happy ending.
Ian Somerhalder: “That’s a happy ending. They’re in a great place. They had great lives.”
