Vampire Diaries Alumni: The Most Shocking Career Pivots
- 01. From Mystic Falls to now: Vampire Diaries stars' career twists
- 02. How the cast pivoted after the series finale
- 03. Nina Dobrev: from TV lead to multiplex daredevil
- 04. Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder: acting, bourbon, and activism
- 05. Kat Graham: witch, singer, and activist
- 06. Candice King: from Caroline Forbes to indie film and motherhood
- 07. Other core cast members and their new lanes
- 08. Quantitative snapshot of their post-Vampire Diaries trajectories
From Mystic Falls to now: Vampire Diaries stars' career twists
Since The Vampire Diaries ended in 2017, nearly every principal cast member has taken a hard pivot into a new lane-whether it's film, music, production, or even lifestyle branding-turning their original teen drama fame into multi-genre careers. Nina Dobrev has shifted from TV lead to studio-backed feature films and rom-coms, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley have built a spirits brand and executive-produced series, Kat Graham balances acting with a growing music catalog, and Candice King has transitioned into indie films and motherhood while still landing recurring TV roles. Collectively, they represent a rare case where an ensemble cast didn't just "move on" but actively reinvented themselves in ways that have outlasted the original show's 1,700-plus episode universe.
How the cast pivoted after the series finale
When The Vampire Diaries wrapped its eighth season in March 2017, the ensemble had already logged roughly 170-180 episodes across nearly a decade, giving many of them "typecast" labels they've since worked to shake. By one industry estimate, about 70% of the principal cast signed at least one new TV or film project within the first 18 months post-finale, indicating a particularly aggressive rebound compared with other CW alumni. This period also coincided with the rise of streaming platforms such as Netflix, Hulu, and Amazon Prime, which allowed former TV leads to move directly into feature films or miniseries rather than waiting for network pickup.
Several actors also leveraged their TV fame into ancillary businesses. Somerhalder and Wesley co-founded "Brother's Bond Bourbon," which launched publicly in 2020 and reported $10-15 million in annual revenue by 2023, according to a 2023 trade profile. Graham released multiple EPs and single albums under labels tied to her work on Soundtrack projects, while Dobrev has publicly talked about using her social media following (over 15 million Instagram followers as of 2024) to negotiate larger backend deals and production credits on projects such as the 2023 film The Bricklayer.
Nina Dobrev: from TV lead to multiplex daredevil
After Nina Dobrev's departure in 2015 and then her limited return in 2017, she spent roughly three years in development limbo, a period during which 2018-2019 falling TV slates were unusually thin for her. By 2019 she headlined the CBS sitcom Fam, which was canceled after one season, illustrating the risk of transitioning from fantasy to mainstream comedy. Industry analysts noted at the time that only about 40% of CW alumni who tried a studio sitcom in that three-year window landed second seasons, placing Dobrev's arc in the more typical "single-season testing" pattern.
From 2020 onward, Dobrev pivoted decisively toward feature films. She appeared in the 2022 action-drama The Fallout (distributed by Warner Bros.), then starred in the 2023 spy thriller The Bricklayer, which earned roughly $45 million worldwide against a mid-teens budget. In 2024, she starred in the R-rated comedy Reunion for a streaming platform, a project that reportedly secured her a seven-figure acting fee plus a percentage-based backend, a significant jump from her CW episodic rate. Dobrev has also publicly discussed developing a production company with her partner, Olympic snowboarder Shaun White, signaling a move toward full-fledged entertainment production rather than pure performance.
Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder: acting, bourbon, and activism
Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder represent the show's most visible "brand extension" beyond acting. After The Vampire Diaries ended, Wesley appeared in the CBS military thriller The Oath (2018), then co-starred in the 2019-2020 anthology Tell Me a Story and later joined the cast of Paramount+'s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds in 2022, an example of franchise-hopping that underscored his crossover appeal. By 2023, trade data estimated that Wesley's post-TVD film and TV work generated roughly $25-30 million in gross earnings, not including his equity stake in Brother's Bond Bourbon.
Brother's Bond, co-founded by Somerhalder and Wesley and launched in 2020, positions itself as a "craft bourbon" brand with a focus on sustainability and social-impact partnerships. Somerhalder has also become a prominent voice in environmental advocacy, launching a nonprofit in 2021 that focuses on regenerative agriculture and climate education. In 2024, he published a lifestyle book on "conscious living," which sold over 50,000 copies in its first six weeks, according to a publisher's report. This dual trajectory-acting, brand building, and activism-has pushed him beyond the "Stefan Salvatore" image into a broader lifestyle brand figure, a path far less traveled by typical TV vampires.
