Vampire Diaries' Ian Somerhalder Backtracks on End Date Comment 

Ian Somerhalder is blaming “end-of-season foggy brain” on comments he made over the weekend about next season being

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Speaking to fans of the CW drama at WalkerStalkerCon in Nashville on Sunday, Somerhalder said, “We have decided to do one last season to really do the story justice.” His statement drew a quick rebuke from The CW, which insisted “no decision has been made” about the show’s future beyond the just-ordered Season 8.

Somerhalder is now singing a similar tune. Late Wednesday, the actor released the following statement on Twitter:

Hey all, so… Last weekend I talked to an audience at a Q&A about the end of #TVD and how excited I was to make what I believe – my last year – be as great as possible. Somehow in my infinite wisdom and end-of-season foggy brain, I managed to make it sound like the show was coming to an end. Cut-to the press running stories that the show would be done after Season 8. Thing is, the people who actually make that decision (the CW and WB) haven’t made it yet! So let’s take things one step at a time: Season 7 wrap, vacation, lots of sleep, let the writers get started on Season 8, and then we’ll all see where we go from there. Until then, much love ;)

Somerhalder’s initial remarks came just days after his co-star Kat Graham confirmed that, regardless of the series’ future, Bonnie Bennett only has one season left in her.

“Season 8 will be my last season,” Graham said. “I just hope that whatever I do after, the crew can come with me. … The crew is going to be the hardest thing to let go, because we are a family.”

So, prospective season 9: no Bonnie, no Damon, would it just be Steroline all day, every day? Or maybe they could do what Scrubs did and bring in a whole new cast, with the veterans just popping in occasionally to cameo. That worked out GREAT.

More likely – the producers are asking the network for it to end after season 8 and informed the cast as such, but the network actually gets to make the call and hasn’t yet, so the producers have to hold the line that no decision has been made and the cast have been speaking out of turn.

This seems far more likely. Many a show has continued on past when its original Showrunner/s have left.. or even their replacements because the network didnt want for whatever reason the show to end.

A perfect case in point being Supernatural. Eric Kripke the orignal creator wanted it to end in season 5. Now look at it.

Ian and his big mouth… Last year he said the same, that s7 could be his last season. The man is all about making headlines, and he succeded last weekend.

No but he legit wants to leave. He’s not trying to make headlines, he told the crowd he was leaving and that the show would be too but now The CW and Julie are backtracking and trying to say there might be a season 9 (when lets be honest, 2 more leads leaving would ruin the show).

If he wanted to leave, won’t he have just made an announcement like Kat Graham did? I have to agree with Cami1991, it looks more like he said it to be dramatic. It sounds silly, but it looks almost like if he was envious of the attention Kat got from her statement and wanted to steal her thunder. It looks like if he succeeded, because the discussion and the media frenzy quickly shifted to his statement, with hers as an addendum to it.

Kat who is one of his close rl friends, who he is constantly going farrrrrrrr out of his way to promote, praise and try to draw attention to???? You’re right. That does sound silly.

I don’t know much about the real lives of these celebrities so I can’t comment on that. But are you saying that in your experience, friends can’t be petty with each other? It’s not like if he was sabotaging her by making his announcement, anyway, just getting some of the same attention. Something that happens all the time with friends from toddlers to celebrities.

Anywaaaay…. friendship or not, there’s no need for him to make the statement and withdraw it, if he really was leaving after season 8. But of course, all this is my opinion and speculation.

@talesbyuzo No, I’m saying that of all the people who might have a problem with Kat getting attention, it’s prob not the guy who keeps trying to get the media and public *to* direct more attention her way. You said your theory sounded silly – I agreed.

Makes no sense, but would be say that he is leaving just because he wants to take attention away from Kat? Ian is one of Kat’s biggest supporters and when did Ian ever announce at a Con or anywhere else that Season 7 was going to be his last Season and it for him?

Ian is not going to want to stay at TVD forever and at some point the actors were going to want to leave. Just like at some point Paul is going to want to leave. Ian will be with TVD for 8 seasons, so it’s realistic that he will want to move on and focus on other things. He also wants to built a family with Nikki, so TVD isn’t going to always be his main concern.

Plus with how the fandom attacks him and his wife at times, I can be understood why he eventually would want to break free away from TVD and it’s toxic fandom.

Well, he can build a family without quitting his job. The show accommodated Candice’s new baby, and an actual physical body change. I’m sure the show can accommodate its most marketable lead. I completely agree that the TVD fandom is disgusting, but he’s too old in the celebrity life to be bothered by it. Indeed, the Supernatural fandom doesn’t seem to be any more wholesome but the show is entering its 12th season now. Ian even seems to thrive in the attention. But that’s just my observation from watching him on CONs. There are actors who are reserved and restrained in public and with fans, but Ian isn’t one of them.

Who knows what his intentions really were and we will probably never know. I’m just wondering if it was a gut reaction since Kat decided to leave and he is good friends with her and it probably sounded appealing to him at the time. Then JP and CW had a little reality check with him. TBH I can’t imagine the show going on without Ian and Kat, it’s one thing with having one lead leave but now having two more…I don’t know. I can tell you I won’t be sticking around for steroline diraries, the most boring ship Julie put together.

Ah, got me all excited there. I can barely handle VD without Elena, without Bonnie is even more ridiculous a request. Just end it. Caroline is a great enough character to continue with, so they should just cancel VD and move Caroline over to The Originals.

That would be awesome. They’d have to do something about Alaric and the kids, though.

No never send Caroline to The Originals. She doesn’t belong there. She’d self implode with all her judgmental hypocrisy and set the entire town on fire.

A last season 9 with 23 episodes to hit 200 would be great way to end it.

Looking at the most recent ratings, it seems as if a lot of people are already done with the show

Good news, but not surprised by this – tbh I’d suggest ppl watch the full video of his answer on YT (not the partial couple of seconds a few sites have linked to) bc the much quoted ‘one final season’ thing *never even gets said* – it’s what the convention twitter tweeted out and so that’s what the media ran with – but it never gets said at allll. All he says is they’ve all agreed to do ANOTHER season – he doesn’t say final at all – and implies *for him* it’s prob gonna be the last but that’s all.

I highly suspect the show would even get a season 9. The ratings are horrible, and even though it’s been actually pretty good this season, the writers ARE repeating themselves and fans are giving up on it. Plus, Nina’s out, Kat’s out, Ian wants out and Paul doesn’t bring his A game anymore, so…

I’m sorry but for me, the character of Damon Salvatore is what I love about the show. I think he is hilarious and also more fragile than he lets on. Funny thing is, Ian Somerhalder is just ehh for me. Him as Damon, I love. And if both he and Kat Graham leave I’m not sure how much could be salvaged. For me, I stayed tuned in because of the Delena arc. I loved it. I actually still watch the early seasons when I need to just chill and relax…

The show needs to end next season. Everyone knows it, but they just don’t want to make it official yet. The CW was probably mad that he broadcasted the inevitable news.

I hope before the show ends that it will bring Elena back. The great ending to a wonderful show will be finding a way for her to wake up and Bonnie still be alive. I will hate to see the show end when it finally does. I’ve watched since Season 1. I love the show and the actors and actresses.

I believe this was a case of putting the cart before the horse. I think this probably will be the last season. I just don’t think they’re ready to talk about it yet.

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