Exclusive Interview: Ian Somerhalder (The Vampire Diaries), Part I

Ian Somerhalder is a very talented and lucky guy. The actor helped launch the mind-bending series Lost (TV) back in its first season, playing the doomed character Boone Carlyle, one of the unlikely survivors of Oceanic Flight 815. Boone died by the end of that season, but Somerhalder reprised the role a couple of times in guest appearances. The actor kept working after his Lost gig ended, completing several films, including Pulse (2009) and The Tournament (2009), and six episodes of the acclaimed HBO dramatic series Tell Me You Love Me (TV). He then landed yet another blockbuster hit series, The Vampire Diaries (TV). All the ladies out there know that Somerhalder's evil vampire character, Damon Salvatore, represents one third of the show's complex, heart-tugging love triangle that also includes Nina Dobrev as the human teenager Elena and Paul Wesley as Stefan Salvatore, Damon's good-guy brother and Elena's on-and-off boyfriend.

The Vampire Diaries (TV) recently returned to the air for the second half of its breakout first season. These days, Somerhalder has been doing some serious cross-country flying, shooting The Vampire Diaries in Atlanta, Georgia, and then touching down in Hawaii to step in front of the cameras once again for the final season of Lost, which kicks off on Feb. 2 with an episode entitled "LA X." TVStar tracked Somerhalder down by phone in Atlanta recently and quizzed him about both shows. Following is Part I of our exclusive interview, with the emphasis on The Vampire Diaries. Look for Part II, with the emphasis on Lost – not that he can say much about the top-secret show -- in the next couple of days.

Some people snickered when the CW announced The Vampire Diaries. People were calling it Twilight for TV. How surprised were you by the show's success, and how hard was it not to go, "Nah-nah-nah, nah-nah-nah" to the doubters?

No. I mean, look, it was snicker-able. If you weren't a Twilight (2008) fan or you weren't into the vampire thing or you're oversaturated with Twilight, and you saw this show coming out on the CW, which is basically more vampires, like Twilight, but on television...if you're going to snicker, that's what you're going to snicker at. And there's an interesting thing that by virtue of this vampire oversaturation of the market, I think what people fail to realize is that within this vampire genre there's an immense amount of storytelling capability. There are a lot of great stories that come out of this. That's why it's so popular. So, to answer your question, was I surprised that people were snickering? No.

How about the show's success?

You always hope that what you do will do well. That's why you do something, in the hope that it'll take off, that you’ll enjoy yourself and that people will enjoy it with you. We never really had many expectations, which I think is the best way to protect yourself. I remember that (producer) Julie Plec made a joke one time. It was after we'd premiered and we were doing quite well. She said that we didn't really have any expectations, but secretly, we wanted to take over the world. That was pretty funny because you want your show to succeed, you want it to be good, and luckily we have writing that is superb and everything -- the acting, the way it's shot, the way it's directed -- works. As long as we can keep making it work, I don't think anybody can snicker anymore.

Damon is a bad guy, but brutally honest, too. And there's something to be said for that, right?

You know what? The more I hang out with Damon on a daily basis, the more I find interesting about him. The first thing you have to understand about Damon is that he's a very motivated and lonely guy. You put those two things together and you have a very dangerous individual, but the funny thing is -- and as trite as it sounds -- what he does, he does out of love. There are two relationships that he misses and that he wants back in his life -- his brother and his girl -- and he'll do anything he can to get them back. Imagine being 160 years old, with the amount of life experience that he would have, the amount of cynicism, and how lonely you'd be.

Where are things heading in the second half of the season?

We're going to start seeing more interaction between Damon and Elena. We're going to start seeing what Damon is ultimately after and he's going to get closer to it. We're going to see what he wants and how attainable it may or may not be. I understand that I'm being vague. Another thing that we're going to dive into is how complicated the relationship between Damon and Stefan is. It's getting more and more complicated every episode, and all the problems that we set up in the first half of the season we're going to really dive into now. So you have that Damon-Stefan-Elena triangle and the relationships between Stefan and Elena, and you'll see Damon and Elena. There's a whole other aspect to the Damon-Stefan-Elena relationship, and that's Katherine (the vampire who turned Damon and Stefan, and who's also played by Dobrev). We'll get into that a little bit, too, which is some of my favorite stuff to do. Going back in time to the late 1860's is so much fun.

How are you enjoying playing off Nina as she inhabits two different characters?

She's lucky. It's a great role for her. It's a great role for anyone. It's really interesting, because Nina loves playing Katherine, because Katherine is the antithesis of Elena. Elena is such a sweetheart, but she's extremely conflicted. She's under a lot of pressure. She's lost her parents. Her boyfriend is a vampire. Elena has a lot of stuff going on. Katherine, on the hand, is a lot like Damon. Actually, I should rephrase that. Damon ends up, as you'll see, being a lot like Katherine because a lot of Katherine's traits Damon picked up.

Would you say that Katherine is basically a female Damon?

In a way, she's a female version of Damon. So she's this sort of haphazardly funny, narcissistic good-time girl, and she gets what she wants. That's what makes Katherine so fun to be around, because Nina, like I do when I put on the eyes and the teeth and everything, becomes a completely different character. I become a completely different Damon when I go into vampire mode, and Nina becomes a completely different person when she gets into her corset, and it's a really, really cool transition to watch. It's fun to watch, and it's really fun to play off of.

We keep hearing stories about a Damon-Katherine kiss...

It's fun. You know what's really cool? Damon was so in love with Katherine, enough that he's spent the last 148 years figuring out a way to get back to her. I think you see that in Katherine. She's so much fun and she's so beautiful, and Damon is just enthralled with her. He's mesmerized by her. They're cute together, Damon and Katherine.