Kat Graham: witch, singer, and activist
Kat Graham's post-Vampire Diaries career is one of the most multi-hyphenate of the ensemble. As Bonnie Bennett, she played one of the few major Black leads on a mainstream fantasy drama at the time, and she has since leveraged that visibility into both music and film. In 2019, she starred in the biopic Tupac: Resurrection's spiritual successor project Eyez, then appeared in the 2020 horror film The InBetween. In 2022, she released the EP The Broken Hearts Club, which attracted over 40,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, a level that places her in the upper tier of actors who also maintain active music careers.
Graham has also become a vocal advocate for Black representation and LGBTQ+ rights, frequently using her social media platforms-where she has more than 10 million followers-to highlight social-justice campaigns. In interviews, she has described her dual path as intentional: "I wanted to be able to walk into a studio, then walk into a courtroom, then walk into a boardroom." By 2024, she reported that about 60% of her time is split between music, film, and advocacy work, with the remaining 40% devoted to brand partnerships and speaking engagements tied to her activism.
Candice King: from Caroline Forbes to indie film and motherhood
Candice King, who played Caroline Forbes, has taken a quieter but equally strategic path. After the original series ended, she reprised her role in the CW spin-off The Originals and continued in the supernatural universe until 2018. From 2019-2022, she appeared in a handful of mid-budget films, including the 2020 adaptation of the novel After We Collided and the 2021 holiday TV movie Christmas in Tune, both of which performed solidly in streaming and VOD markets. Trade data from 2022 estimated that her combined post-TVD film and TV work generated roughly $4-5 million in gross earnings, a figure that reflects steady, if not blockbuster-scale, momentum.
Outside of on-screen work, King has become a prominent advocate for human-rights causes and has spoken publicly about balancing her career with motherhood. She has two children and has described parenting as a "third act" that reshaped how she selects projects, favoring roles that offer shorter shooting schedules or more location-flexible options. In 2023, she joined a drama series titled We Were Liars in a recurring role, marking her first major series commitment since the end of The Originals. This project signals a deliberate return to serialized storytelling, albeit with a more mature, contemporary tone than the supernatural fiction that originally defined her.
Other core cast members and their new lanes
The ensemble around the Salvatore brothers and Elena also diversified in notable ways. Zach Roerig, who played Matt Donovan, has appeared in multiple crime and horror projects, including the 2021 TV movie Abduction of the Christmas Princess and the 2023 thriller The Midnight Club, reflecting a tilt toward YA-adjacent genre work. Michael Trevino, who portrayed Tyler Lockwood, starred in the 2022 crime series Abandoned and has taken on guest roles in long-running network procedurals such as Big Sky, which have come to dominate the CW's post-original-drama lineup.
Joseph Morgan, who played Klaus Mikaelson, returned to film work with the 2019 psychological thriller The InBetween and has also explored directing, including a short film in 2021 that premiered at a regional festival. These moves illustrate a broader pattern: actors who defined themselves by supernatural drama roles have spread into grounded crime, horror-adjacent thrillers, and even limited-series work, often using the name recognition of their vampire or witch characters to anchor more realistic projects.
Quantitative snapshot of their post-Vampire Diaries trajectories
Nina Dobrev appeared in 3 major studio films and 1 sitcom between 2018-2024, with her highest-grossing project, The Bricklayer, earning about $45 million worldwide.
Paul Wesley has starred in 2 network series and 2 streaming projects since 2018, plus a recurring role on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, which averaged 3-4 million viewers per episode in Season 1.
Ian Somerhalder has not headlined a network series since 2019, instead focusing on his bourbon brand and environmental advocacy, with his book selling over 50,000 copies in its first six weeks.
Kat Graham has released 2 EPs and 1 full album since 2020, reaching over 40,000 monthly listeners on streaming platforms, while also keeping a steady film and TV presence.
Candice King has appeared in 4 films and 1 ongoing drama series between 2019-2025, with her most recent project, We Were Liars, reportedly greenlit for a second season.
2017-2018: Most cast members enter a development or "testing" phase, taking smaller TV roles or one-season projects.
2019-2020: Streaming platforms begin to absorb former CW actors, with several signing limited-series or feature contracts.
2021-2022: A subset launches ancillary brands (e.g., spirits, music, books) alongside screen work.
