The Vampire Diaries will return for a seventh season, but it will be without its leading lady.
Series star Nina Dobrev (Elena) is exiting at The CW drama, the actress announced Monday afternoon.
Dobrev’s exit comes in a year when the series has lost several key players — including her on-screen brother, Steven R. McQueen (Jeremy), as well as Marguerite MacIntyre’s Sheriff Forbes; Michael Trevino (Tyler) has booked ABC’s The Kingmakers pilot — but the departure of the veteran drama’s female lead is a particularly deep. During The Vampire Diaries’ six-season run, Dobrev has also played Elena’s dopplegangers Katherine, Amara and Tatia, in addition to serving as the central love interest for stars Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder.
Rumors of Dobrev’s departure first circulated over the holiday weekend when crew members shared photos on social media from a group trip featuring the cast and exec producer Julie Plec with the hashtag #ninawewillmissyou.
Julie Plec: ‘TVD’ EP Releases Statement & Also Confirms Michael Trevino’s Exit
Executive producer Julie Plec released her own statement, in which she also confirms Michael Trevino‘s exit:
“Saying goodbye to Nina is both bittersweet and beautiful. After six-plus years together, the entire cast and crew of The Vampire Diaries has reached a level of closeness that I don’t think any of us ever expected. Nina is excited to spread her wings, get some rest, travel the world and also take it by storm, and we support her a thousand-fold. We will miss Nina and the four hundred characters she played, but we look forward to the insane and exciting challenge of continuing to tell stories of our Salvatore Brothers and our much-loved and gifted ensemble.
Michael [Trevino] has been a beloved member of the Vampire Diaries family since day one. Even though he’s also going to be out in the world exploring new opportunities, we look forward to finding creative ways to make sure he and his character Tyler Lockwood always remain a part of the show.”
Though The CW’s television series has significantly diverted from the L.J. Smith book series, (spoiler alert!) Damon and Elena did end up together in the book series.
No longer the network’s flagship series, eclipsed by Arrow and its even more successful Flash spinoff, The Vampire Diaries still drives some of The CW’s biggest ratings. Season-to-date, it’s averaging a 1.4 rating among adults 18-49 and 2.7 million viewers. That’s the tally after seven days of a DVR, though The CW gets atypical bumps from its own hosted streaming — where a significant chunk of younger viewers watch the show.
Dobrev, meanwhile, has become a fan favorite for her work on The Vampire Diaries. She has earned numerous Teen Choice Awards as well as People’s Choice Awards for favorite actress and chemistry with Somerhalder. The series has helped make her a star — she has nearly 5.5 million Twitter followers — and has launched into a film career with feature roles including Let’s Be Cops, The Roommate and The Perks of Being a Wallflower. She next has horror comedy The Final Girls — which she toplines — due to make its debut in May at SXSW.
