Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley Sound Off on The Vampire Diaries Coming to an End

Season eight will be the CW hit's final season, it was announced at Comic-Con on Saturday

By Tierney Bricker Jul 23, 2016 7:09 PMTags
The Vampire DiariesGuy D'Alema/The CW

The Salvatore brothers are saying goodbye.

It's been an emotional day for The Vampire Diaries fans, as executive producer Julie Plec announced that the upcoming eighth season will be the CW hit's final season at Comic-Con on Saturday. (No, we're not crying. A branch covered in dust just fell in our eye while we were chopping onions, OK?!)

And after the news was officially announced, stars Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley (forever our Damon and Stefan Salvatore) sounded off on saying goodbye to Mystic Falls.

"The sun, the moon and stars aligned for me one day in March when I got the official call that I had been cast in this very special role as Damon Salvatore," Ian said. "I'm so very grateful to those who fought for me to have this opportunity (you know who you are), for those that have worked so hard to make this show happen, and to those that have loyally watched it, making it part of their lives. This show has enriched my life greater than anything I've done in my career and it will live in my heart. We are a family and I will miss you. Thank you again to this amazing cast and crew, Kevin, Julie, Warner Bros., The CW and the most loyal fan base the world has ever seen. Wow, what a ride."

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Paul also talked about how much TVD has changed his life since it premiered in 2009.

"Being cast in The Vampire Diaries has changed the trajectory of my life, to say the very least," Paul said. "I'm beyond fortunate for the experiences I've had and lessons I've learned over the last seven years. I want to thank Kevin and Julie, as well as Peter Roth and Warner Bros., Mark Pedowitz and The CW, our incredible cast and crew, and especially the TVD fans all around the world who are the reason this show became such a worldwide success. I am beyond grateful to have been a part of it."

The eighth and final season will be 16 episodes, with executive producer Kevin Williamson set to return for the goodbye to Mystic Falls. While star Nina Dobrev, who left the series after season six, kind of returned in the season seven finale (recording a voice message), there's been no word yet if she'll make an appearance before the series finale.

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A few months ago, Ian told E! News that fans should expect to see season eight focus on the core characters.

"I really want to make sure that we get to go back to the basics," he said. "What made people fall in love with this story was its characters, not 40 of them, like eight of them, six of them—this core group of actors, of characters that really move you."

He continued, "We don't know where that's going to go but leaving the audience with the fact that by that time they will have spent eight years of their life with these people, I want the audience to feel closer, more afraid, more in love, more in tune with these characters than they ever have been."

The final season of TVD kicks off on Friday, Oct. 21 at 8 p.m. on the CW.

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