Keeping track of the multiple characters Nina Dobrev has played on The CW’s The Vampire Diaries requires a good memory and/or a flow chart, but Dobrev’s enjoying the challenges presented with each new season of the supernatural drama. “As an actor, the challenge has been so great and so welcome and wonderful that I’m so lucky,” said Dobrev during our interview at the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con.
Dobrev and her co-stars on The Vampire Diaries were big draws at the Con, with fans of the series – and the media – hoping for news on what’s happening to the main characters following season five’s cliffhanger finale. Dobrev didn’t give away any spoilers, but she did talk about what’s going on with Elena and what we might expect to see in season six.
Nina Dobrev The Vampire Diaries Interview
Elena has an interesting way of mourning. Can you talk more about that?
Nina Dobrev: “Not very much, but I can tell you that I went to college for sociology and psychology, so I’m very fascinated. I was very interested when I read her approach and what I had to do. It made sense, but it’s very, very strange.”
And she’ll be pursuing a pre-med degree when she returns to college this coming season?
Nina Dobrev: “I don’t actually know why yet she’s studying med. They haven’t explained to me where that’s going, but it definitely has made my job a lot more difficult because I feel like I’m on Grey’s Anatomy, and I have to say all those complicated words that I don’t understand. I mean, I understand them after, but at first, when I’m in the read-through, I’m like, ‘What? What’s my line?'”
How much of that will we see in the new season?
Nina Dobrev: “I’ve only shot one episode so far. I don’t know where it’s going to go. They don’t tell me, really.”
What else would you like to see Elena do that she hasn’t done already?
Nina Dobrev: “I was asked this question a little while ago and I don’t know. I feel the same way. I’ve done so many things and it’s been so cool. Julie [Plec] has backed herself into a corner. Good luck with this season. I’m looking forward to seeing [it], she always does it. She works wonders. Elena is an amazing character. She’s like a real person. She’s transitioned through so many phases and she’s very well-rounded. So I’m really excited to see what Julie’s going to have in store for me next.”
When you started the show, could you have imagined playing all the other characters?
Nina Dobrev: “Definitely not. I was just excited to get a pilot, to land the gig, and I hoped we would get picked up. Fingers crossed, I was praying, and then it got picked up and I was like, ‘Maybe we’ll get picked up for season two.’ Now here I am six years later with one of the coolest characters I think on television, between the many roles I’ve played. I’m so lucky that this happened and I really feel, I have this mentality, this thing, my friends all know. I kind of go with the flow. If I go traveling, I won’t really make any plans. I’ll see where it takes me, meet people, go different places, countries, whatever. They’re always like, ‘How do you do that? I need to book a hotel, I need to have everything planned.’ I’m like, ‘Well, everything always works out.’ For me, I got this job and I didn’t know what I was signing up for but it worked out. I got one of the coolest experiences and one of the best roles that I could’ve ever wished for.”
