Sebastian Stan almost played Stefan Salvatore in “The Vampire Diaries,” but he turned in down.
The “Fjord” actor said he was offered Paul Wesley’s role in The CW series in an interview with Joshua Horowitz on the “Happy, Sad, Confused” podcast Monday.
“I didn’t do it. And then the show went on to be super, super successful,” he said.
But Stan said he did not regret his decision. The actor was just coming off of “Kings” as Jack Benjamin, a womanizing young man in front of the kingdom’s press, who was secretly gay.
“I felt really burnt out,” he said. “The idea of thinking ‘Oh, I’m just going to sign up again for something that probably is not going to get to the second season.’”
(“Kings” was canceled after one season.)
Stan said that he thinks he was offered the role because his film “The Covenant” was also set in a supernatural world.
“I feel grateful in a way because I don’t know if I was really ready for that kind of exposure when I was younger,” he said. “Emotionally and mentally, I know what I went through in those years, and my focus was all over the place.”
“The Vampire Diaries” ran for eight seasons on The CW from 2009 to 2017. Wesley starred as Stefan Salvatore alongside Nina Dobrev as Elena Gilbert and Ian Somerhalder as Damon Salvatore.
Though Stan did not appear in that teen drama, he did have an 11-episode arc on The CW’s “Gossip Girl” as one of Serena van der Woodsen’s love interests Carter Baizen.
Watch the full clip of Stan on “Happy, Sad, Confused” above.
