‘Vampire Diaries’ Is Not Canceled, But Ian Somerhalder Is Leaving After Season 8

Ian Somerhalder is backtracking after misleading fans recently. Earlier this week, the actor spoke about Season 8 being his final run on “The Vampire Diaries,” but he made it sound like the show itself was ending. Somerhalder went on Twitter to explain that he only meant he was leaving the CW drama in a year.

“Last weekend I talked to an audience at a Q&A about the end of #TVD and how excited I was to make what I believe — my last year — be as great as possible,” Somerhalder wrote. “Somehow in my infinite wisdom and end-of-season foggy brain, I managed to make it sound like the show was coming to an end.”

Somerhalder is currently filming the end of “The Vampire Diaires” Season 7, but he used a day off to attend WalkerStalker Con in Nashville on Sunday. In a tweet that has now been deleted, the actor was quoted as saying, “We have decided to do one last season to really do the story justice.” It was assumed that “we” meant the cast and creative team behind the show, but it seems Somerhalder was only referring to himself.

Of course, the fact that Somerhalder is leaving could indicate the end of the show. As previously reported, executive producer Julie Plec has explained that she doesn’t believe the show should continue without Damon (Somerhalder) and Stefan (Paul Wesley).

“My end game needs to, in my opinion, emotionally run parallel with the end game of Paul and Ian — more so than the network and the studio,” Plec explained to Variety in January. “When those boys decide that they’re done telling stories — which could be tomorrow and could be a year from now or two years from now or whatever — I need to be done. I feel like I owe them that and I owe the show that.”

However, cast members leaving doesn’t automatically mean the show will be canceled. Even if e Plec wants to end the show, the fate of “TVD” is ultimately up to the network, the CW, and the studio, Warner Bros.

“Thing is, the people who actually make that decision [the CW and WB] haven’t made it yet!” Somerhalder explained in his note. “So let’s take things one step at a time: Season 7 wrap, vacation, lots of sleep, let the writers get started on Season 8, and then we’ll all see where we go from there.”

Somerhalder isn’t the only one set to leave. Kat Graham also announced that Season 8 would be her last run as Bonnie Bennet. Luckily, fans still have more than a year until the end of Season 8. That’s a lot of time for Damon and Bonnie to have more adventures.

“The Vampire Diaries” Season 7 airs Fridays at 8 p.m. EDT.