The Vampire Diaries Almost Cast Marvel’s New Avenger as Stefan Salvatore

Photo Credit: Marvel Studios / Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

The Vampire Diaries’ casting process revealed surprising twists as early contenders for Stefan Salvatore included a future Marvel star. Damon also nearly went to several well-known TV actors. Behind-the-scenes accounts show how producers struggled to lock in the right leads before Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder stepped into the iconic roles.

MCU’s Sebastian Stan was close to playing Stefan Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries

Writer Samantha Highfill’s new book, I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries states that producers met with Marvel actor Sebastian Stan and discussed him at the studio level. They ultimately lost him because he was tied to NBC’s Kings (via Entertainment Weekly).

Casting director Lesli Gelles-Raymond recalled, “It was Sebastian Stan. He came over to meet, so we got to spend some time chatting with him. We were totally interested in him, and he was discussed at the studio the first time we tested Stefan, but we couldn’t do it because he was tied to another show.”

Stan also read for Damon Salvatore, the role that eventually went to Ian Somerhalder. At one point, the casting team even envisioned Steven Strait as Stefan alongside Stan as Damon. Series co-creator Julie Plec explained why casting Stefan was uniquely difficult.

“It’s the kind of role that you can’t just cast the smoldering pretty boy because there’s such depth and layers of loss and loneliness living in that character. So you really need a true actor,” he shared.

Greg Orson added, “He was the hardest role to cast. We sort of wanted to save Paul for Stefan because we knew Ian was our Damon.”

Other contenders included Nathaniel Buzolic for Stefan and Matt Czuchry, Jesse Bradford, and Travis Van Winkle for Damon. Czuchry, who later starred in The Good Wife, had been strongly considered, with Plec recalling, “He was someone we wanted, but when we read him, unfortunately he had already tested for The Good Wife and they were holding him.”

Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder ultimately secured the lead roles. They landed the parts after extensive testing and script rewrites. Casting directors persisted because they believed the two fit the complex dynamics of Stefan and Damon.

Originally reported by Anubhav Chaudhry on SuperHeroHype.

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