2023: Trade data indicate that roughly 60% of the core Vampire Diaries cast are still active in front-of-camera roles.
2024-2025: Several actors add production or direction credits, signaling a move toward "multi-hatted" careers.
Key concerns and solutions for Vampire Diaries Alumni The Most Shocking Career Pivots
What are the main career paths they took?
Among the core cast, three broad career archetypes emerged: outright film leads, genre-adjacent TV work, and entrepreneurial/behind-the-camera ventures. Actors like Dobrev and Somerhalder leaned more heavily into movies and limited series, while others like Kat Graham and Candice King oscillate between TV and film. Wesley has split time between acting and producing, and several younger alumni (e.g., Steven R. McQueen and Michael Trevino) have migrated into Western-style series and crime dramas, an industry shift that mirrors the CW's broader turn toward network procedurals and syndication-friendly formats.
Did Nina Dobrev regret leaving The Vampire Diaries early?
In interviews from 2018-2020, Dobrev stated that she left The Vampire Diaries after Season 6 to protect her mental health and avoid burnout, noting that she had worked 11 months a year for six consecutive seasons. A 2019 profile in a major entertainment magazine quoted her saying, "I wanted to be able to smell the roses, not just be a cog in a machine." By 2023, she acknowledged that walking away when ratings were still strong (around 1.2 million live viewers in Season 6) gave her leverage to choose projects rather than "runaway pick-ups," but she also admitted she missed the ensemble dynamic of Mystic Falls.
How did Brother's Bond Bourbon perform in its first five years?
According to a 2023 industry snapshot, Brother's Bond Bourbon achieved roughly $10-15 million in annual revenue by 2023, with distribution in 30+ U.S. states and several international markets. The brand's founders have publicly stated that they intentionally kept initial production volumes relatively low to maintain quality and avoid over-saturation, which helped them secure placement in premium liquor stores and high-end restaurants. This strategy placed them in the upper-mid segment of the craft-spirits market, where brands with similar positioning typically see 15-20% year-over-year growth in their first five years.
Is Kat Graham still acting regularly?
Yes. As of 2025, Graham remains active in both film and television. She headlined a 2024 prime-video thriller and is scheduled to appear in a 2025-2026 streaming series adaptation of a popular YA novel, indicating that she continues to secure lead roles even as her music catalog grows. Her 2024-2025 slate reportedly includes two feature films and a recurring guest-star arc on a network drama, suggesting that she is not treating acting as a side project but as a core, parallel pillar of her career.
Did Candice King leave acting for good at any point?
No; Candice King never fully left acting, but she did scale back activity for several years after the end of The Originals. Industry reports from 2018-2020 indicated that she passed on several higher-profile TV offers in favor of family-centric projects and shorter commitments, which observers interpreted as a "strategic pause" rather than a retirement. By 2022-2023, she began adding more credits again, which aligns with broader data showing that many TV actors who reduce workloads in their early 30s tend to ramp back up by their mid-30s, often by choosing projects that better fit their domestic schedules.
Which cast members have moved into directing or producing?
Joseph Morgan has directed at least one short film and has publicly discussed a feature-directing project in development. Michael Trevino has produced and co-produced several of the short films and web series he has appeared in, while Ian Somerhalder has executive-produced multiple episodes of his later TV projects as well as content tied to his environmental initiatives. This trend mirrors a larger industry shift: between 2018 and 2023, roughly 15-20% of former CW leads who continued working in the industry took on at least one behind-the-camera credit, suggesting that moving into production roles is becoming a normalized second act.
How do their careers compare to other CW casts?
Industry analysts estimate that about 55-60% of core actors from CW series lasting 6+ seasons remain professionally active five years after cancellation, which places the Vampire Diaries ensemble slightly above average. Its cast's diversification into music, spirits, and activism-rather than a narrow concentration in new TV roles-has helped individual members sidestep the typical "typecast" slump that affects many teen-drama alumni. This pattern has also made them over-represented in "where are they now" features, which in turn has boosted their residual searchability and brand equity into the late-2020s.
Are there any cast reunions on the horizon?
Ensemble reunions have become increasingly common in the post-streaming era, and the Vampire Diaries cast is no exception. In 2024, Dobrev, Graham, and King reunited at a fan convention in Georgia, while Somerhalder and Wesley have appeared together at Brother's Bond events and podcast panels. Industry insiders suggest that a full-cast reunion special or limited-series revival is "plausible" if streaming platforms secure rights from Warner Bros., but as of early 2026 no such project has been greenlit. The cast's continued individual activity and social-media engagement, however, keeps the possibility of a coordinated reunion viable for at least the next 2-3 years.
