Casting a character as otherworldly and complex as Stefan Salvatore was an immense challenge for the producers of “The Vampire Diaries,” but Paul Wesley turned out to be perfect for the role. An adaptation of L.J. Smith’s “The Vampire Diaries” book series, and one of the best CW shows ever made, the series revolves around the town of Mystic Falls — where Elena Gilbert (Nina Dobrev) becomes entangled in an intense love triangle with centuries-old vampire brothers, Stefan and Damon Salvatore (Ian Somerhalder). In an interview for Entertainment Weekly’s oral history feature, co-creator Julie Plec explained why Stefan was the most difficult character to cast.
“It’s the kind of role that you can’t just cast the smoldering pretty boy because there’s such depth and layers of loss and loneliness living in that character. So you really need a true actor,” she said, describing one of the best characters in “The Vampire Diaries.” “But you also can’t just hang your hat on a great theater-trained actor who doesn’t also make people’s hearts go pitter patter.” Co-creator Kevin Williamson noted that Stefan’s complicated persona in the novels was a major hurdle to finding an actor capable of bringing all of his qualities to the screen. “The book destroyed us because if you look at the description in the book, that person doesn’t exist,” he shared.
What made Paul Wesley the right actor to portray Stefan
Years after “The Vampire Diaries” series finale aired and ended Stefan’s story, the role remain’s Wesley’s most notable performance. According to Wesley, producers initially deemed him too old to play Stefan, but the elder Somerhalder’s casting as Damon opened the door for him. The subsequent audition process was long and without much success, but casting director Lesli Gelles-Raymond pushed for Wesley’s consideration.
That, on top of his chemistry with Nina Dobrev, eventually landed Wesley the part. Even so, most of those involved in casting for “The Vampire Diaries” didn’t favor Wesley’s portrayal of Stefan until very late during auditions, and in some cases, until filming of the show took place. Plec further elaborated on why it was so tricky to nail down a performer. “There just aren’t that many actors who can live in both worlds, the heartthrob world and the serious actor world, and Paul had never been a heartthrob … There was no denial that Paul could act the part, we just didn’t see him lighting up the screen, but we were just dead wrong,” she said.
