Fan Expo Canada is an annual four-day convention held in Toronto host to tons of exciting panels from some of Hollywood’s biggest stars. This year’s convention was held August 30th-September 2nd. Basic Stuff Magazine was lucky enough to attend Saturday’s impromptu Q&A panel for Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder.
The two stars are, of course, most famously known for playing brothers Stefan and Damon Salvatore on the CW mega-hit The Vampire Diaries, and if their combined buffoonery is anything to go by (that really is the best way to describe these two together), their real-life relationship is pretty darn brotherly, too…minus the sexual innuendo they like to insert. But we digress.
Both actors have new shows coming soon to streaming platforms. Paul will be starring in the pseudo-fairy-tale thriller Tell Me a Story, available October 31st on CBS All Access, and Ian is re-entering the vampire genre, this time as a human scientist, on Netflix’s upcoming series V-Wars (release date pending).
But neither got to talk much about their new projects as the legacies (pun-intended) of their TVD roles continue to prove to be as immortal as the characters they played (when they were still vampires before they both ingested the Cure – it’s a whole thing). Paul and Ian indulged their fans and their questions about the juggernaut of a show, but they honestly seemed pretty dunzo on the subject – or perhaps it was just the sleep deprivation talking. In any case, here are the highlights.
Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder at Fan Expo Canada 2018 (@FANEXPOCANADA)
On the ending of the series
Spoiler warning (but if you’re a real fan you already know): Stefan Salvatore sacrificed himself for the greater good at the end of the series. Or, if you’re Ian, you’re of the opinion that he just died. Both actors are happy about the fate of the youngest Salvatore, but wouldn’t have minded if the other brother had also received the same treatment. “I wanted the bros to die together,” Ian said. “I thought it was crazy that they got to live after all that destruction and then Elena lived happily ever after with this guy [Damon], who was effectively a literal, maniacal serial killer. I mean, you laugh, but it’s true. He just happened to have a little charm and he could dance.”
As for the question at the center of the big love triangle, Paul and Ian also agree that neither one of the brothers deserved Elena Gilbert. In fact, if they could re-write the ending, it would go as thus, according to Ian: “Stefan and Damon should’ve gone to a beach in the Caribbean and just sort of [drank] a bottle of 60-year-old rum. And then, when the sun came up on the beach, they could just look at each other, hug each other, take off their rings, throw them into the water, and then poof. And that’s it. I think it would be a poetic, amazing story ‘cause at the end of the day, human beings deserve not to be hurt, you know?” Sounds a lot closer to the fate of that other brotherly duo from that other in-universe show, if you ask us.
Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley as Damon and Stefan Salvatore (Quantrell Colbert/The CW)
On playing their characters
As far as differences and similarities between themselves and their characters go, “I don’t kill that many people anymore,” Ian joked. “It’s just too tiring now, with technology, and forensics, and stuff.”
Paul had to clarify that he doesn’t cry as much as his character. “Nobody cries as much as Stefan,” Ian interjected. Paul also added that his real hair wasn’t “nearly as good” as Stefan’s.
But joking aside, Ian did manage to find some common ground: “Something that makes us a lot like these characters was that these guys were brothers and they knew what it was like to be loved, they knew what it was like to be in a fight with your brother, they knew what it was like to be alone, you know, all those human characteristics that you find in a character that you can layer […]—” But that was before he got distracted by someone in the audience having something to do with The Handmaid’s Tale : “We tried to start watching [the show] when my wife was pregnant, and we said, ‘No.’ Both of us looked at each other one day after, like, the fourth episode, and went, ‘No more, no way.’”
The boys are unanimous about the fact that it’s just much more fun to play the bad guy. Their favorite seasons of the show correlate with those moments where they were each able to revel in the delicious evilness of their respective characters. “Selfishly, [Season] 3 [was Paul’s favorite],” Ian summarized. “Mine was, selfishly, 1.”
In terms of the best quality season, Paul chose Season 2, but Ian stuck by Season 1: “It was ‘Lost Girls,’ it was [Episode] 5. And we just said, ‘Wow.’ This was the first time we saw, like, Katherine and the whole backstory, and it was just phenomenal storytelling. It was just badass.” …And then Paul started singing “Memories,” as you do.
