The unofficial word around town is that season 8 will be the last for The Vampire Diaries. The announcement was made on Sunday at WalkerStalkerCon in Nashville. Who made the announcement, you ask? It was Ian Somerhalder (Damon Salvatore) himself.
I guess at some point we have to accept that the thirty-something actor wouldn’t be able to keep up the act of an immortal teenager.
During a panel at the convention, he told the show’s fans, “We have decided to do one last season to really do the story justice.”
The drama about angsty vampires stuck forever below the legal drinking age is currently on it’s seventh season on the CW. The show was recently renewed for an eight season, which according to Somerhalder will be the last.
Somerhalder isn’t the only one who doesn’t see a future for the show beyond the next season. In an interview with US Weekly, Kat Graham, who plays the witch Bonnie Bennett in the series, said, “Season 8 will be my last season. I just hope that whatever I do after, the crew can come with me. If the crew can come with me, then we’ll be good. The crew is going to be the hardest thing to let go, because we are a family.”
She added, “But you know what, another season is a whole other year, and we’re going to blow it out.”
At some point, all good things must come to an end. The Vampire Diaries went through a shakeup a few years ago when female lead Nina Dobrev (Elena Gilbert) left the show. She and Somerhalder had been dating on and off camera, but when they broke up the writers had to find creative ways to have Elena and Damon in as few scenes together as possible. The way her character exited the show left the possibility for her return, but we aren’t holding our breath.
Despite the news of the show’s cancellation, the CW has yet to issue an official statement confirming Somerhalder’s announcement. When Variety reached out to the network for a statement, the response was that no decision had been made.
The seventh season of The Vampire Diaries is currently airing on the CW.