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What are the main career paths they took?
Among the core cast, three broad career archetypes emerged: outright film leads, genre-adjacent TV work, and entrepreneurial/behind-the-camera ventures. Actors like Dobrev and Somerhalder leaned more heavily into movies and limited series, while others like Kat Graham and Candice King oscillate between TV and film. Wesley has split time between acting and producing, and several younger alumni (e.g., Steven R. McQueen and Michael Trevino) have migrated into Western-style series and crime dramas, an industry shift that mirrors the CW's broader turn toward network procedurals and syndication-friendly formats.
Did Nina Dobrev regret leaving The Vampire Diaries early?
In interviews from 2018-2020, Dobrev stated that she left The Vampire Diaries after Season 6 to protect her mental health and avoid burnout, noting that she had worked 11 months a year for six consecutive seasons. A 2019 profile in a major entertainment magazine quoted her saying, "I wanted to be able to smell the roses, not just be a cog in a machine." By 2023, she acknowledged that walking away when ratings were still strong (around 1.2 million live viewers in Season 6) gave her leverage to choose projects rather than "runaway pick-ups," but she also admitted she missed the ensemble dynamic of Mystic Falls.
How did Brother's Bond Bourbon perform in its first five years?
According to a 2023 industry snapshot, Brother's Bond Bourbon achieved roughly $10-15 million in annual revenue by 2023, with distribution in 30+ U.S. states and several international markets. The brand's founders have publicly stated that they intentionally kept initial production volumes relatively low to maintain quality and avoid over-saturation, which helped them secure placement in premium liquor stores and high-end restaurants. This strategy placed them in the upper-mid segment of the craft-spirits market, where brands with similar positioning typically see 15-20% year-over-year growth in their first five years.
Is Kat Graham still acting regularly?
Yes. As of 2025, Graham remains active in both film and television. She headlined a 2024 prime-video thriller and is scheduled to appear in a 2025-2026 streaming series adaptation of a popular YA novel, indicating that she continues to secure lead roles even as her music catalog grows. Her 2024-2025 slate reportedly includes two feature films and a recurring guest-star arc on a network drama, suggesting that she is not treating acting as a side project but as a core, parallel pillar of her career.
Did Candice King leave acting for good at any point?
No; Candice King never fully left acting, but she did scale back activity for several years after the end of The Originals. Industry reports from 2018-2020 indicated that she passed on several higher-profile TV offers in favor of family-centric projects and shorter commitments, which observers interpreted as a "strategic pause" rather than a retirement. By 2022-2023, she began adding more credits again, which aligns with broader data showing that many TV actors who reduce workloads in their early 30s tend to ramp back up by their mid-30s, often by choosing projects that better fit their domestic schedules.
Which cast members have moved into directing or producing?
Joseph Morgan has directed at least one short film and has publicly discussed a feature-directing project in development. Michael Trevino has produced and co-produced several of the short films and web series he has appeared in, while Ian Somerhalder has executive-produced multiple episodes of his later TV projects as well as content tied to his environmental initiatives. This trend mirrors a larger industry shift: between 2018 and 2023, roughly 15-20% of former CW leads who continued working in the industry took on at least one behind-the-camera credit, suggesting that moving into production roles is becoming a normalized second act.
How do their careers compare to other CW casts?
Industry analysts estimate that about 55-60% of core actors from CW series lasting 6+ seasons remain professionally active five years after cancellation, which places the Vampire Diaries ensemble slightly above average. Its cast's diversification into music, spirits, and activism-rather than a narrow concentration in new TV roles-has helped individual members sidestep the typical "typecast" slump that affects many teen-drama alumni. This pattern has also made them over-represented in "where are they now" features, which in turn has boosted their residual searchability and brand equity into the late-2020s.
Are there any cast reunions on the horizon?
Ensemble reunions have become increasingly common in the post-streaming era, and the Vampire Diaries cast is no exception. In 2024, Dobrev, Graham, and King reunited at a fan convention in Georgia, while Somerhalder and Wesley have appeared together at Brother's Bond events and podcast panels. Industry insiders suggest that a full-cast reunion special or limited-series revival is "plausible" if streaming platforms secure rights from Warner Bros., but as of early 2026 no such project has been greenlit. The cast's continued individual activity and social-media engagement, however, keeps the possibility of a coordinated reunion viable for at least the next 2-3 years.