Ian Somerhalder On The Sire Bond And The Cure

The sire-bond storyline has been hotly contested in TVLine’s comments section. What did you think of the twist and how it affects Elena and Damon’s relationship?
Well, I thought, “Hey, cool! He can do whatever he wants.” Three years of trying to get the same girl, who looks like your ex who you thought was in love with you for 150 years, has to do whatever you say. Could be worse. Actually, no, I thought, “Poor guy”… Here’s the thing: At the end of the day, Damon does not want to take this cure, nor would he in a million years want Elena to take it. He’s thinking, “Why would I want to do this? Why would I want to become a normal, boring human being susceptible to everything?” It’s just not in his wheelhouse to have that thought… It really is a tragic thing. You want this character — even though he does really awful things — you want him to win. You want him to be happy in life… There’s something big in the cards for Damon soon.

You say he doesn’t want Elena to be cured, so why is he going out of his way to find this cure for her? Is it purely about him knowing whether she truly loves him?
No, it’s not that self-serving. That would be like Damon. But I think ultimately, it’s that it’s what she wants. It’s really what she wants.

Elena made a pretty big confession of love recently, and Damon told her to come to him. But then they got distracted by the hunter/cure business. Will they address that conversation soon?
That’s the idea. One would hope. She did come to him, and it was a really cool moment for him. There’s got to be conflict there between them. There has to be. Now, this cure is really not something Damon wants, and so he’s forced to do all this stuff for her. It adds tension because she’s saying, “Look, I love you, man. You have to believe me. I really do.” And he’s just saying, “No, no, no. It’s not possible.” It’s tough for her, and it’s tough for him. It’sVampire Diaries, it sucks for everyone. It’s hard.

An an actor, was there any frustration about your character finally getting the girl and then there’s this asterisk that it might just be because of the sire bond?
I just thought, “Ooh, Salvatore, you poor bastard.” Leave it to life. It’s Murphy’s Law. That’s the way it goes.

So what’s the next step for Damon and Elena in their relationship?
To move to an island in the Caribbean that Damon buys and start a colony. In all seriousness, it’s kind of like instead of a whodunnit storyline, it’s a who’s-gonna-get-it? Honestly, I think that Damon right now is wishing he wasn’t in this situation, and he has an exorbitant amount of trepidation about getting this cure because he has a pretty clear idea that once she gets it, she’s going to go back to feeling this way for Stefan. This circumstance is really not great.

Stefan and Damon’s relationship has also been through quite the ringer as a result of the Elena story. Stefan’s gotten kind of spunky recently. What’s their interaction like coming up?
Stefan spunky? I like that!

He’s got a bit of an edge.
We like edgy Stefan. Stefan likes edgy Stefan. Stefan, just like his brother, has a lot to go through in the near future. He’s got a lot riding on this cure. Stefan wants it. This is a chance for him… Stefan’s hoping that they can find it and make it work and ultimately she’ll go back to feeling this way for him. And Damon’s thinking, “Ooh, this sucks!” Really not happy about it.

On the way to this cure, Damon has a bloody run-in with a hunter.
I like that storyline. It’s a lot of fun. The character’s great. Charlie Bewley, the actor who plays Vaughn, is awesome. He brings a lot to the role. He and David Alpay, who plays Professor Shane, they’re both really talented and they’re a lot of fun to work with. Damon and Shane, while they’re wanting to kill each other, they really work well together.

Damon’s been really suspicious of Shane. What are the odds that we’re headed to a big “I told you so” from Damon?
[Joking] There’s a scene where Damon and Shane kind of cuddle. Look, this Shane guy has a lot of shit going on, excuse my language. He’s got a lot of stuff he’s hiding. He’s a master manipulator, and that’s really why I like him. He and Damon, they’re not too far off. Again, he has ill-intentions, but they’re for righteous reasons. That’s what Damon had for really the first two seasons of the show. So I have to respect him for that. But I will say that Damon is praying that he’s wrong about this guy, that he’s not as bad as he thinks he is. There’s good stuff there between them.