For six seasons, Elena Gilbert has been the beating heart of The Vampire Diaries. From her epic love story with Stefan Salvatore to her death—and subsequent epic love story with Damon Salvatore—she’s been at the center of it all. And actress Nina Dobrev has been even more central to the show, taking on multiple roles thanks to Elena’s doppelganger history. There was Katherine Pierce, there was Amara, and on The Originals, there was even Tatia.
But now, all that has come to an end as Dobrev prepares to leave TVD to explore new adventures. And although the show will continue on without her—as we all know, you don’t need a beating heart to live on in Mystic Falls—she will surely be missed … and not just by the Salvatores.
EW spoke with Dobrev and TVD executive producer Julie Plec about the journey that took Elena Gilbert from innocent human to badass vampire, and then back to a (less innocent) human.
CASTING ELENA
Plec: There were two [audition] scenes. It was meeting Stefan in the cemetery and then dragging Jeremy into the bathroom and telling him, “Don’t be this person” when she catches him with eye drops. The funniest story about the first impression of Nina is that she didn’t make an impression. 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.
Dobrev: This was my first pilot season ever, actually. I had just finished Degrassi, and I decided to move to LA and give it a shot. I went in and ultimately got a film that shot in Canada, so I got shipped back to Canada. I did an audition tape because I didn’t feel good about my first audition, and then thank God I did. As a Canadian, living north of the border, that’s the only way you do get a job in the States. I’d say I booked 80 percent of the jobs I’ve ever gotten from tapes. You’ll do the tape, you’ll do an audition, they’ll send it. Sometimes they’ll fly you out to do a chemistry read or fly you out to meet you after that point, but for the most part, everything’s audition tapes. Continue Reading at Entertainment Weekly
“I’ve said this before, that we didn’t break up because anything bad happened or because there wasn’t love or friendship,” Nina says. “I love him and the friendship is still strong and I think he’s great and I care about him. And that didn’t change. Yes, we’re professional and that’s fine. We were friends long before we dated and we still are now.”
Can you say healthiest breakup ever?! Seriously, other celebs should be taking notes right now.Nina also addressed Ian and Nikki’s recent nuptials, saying, “When I heard about the wedding, I thought it was beautiful. They look happy and I am happy and so I don’t see why there should be a problem with that. The drama is in the media, it’s not with us. But of course, we’re on a teen drama show, everyone’s going to look for drama. If there’s no drama, there’s nothing to write about. I just ignore it.”
To hear more from Nina about her “bittersweet” final days on The Vampire Diaries set, the epic prank the crew pulled on her and more, tune into E! News at 7 and 11 p.m. ET! Source E!Online
“I’m buying you tequila shots!” jokes Nina Dobrev, upbeat but contrite. She’s a little late meeting me for dinner, but not because she’s a star who’s unconcerned with the clock. It’s because, despite her nine years in the business, the sprawl of Los Angeles is new to her: She’ll be living here full-time in just a few weeks but doesn’t know the roads quite yet. Still, says the 26-year-old actress, every new route holds its own excitement. She joins me at the table, wearing a navy silk jumpsuit, black cardigan and sandals, fluttery false eyelashes still glued to her lids. “We shot until 6 a.m., and then I flew here,” she says. “I forgot to take them off.”
Since 2009, Dobrev has spent 10 months of every year living in Atlanta, shooting her 22-episode-per-season CW series, The Vampire Diaries. Treading in the scripted world of doppelgängers and the undead, Dobrev deftly took on the highly dramatic coming-of-age story of an innocent-at-first high school student named Elena Gilbert. Over the years, Gilbert fell in love with not one but two members of the bloodthirsty Salvatore brood (while in real life, Dobrev dated Ian Somerhalder, who played the older Salvatore brother, Damon). Gilbert would eventually die, come back to life and become a vampire herself—and a vampire premed student, no less.
As Gilbert, and sometimes as her immortal nemesis, Katherine Pierce (born in 1473), Dobrev developed a massive and dedicated fan base, including nearly 5 million Instagram followers, many of whom were crushed in April when the actress used the same medium to announce her imminent departure from the show. Shooting her final scenes, she says a few weeks prior, will be emotional: TVD represents not only Gilbert’s coming-of-age but her own. “It’s important for me that it be epic and powerful,” Dobrev says. “I feel like I’m a completely different person than I was and I’ve grown so much. It’s been a big part of my life, and I want it to be beautiful. I want it to end well.”
Having signed a six-year contract at the show’s onset, Dobrev knew from the beginning that this year might mark the end of her run. TVD‘s seventh season will commence filming later this year, but without its star, whose take on all of it is forward-looking and optimistic, not nostalgic or fearful of change. Never once does she say leaving is scary; she does, however, call it bittersweet. “I’ve loved working on this show,” she says. “It’s been such a crazy, awesome adventure, and I’ve been surrounded by so many people who I consider family. I know this is a new exciting step in the right direction for me, but it’s going to be so strange not to be with them.” Continue Reading at SELF
