‘The Vampire Diaries’ Cast: Where Are They Now?

It’s been a few years since the sultry vampire drama wrapped in 2017. So what has the Vampire Diaries cast been up to since then?

This popular show on the supernatural happenings of the small town of Mystic Falls, Virginia had audiences hooked, desperate to discover how the plot of the infamous love triangle would end.

So here’s what your favorite vampires have been up to since the final season of Vampire Diaries.

The Vampire Diaries Cast

Nina Dobrev

Character: Elena Gilbert

Bulgarian-born Canadian actress Nina Dobrev brought to life both Elena Gilbert, an orphaned teen, and Katherine Pierce, a vampire born in the 15th century, during her time on Vampire Diaries.

She’s been keeping quite busy, even before the show wrapped. She had several parts in different productions that all aired in 2017, the year that Vampire Diaries aired its final season. And she didn’t let her involvement in the show stop her from pursuing new projects.

She was Becky Clearidge in xXx: Return of Xander Cage, Courtnee in Workaholics, Mario in Flatliners, and Hannah in Crash Pad. That’s quite a bit of screen time for someone finishing up a show that played such a large role in advancing her career. Since then, Dobrev has been a part of multiple projects each year, ranging from shorts like Kyle Hanagami Choreography – Particular Taste, to TV series like Woman 99 (currently in pre-production), and movies like Love Hard.

If you already binged all of Vampire Diaries and need more Nina Dobrev in your life, there’s no shortage of material.

Other Side Projects

Dobrev and her good friend, Julianne Hough (best known for her work with Dancing With the Stars), co-founded a wine company called Fresh Grapes. The company is in the process of changing its name to Fresh Vine Wine, Inc. The company’s goal? They’re looking to build a brand in the “better for you” category of wines. The product lineup includes wines with lower carbohydrates and calories.

A celebrity-backed winemaker with its headquarters in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area raised $22 million in an initial public offering last week.

Fresh Grapes, which is in the process of changing its name to Fresh Vine Wine Inc., is to be winemaker and bottler that’s seeking to build a brand in the “better for you” category of wines with a lineup that includes wines with lower carbohydrates and calories.

Other co-founders for the company include Rick Nechio (a former Anheuser-Busch InBev executive), Damian Novak (a Minnesota businessman who is Fresh Grapes’ executive chairman), and new CEO Janelle Anderson (a former marketing executive at American Airlines).

Fresh Grapes, which has raised an initial $22 million in an initial public offering in early December 2021, is still in the development stage. For the first half of 2021, it lost $6.5 million on revenue of $504,000.

Paul Wesley

Character: Stefan Salvatore

After playing the “good guy” vampire in a supernatural series, Wesley decided to try another series that reimagines classic stories. Tell Me a Story is a psychological thriller that reimagines your classic fairytale bedtime stories as modern thrillers. In the first of only two seasons, Wesley played Eddie Longo, a bartender by day, drug dealer, and thief by night. Each character is a direct allusion to a fairy tale character, and he is the first pig from The Three Little Pigs. 

Additionally, a film he starred in back in 2008, Killer Movie, was rereleased in 2020 as a director’s cut. 

He also has another mini-series in the works called Flowers in the Attic: The Origin where he plays John Amos. This series is premiering sometime in 2022.

Other Side Projects

Wesley has a side project with fellow Vampire Diaries cast member, Ian Somerhalder, that we especially love, Brother’s Bond Bourbon. The bourbon is now available in 17 states and was recorded as the most successful pre-sale launch ever in the history of Reserve Bar (highest velocity of sales in a 24hr period).

So where did the idea come from? Both Wesley and Somerhalder frequently enjoyed drinking bourbon together after filming. 

“It became this thing we did on-screen and then off,” Wesley explains. “We were shooting in the South, and I never really appreciated bourbon until I was living in Atlanta.”

After drinking together for roughly a decade, starting a bourbon brand seemed like the next natural step for their friendship.

