Paul Wesley and Nina Dobrev know there shall be never be one other Stelena — they usually’re not going to attempt to outdo their Vampire Diaries characters’ beloved dynamic.
“Aaron Kaplan, considered one of the EPs, said, ‘Do you guys need to play romantic partners?’ Nina and I talked about it,” Wesley, 43, said on the Wednesday, July 22, episode of the “Call Her Daddy” podcast. “We feel like there’s this whole Stefan and Elena thing is so iconic and so perfect and, in a weird way, we don’t need to … have a comparison.”
Wesley played vampire Stefan Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries opposite Dobrev’s Elena Gilbert from 2009 to 2017. Throughout the show’s run, Elena was involved in a love triangle between Stefan and his brother, Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder). Elena ultimately ended up with Damon.
Nearly a decade later, Wesley and Dobrev, 37, will share the screen again within the upcoming TV adaptation of Aggie Blum Thompson’s novel You Should Know. Within the Hulu thriller, Dobrev’s husband is murdered and Wesley is considered one of the important thing suspects within the case.
“If we were playing husband and wife or boyfriend and girlfriend, people would compare that to Stefan and Elena,” Wesley noted on Wednesday of their respective roles. “So, we desired to create a brand new dynamic in order that we offered something recent to the fans where we’re still interacting on screen nevertheless it’s in a unique capability.”
“Call Her Daddy” host Alex Cooper produced You Should Know and was initially wary about Wesley and Dobrev’s selection, though she eventually got here around to the thought.
“I actually respect that you simply guys have a lot respect for the craft of what you built on Vampire Diaries, and I do agree with you in a way that it might almost be hard to see you two in a pair and never be like, ‘Stefan and Elena,’” Cooper, 31, acknowledged. “I believe we did it right, but don’t worry, everyone: I asked.”
Within the years since wrapping TVD, Wesley’s bond with Dobrev has gotten even closer.
“Look, so it’s very public that Nina and I had this very fun, type of, back-and-forth relationship within the sense,” Wesley recalled. “To start with, we didn’t get along, and that’s highly publicized. That’s something she’s spoken about, I’ve spoken about it, so it’s not prefer it’s breaking news, and now we’re such good friends and I absolutely adore her.”
In response to Wesley, he and Dobrev eventually pondered the thought of sharing the screen again once “enough time went on” because the end of TVD.
“I don’t know whose idea it was, but we kept saying, ‘We must always do something, and let’s make it special, let’s really make it great,’” he recalled. “So, we were trying to seek out something for years, after which we might not discuss it for 2 years, after which one other, ‘Oh, we must always do that?’ after which until finally, You Should Know got here about, and we’re like, ‘That is it. Let’s do that.’”
Wesley and Dobrev’s costar Somerhalder, 47, isn’t involved with You Deserve Each Other after stepping back from Hollywood to concentrate on his other businesses. (Wesley and Somerhalder notably co-own a bourbon company.)
When asked whether Somerhalder was jealous to not be included in the brand new show together with his BFF and his ex Dobrev, Wesley quipped, “Possibly we’d like to call a friend and ask him if he’s jealous at once. … Deep down, you realize he desires to be written in.”