Why Sebastian Stan Turned Down ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Lead Role

It’s hard to imagine anyone other than Paul Wesley playing Stefan Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries. However, the role nearly went to Sebastian Stan.

While recently chatting with Josh Horowitz on the Happy Sad Confused podcast, the Oscar-nominated actor opened up about why he turned down the lead character in the supernatural teen drama that went on to become a massive hit.

“They offered me Paul Wesley’s role,” Stan said. “And I had just come off Kings and I sort of felt really burnt out from that not working out and just sort of the idea of thinking, ‘Oh, I’m just going to sign up again for something that probably is not going to get to the second season.’ And I think it was because The Covenant sort of was in that supernatural world, and yeah, I didn’t do it. And then the show went on to be super successful.”

While Kings got canceled at NBC after one season in 2009, The Vampire Diaries — which starred Wesley as Stefan, Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore and Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert — ran for eight seasons from 2009 to 2017.

The Apprentice star admitted he “can’t look back and go, ‘Oh, what if?'” as he believes everything in his career happened as it was meant to. After building a name for himself with early roles in Gossip Girl and The Covenant, he achieved mainstream stardom with his role as Bucky Barnes/The Winter Soldier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with 2011’s Captain America: The First Avenger.

“Now looking back, I feel grateful in a way ’cause I don’t know if I was really ready for that kind of exposure when I was younger, to be honest,” Stan said. “Emotionally and mentally, I know what I went through in those years and my focus was all over the place. Maybe that’s just ’cause it worked out the way it did and this is my story, but I’m definitely in a place right now where I wouldn’t change anything.”