“I mean, the character I’m playing right now on my TV show is so dark and so not the hero,” Paul said of his new character on Tell Me a Story. Ian admitted he wasn’t playing the bad guy “initially” on his new Netflix show: “The thing is that you start finding complexities, because, man, you start wondering, ‘Whoa, is this the person I thought he was?’”
“That’s how I feel about you,” was what Paul decided to add to that.
“I miss you, Paul.”
“Do you?”
“Which room are you in?”
Anyway, back to the subject of humanity…Ian doubted Damon ever had any inkling of it at all, while Paul insisted that wasn’t true. “I cried all the time in later episodes,” Ian finally confessed. “I was taking after you [Paul], I was Paul’s understudy.”
“Always will be,” Paul replied.
On if Damon had a doppelgänger
After reminiscing about good-old Tom, Stefan’s near-perfect doctor doppelgänger, Ian decided that he wanted Damon’s imaginary doppelgänger to be someone like Mick Jagger. He shared that he once had plans to incorporate the Rolling Stones frontman into the show: “I always had this crazy thought that you’d be able to put a much larger scope into the show if you could see Damon and Stefan end up at the same Rolling Stones concert in 1967. They’re on different sides of the auditorium or something. But we never really got around to doing that kind of thing.”
On the craziest fan encounters
When asked about their craziest fan experiences, Paul sulked, “I don’t have that many fans, just my mom.” Ian tried to cheer him up by telling Paul that he was his fan.
But really, Ian did have one story to tell that was actually quite terrifying: “We went into the bathroom at Comic Con together, like bros do. I washed my hands. Paul had to do his hair. And I walked out, and this, like, 6’3” Wonder Woman wanted to tell me how much she loved me, but she did it by picking me up by my neck and holding me up against the wall. And I had to explain to her that […] security would probably throw her out, could even arrest her, and she dropped me, like a bad habit.”
“And that’s how you met Nikki [Ian’s wife],” Paul hilariously provided.
Candice King as Caroline Forbes (Quantrell Colbert/The CW)
On working with Candice King
Candice King was brought up during the panel as well. She most recently reprised her role as Caroline Forbes during a short run on the final season of The Originals and is also likely to appear on the spin-off of the spin-off, the upcoming Legacies. Of course, the boys had nothing but nice things to say about their co-star, but Paul had to admit that it was a little strange having to make out with her while she was pregnant.
The fan who asked the question seemed to have an obvious crush on the actress, which prompted Ian’s protective side to passive-aggressively come out and declare that Candice is “a very special woman who’s married to a very special man” and then carry on about how amazing her husband is. Awkward…
On how the current generation is “screwed”
Here’s something else that’s awkward: we’re screwed! Ian is the proud owner of his own foundation dedicated to empowering youth by educating them about the environment – and he is very passionate about it. A 15-year-old fan asked for Ian’s advice about how her generation can initiate change.
“Ok, so, here’s the deal,” Ian commented. “I’m just gonna cut through all the bullshit. Your generation is screwed. They’re literally screwed. You know why? See that little device you’re holding right there? In a time where climate disruption and things are happening around us where we need our feet in the ground or in the mud more than ever in history, we’re buried in these devices. […] Until schools or parents take the initiative themselves to pull their heads out of their own asses with their devices and start showing their young people that their world does not revolve [around] or begin and end with this device […] Until we become more human again, we’re never gonna change.”
He then went on to talk about current depression rates: “Depression is higher now than it’s ever been, yet we have more money, more medicine, more food, more everything ever. Teenage depression is higher than it was in 1944 in England when they were being bombed by the Nazis. That is a scary thing!”
But what it all comes down to is this: “So, next time you find yourself feeling like shit because someone down the road seems to have a much better life than you on Instagram, think twice ‘cause it’s all smoke and mirrors, seriously.”
Honestly, it can’t get much more real than that. We are gonna go and re-evaluate our lives now. You’d all do well to look up from your phones and do the same. Good luck to you all.
Watch a video of the full panel below:
