The Vampire Diaries: Ian Somerhalder hated Damon’s redemption arc—but fans loved it

The actor who gave life to The Vampire Diaries' most cherished bad boy never thought he should get a do-over. Luckily, the shows millions of followers thought otherwise. For eight years, TVD juggled high-school angst alongside wild supernatural twists.

Planted firmly in the middle was Damon Salvatore-a reckless, dangerous, and utterly seductive vampire who, little by little, became something surprising: human. Or at least far closer to human than the beast he once embodied.

That slow shift of The Vampire Diaries hooked viewers, letting them root for the monster turned lovesick partner. Yet behind the cameras the man who wore the fangs kept mum. Ian Somerhalder never bought the idea of redemption; in truth he loathed it.

Damon’s soft turn left Somerhalder fuming

Opening up emotionally felt like Damon was turning his back on the tough guy everyone expected. He even phoned co-creators Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, almost in tears, pleading with them so that they could justify to him why the shows biggest monster was suddenly getting nice.

“I remember reading that scene... and I was like, ‘What the f**k are you guys doing?’” Somerhalder said of Season 2’s “The Descent.”

His push-back wasn't only about that single script. It was about the future-a sprawling arc of empathy, regret, and messy but real love that would gradually paint Damon as a man stumbling toward something better.

The Vampire Diaries Fans didn’t just accept the redemption — they defended it

What Ian Somerhalder worried would water down Damon only deepened fans attachment. The arc of redemption didn't wipe away the blood; it added gravity to every drop. Viewers remembered the violence yet chose to forgive it. As the story explored Damon feelings, past wrongs shifted from evil signs to trauma symptoms. Somerhalder noticed.

“This character could walk into an orphanage and literally kill 20 kids in cold blood,” he said, “and the audience would go, ‘Aww, well you know, he was really upset about Elena…’”

That was frustrating at first. Yet it exposed a raw truth about how people watch troubled heroes: connect with their pain, and nearly any action can be explained away. Damon became that figure-the one audiences cheered, sobbed for, and angrily defended even when he fell short.

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Eventually Somerhalder adjusted his view. He conceded the writers were correct: Damon fragility was strength. It proved to be the layer that kept the character fascinating for almost two hundred episodes.

“You can’t be a one-trick pony forever,” Williamson had told him. And they were right.

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