Ian Somerhalder

Character: Damon Salvatore

Since ending his role as brother Damon Salvatore, Ian Somerhalder has only been a part of one project. He plays Dr. Luther Swann on V-Wars. Like Wesley, he chose another dark project, as V-Wars is a science fiction horror series on Netflix. 

And guess what?

It’s got vampires. Guess he’s just drawn to projects featuring these monsters. But this time, he’s on the opposing side.

Dr. Luther Swann is doing all he can to contain a deadly outbreak that causes vampirism. The infection begins spreading after it was released from ice that melted thanks to climate change.

This show only got one season, getting canceled in March 2020.

Hm. I wonder why. Because I personally love escaping the reality of a deadly pandemic sweeping the globe with a show that is…also about…a deadly virus sweeping the globe.

Okay, now I get it.

Other Side Projects

In 2016, Somerhalder and his wife, Nikki Reed, signed a production deal with Warner Brothers Television for their production company, Rare Bird Productions. According to the contract, the company will produce new projects for WBTV.

Kat Graham

Character: Bonnie Bennett

Graham is another Vampire Diaries cast member that has kept themselves quite busy since the end of the show. She’s an actress, singer, dancer, and producer, using her versatility to her advantage in her career.

Since the show concluded, she’s been a part of multiple TV series, including TrollsTopia as Rhythm / Blues and Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, lending her voice to multiple roles including April O’Neil. In 2020 alone, she starred in three very different films: Operation Christmas Drop, Cut Throat City, and Emperor.

She isn’t afraid to show her range as a congressional aide, a single mom married to a drug dealer, and an enslaved person in the American south.

Candice King

Character: Caroline Forbes

Like Graham, King, previously Candice Accola before her marriage to Joe King, also has range as both an actress and singer/songwriter.

King got the chance to resurrect her role as Caroline Forbes in The Originals, a spin-off show that uses some of the Vampire Diaries cast to follow the story of the original vampire/werewolf hybrid, Klaus. 

She played Kimberly in the film adaptation of the 2014 book After We Collided and Belle in Christmas in Tune, a film where she stars alongside Reba McEntire.

Michael Trevino

Character: Tyler Lockwood

Trevino also had quite a bit of work released in the same year that the Vampire Diaries cast said farewell to the show. In 2017 alone, he was Kayser in Out of Control, Gino Sarcione in Sunset Park, and Fancy Man in a short called The Caption. 

He began starring in a show called Roswell, New Mexico in 2019 as Kyle Valenti. The show follows aliens residing undetected in Roswell among humans. Their presence could be revealed after a violent attack threatens to expose them all.

It’s a reboot of the show Roswell, where a high school student falls in love with a man who is not of this earth. The reboot is being directed by none other than the Vampire Diaries and The Originals series Julie Plec!

Matthew Davis

Character: Alaric Saltzman

Our own Warner from the original Legally Blonde, Davis has been able to continue exploring his character of Alaric Salzman beyond the scope of Vampire Diaries. He played Alaric once again in The Originals, and then got to continue to reprise the role in Legacies, another spin-off that includes some of the original Vampire Diaries cast.

This time, the show follows Hope Mikaelson, who is a tribrid daughter of a Vampire/Werewolf hybrid.

Michael Malarkey

Character: Lorenzo “Enzo” St. John

Since wrapping on his role among the Vampire Diaries cast, Malarkey has played a part in a number of TV series. He was in one episode of Jean-Claude Van Johnson as Dizel, played Captain Michael Quinn in Project Blue Book, and Deputy Harvey in Big Sky. 

Vampire Diaries Cast Accomplishments

While some actors have chosen to stick with what they know best – like starring in more TV shows about vampires – some have really switched it up. You really can’t get more different than Bonnie Bennett and Rhythm the singing troll.

Which actor’s projects from the Vampire Diaries cast did you least expect? That Matthew Davis would get to play Alaric Saltzman in two more spin-off series? Or that Ian Somerhalder has only been involved in one project since 2017?

Tell us what you think in the comments!