Paul Wesley Gets Real About Leaving Vampire Diaries Behind (And You Ain't Gonna Like It)

Career-defining roles can be both a blessing and a curse.

While they usually bring an actor worldwide fame, fortune, and the ability to choose which projects they want to work on, they can also lock them into a genre or character type that makes typecasting difficult to avoid.

That's exactly what Paul Wesley feels happened to him with his iconic role as Stefan Salvatore on The CW hit The Vampire Diaries. The show, which premiered in 2009, has become a true pop culture phenomenon, garnering a massive global fan base over its eight-season run. And while Wesley is grateful to the show for the opportunities it opened up before him, he never wants to see another glimpse of Mystic Falls, or any other fictional town populated by vampires, for that matter.

'I would never do another vampire anything, period, let alone Vampire Diaries,' the actor recently told InStyle. 'I don't really miss anything about playing [Stefan], and I don't mean that in a [negative way]. Eight years is a long time, and I'm so glad to put that to rest.'

And while some fans may be devastated to hear these words, it's not hard to understand Wesley here. According to the actor, it was both a truly challenging task and an enjoyable ride for him to play the complicated character of Stephan, whose arc changed from good guy to big bad and back every season. But if he wants to grow professionally, it is time to move on now.

'When I get recognized, it's because of Stefan. It's the biggest thing I've ever done, as far as popularity,' Wesley said. 'I've done a bunch of roles since The Vampire Diaries, but nothing has been nearly as popular, so I think you have to get that next thing that puts you into a conversation that involves you and not the character that you're known for playing.'

Luckily for the actor, his latest TV gig on Paramount+'s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, currently in its second season, feels like just the role to put him back in the spotlight. In the show, Wesley portrays a young James Tiberius Kirk in a universe that has a much longer history and an even bigger fan base than The Vampire Diaries.

Going from a big franchise to an even bigger one is certainly a great way to move a career forward. We will miss Stefan, though.

Source: InStyle.