https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDlZL44sz80
Tonight at 8p on The CW, The Vampire Diaries is saying goodbye after 8 bloody good seasons with a retrospect followed by the series finale episode. We will find out if Stefan, Damon and Caroline will live happily ever after or if their the immortality will come to an end.
While it is bittersweet for us to say goodbye to the supernatural drama, imagine how hard it is for the actors. Last week, I was at a press event with Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, Zach Roerig and Michael Malarkey and they talked about their time with the beloved drama.
What are their favorite memories?
WESLEY: Off the top of my head, I don’t really have a favorite memory, but in the general sense, as an actor, you audition for something, you get a job, you shoot that job, and then you go away and shoot the next job. It all comes and goes. And with something like this, I never knew, walking into that room, that it was going to be eight years of my life. I started the job as a certain kind of person, and I left a completely different person. It’s shaped my entire existence, or at least a lot of my formative years, in my 20s. This show is going to forever be ingrained in my personality, which is a major deal. I didn’t sign up for that, when I walked into the audition, but I’m very grateful for it. It’s amazing! I’m scarred for life.
ROERIG: My favorite memory would be the pilot. A lot of us were very young, and it was early in our careers. There was a certain excitement. There was an electric buzz in Vancouver, that we all felt, especially around the casting of Stefan. Most of us were there in Vancouver, waiting to see who they were going to cast.
I remember Kayla Ewell and Nina (Dobrev) floating around pictures on their phones of who they might pick, and I saw a picture of Paul. It was the beginning of the very formative years of all of our lives, I guess. Vancouver definitely sticks out in my mind.
MALARKEY: For me, it was also the beginning. That first episode that I shot, with Ian (Somerhalder) in the cell, felt like we were shooting this little short film. All my scenes, we were shooting together, and we just had this instant connection and understanding of each other. When you come onto a show late in the game, it’s rare you have that synergy with one of the main actors on the show. I found that, subsequently, with the rest of the cast and was embraced into this world. I feel like I’ve been there forever. It all started with that episode, so that’s my most pivotal and favorite memory.
SOMERHALDER: You have to realize that it’s 171 episodes, at a minimum of eight days per episode and sometimes ten, so you’re look at hundreds and hundreds of days. The newness of it, in the beginning, was really special, with the bonding of this cast and crew. That’s what you miss most, when you leave these things. It’s not performing every day, or the writing. You miss the cast and the crew. You miss all the people who make it work because you, effectively, become a family. Paul and I have been joking for years, while we’re killing each other or staking people. In the middle of it, all of a sudden, there’s a fart joke, and you’re just hysterically laughing while everyone is covered in blood. There were these really funny juxtapositions, and there are just too many to count. It’s an era of our lives. I’m 38. Eight years of that is a substantial part of your life.
To read more about their memorable time on the show, then
What are their favorite moments playing their characters?
SOMERHALDER: I’ve been through a lot of it with [Paul]. We shot 171 episodes of television. That’s like 80 movies. [Michael] Malarkey got there in Season 5, which was a pinnacle moment. Matt’s whole role changed, at the beginning of Season 7, with being the law of the land.
WESLEY: I’ve died 17 times and killed 18,000 people, and I’m still the hero!
SOMERHALDER: There was enough seasons spread out that these characters had their specific times and days. I’ve just always loved Season 1. I think that’s when the show really solidified itself. All these characters were still innocent enough, to the viewer and to ourselves. We didn’t judge them.
WESLEY: In Season 1 and 2, there was so much mystery, which is why everyone watched the show. They were like, “What’s going to happen?!” But, those stories eventually run their course. And then, Season 3 was selfishly exciting for me because it was the first time, in two years, that I got to play a villain. Everyone has their favorite seasons, moments and storylines. For me, the introduction of Ripper Stefan and the genesis of that was the most exciting. As far as the show goes, Season 1 and 2, as a whole, was probably the most interesting, just ‘cause it was so new.
What was it like filming the final episode?
SOMERHALDER: Up until the second they yelled, “Cut!,” it was the same shit. You’re still on a schedule.
