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When Ian Somerhalder almost starred in a completely different Vampire show before landing The Vampire Diaries
Throwback to when Ian Somerhalder almost featured in a different Vampire show before starring as fan-favourite Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries
After watching Ian Somerhalder’s impossibly charming Damon Salvatore spread his magic on screen for eight seasons, it is almost impossible to imagine The Vampire Diaries without the actor. However, did you know that before landing TVD, Ian almost starred in a completely different Vampire show? Before the Lost alum landed the role of Damon, Ian wanted to join HBO's True Blood, and even auditioned for the role of Jason Stackhouse. The show aired its first episode back in 2008, almost a year before the first episode of TVD hit the TV screens.
“In auditioned for the True Blood. I just couldn’t convince Alan Ball that was my role. And then I did not get it. And I was very bummed. I couldn’t watch true blood until now,” the actor once told E Online. Ian did not reveal which character he auditioned for. These series, which concluded in 2014 after 7 seasons, starred Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Nelsan Ellis, Alexander Skarsgård, and Ryan Kwanten. While Ian eventually found his way into the popular teen drama series, he once revealed that he ended up bombing his first TVD audition and almost lost the job.
During a media interaction in 2012, the actor revealed that his first audition of the role of the elder Salvatore brother was a disaster. Speaking about the role, he said he knew he was meant to play it. “You go through a series of testing, you meet the directors and producers and writers, and then go through a testing phase, and then you get an offer. Then you go and test for the studio — in this case Warner Brothers — and then you test for the network," he explained the casting process. He then revealed that he had failed to impress the network with his first audition.
"Whether it was too much coffee, that B12 shot I gave myself, who knows? I bombed it,” Us Weekly quoted him as saying. Ian mentioned that he had to go back and re-test because the creators of the show were convinced that he was Damon. He recalled seeing another actor waiting to read for the part, and at that moment he thought to himself, “You know what? Screw this. This is mine. This is not his.” He went back and gave another audition and ended up getting the role of Damon Salvatore, an ethically challenged blood-sucking vampire.
