Take 5 With The Vampire Diaries – Ian Somerhalder

For our final “Take 5 With The Vampire Diaries” for season premiere day, let’s shift our focus to the passionate and forthright Ian Somerhalder, whose character Damon is in for quite a wild ride in the aftermath of Elena choosing Stefan, Elena becoming a vampire, and losing his best friend, Alaric.

How do you think Damon is going to react when he finds out Stefan saved Matt before Elena?

He’s PISSED. I mean, what an IDIOT. (Laughter) Seriously, why would you ever do that? I mean, she’s 18 years old. I’m not saying she can’t have her own thoughts and feelings, and likes and dislikes and desires but you know, when someone’s 18 and they say they wanna DIE you don’t let them.

After learning that Elena chose Stefan, will Damon be able to move on, or Is he going to be pining for her?

He’s not going to be pining. And this is the season of no pine. This is an OAK season. In Seasons 2 and 3, Damon did EVERYTHING they wanted him to do. He tried to be the person that they wanted him to be. And guess what? It didn’t work. And now he’s basically saying ‘This is who I am, like it or not.’ For lack of a better word – there’s no studio executives around – go fuck yourself. (Laughter) Seriously! If you don’t like who I am, you have no business being in my face, so get out of it. I think that this year, he’s got this sense of self worth, and saying ‘You know what? I’ve been around a long time, and you guys are a bunch of morons. This is me,’ and it gives him enough play to say, ‘You know what? She doesn’t want me. She just simply doesn’t want me.’

A really cool thing is that Elena is going to be going through all these things that Stefan and Damon went through, so I think that they’re also going to be able to relate to her and connect with her on a very interesting level, and for once, really understand that she’s going through.

Now that Elena is a vampire, she’s going to remember all the things that Damon compelled her to forget. How might Damon approach that impending confrontation?

Well, I think that it adds a very interesting layer, it’s kind of a ‘oohh shit’ moment. Where it’s like [Elena remembers] ‘Oh wait, I DID meet him. And all he did was wish me the best, and [tell me] to get everything you want out of life.’ It’s really tragic, really sad. It’s too bad he didn’t have a DVR, he could’ve just fast forwarded a little bit, and then gone back … but life doesn’t work that way. You make decisions, kind of in the moment.

With Damon’s new attitude, can we expect to see his darker side return?

ABSOLUTELY. Yeah. He’s basically just ‘eaten it’ for the past 2 years … or I should say, I have. (Laughter) And I’m excited to go back to that guy, which is that guy that I love playing. There’s a certain honesty to Damon. You know those people that come into your life where they say what everyone thinks, but doesn’t have the balls to say it? That’s Damon Salvatore. He just has the balls to say what you don’t.

Will we see Damon mourning the loss of his friend, Alaric?

You know … it’s so weird. Life imitates art in many, many ways, and it’s really, really strange not having Matt Davis on set. Now he has his own show, and he’s number one on the call sheet, and he’s shooting in Vancouver, 13 episodes a season … bastard. (Laughter) But it is weird not having him there, and we miss him.

I think it’s not going to be easy for Damon. I mean, the loss of any great friend is not easy, and I don’t think Damon is going to be any exception to that rule. They had a full-on bromance, even though Damon was a complete asshole at times. Really, this was his only friend in the world.

I think it’s going to be a little difficult for [Damon] to let anyone in. He’s at that stage now where he’s all ‘PFFT, you guys are a bunch of IDIOTS. I was right, this is bullshit.’ Seriously. I think it might take him a little while.

Photo Courtesy of The CW