MALARKEY: Those bastards filmed the aftermath, though, when we did our speeches. I didn’t realize how affected I’d be. I’m all business, when I get to work. I care deeply about what I do, and I just wanted to treat it like any other day, smash it, finish, and give Julie a hug. So, the last scene I was doing, I was pacing around, doing my thing, and then I heard this voice from Julie coming in the doorway, saying, “Michael, it’s time.” I wasn’t ready. But, she gave a great eulogy to everybody, about our place in the show. I remember being pretty deeply moved by that. And then, they wanted a speech, which I sputtered through.
ROERIG: I had an emotional scene to end on, so I was trying to keep myself well-calibrated, and make sure my emotion was based on the scene and not because it was my last scene of the show. At the end, Julie could see my lip quivering and the snot bubbling, and she said, “Zach, this is a free one. Just let it rip.” And I just completely let it out. She gave us all a really nice speech that was very tender and very fitting to end with.
WESLEY: For my final scene, I finished and had my eyes closed, and someone sprayed Funfetti in my face. It was a direct shot, in my face. I was doing this emotional scene. I was crying, and then, all of a sudden, I had Funfetti in my eyes. It was really funny.
During which episode did they know the show was going to have the longevity that it had?
WESLEY: We watched Episode 5 in my apartment, with a bunch of people. I think that’s when we were like, “Oh, shit, this show is pretty good!” It was this episode called “Lost Girls.”
SOMERHALDER: It’s my favorite episode, ever.
WESLEY: Mine, too. Ian and I watched the episode together, and that’s when we were both like, “This is really good!” That was a great moment.
SOMERHALDER: My business manager was in town, and he’s like a big brother of mine. We were sitting in Paul’s gorgeous apartment in Atlanta, and the episode ended and he was just like, “Wow! This is gonna go, guys. This is going to be here for awhile. You should probably dig your heels in.” Go back and watch “Lost Girls.” It’s a really phenomenally crafted episode of television. It might be a teen vampire soap opera, but it’s a great piece of television.
But, that one was special.
What did they take from the set?
WESLEY: I took my daylight ring – the one I’ve worn for eight years.
SOMERHALDER: I took my ring.
MALARKEY: I took a lot of clothes. And I took a suit.
ROERIG: I stole Matt’s boots. They show, over eight years, how much I stub my toes.
Are they interested in doing a reboot of The Vampire Diaries in the future?
WESLEY: I think I’m closing the chapter.
SOMERHALDER: In ten years, I’m probably going to be living on a ranch in Wyoming, and you’ll never hear from me again. I think it’s good to close this chapter. There’s something beautiful about closure. If you think about relationships, whether it be a job, a significant other, or an animal, people and things come into and out of out lives. There’s so much beauty in that, and how it affects us. Now, in this digital age, television never dies. It’s called Netflix. I remember going into Season 7 and, while our live numbers were plummeting, our engagement and viewership was actually going up.
WESLEY: And there are kids who are just watching it for the first time, as if it had never been out before.
SOMERHALDER: They were seven when it premiered, and now they’re 15.
MALARKEY: There are also random countries in the middle of Asia, who now have access to Netflix. It does go on, in a way.
SOMERHALDER: We live in airports. We travel a lot. And I have people, all the time – teachers, young people, anyone – who come up to me and say, “Oh, my god, I just started watching your show! It’s so good!” I also think, “That’s so crazy, man! You’re a 14-year-old kid! Eight years ago, you were six.” It’s never gonna die. We’re gonna continue to be able to watch it. I think that’s a really interesting, new thing with this modern digital world.
WESLEY: Wouldn’t it be funny, if we did a reboot and we were all old as shit with grey hair. That wouldn’t work. We’re stretching it out, as it is.
With that said, I want to say thank you to Ian Somerhalder, Paul Wesley, Nina Dobrev, Steven R. McQueen, Kat Graham, Candice King, Zach Roerig, Kayla Ewell, Michael Trevino, Joseph Morgan, Michael Malarkey and Executive Producers Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson for 8 of must not miss television.
If you find yourself waking up tomorrow morning and already missing them, then you can watch every episode on Netflix to get you flix, I mean, fix!
