'The Vampire Diaries' star Ian Somerhalder envisions a future for Damon and Elena: Parties, an art gallery, and a tropical beach... or not
On last week's episode, Damon was pretty psyched that Elena confessed her love for him. He was decidedly less psyched that his brother had tossed him into a locked cellar and bled him dry, so that he couldn't escape and murder Jeremy. Don't you just hate when that happens?
In Thursday's "A View To Kill," Damon's struggles continue when Stefan asks Klaus to keep an eye on him -- and judging from some bloody new pics from upcoming episodes, things aren't going to get easier any time soon. We hopped on the phone with Ian Somerhalder to get all the scoop on what's next for Damon, whether he and Stefan will ever make up, and more.
So Damon finally got his girl, and there's this sire bond mucking it all up for him! What was your reaction when you read the script that revealed the sire bond? Were you bummed?
I think it's a classic case of karma. I think Damon did something kind of gnarly in his past life, you know. This kid was born in Mystic Falls, and in 1864 he was just a 22-year-old dude. He would've lived his whole life -- maybe to 65, they didn't live that long back then -- and croaked. But this poor sucker, he just got an infinite lifetime of bad luck. It enriches him. It makes him rich as a man, because there's a lot of s*** that happens to this guy.
That phone call when she finally told him she loved him made me so happy, though. At least he got one moment of joy out of it!
I think that moment is so sweet that it almost makes up for the fact that he just gets screwed over right after. It was very, very sweet.
Stefan and Damon are really at odds right now, and I don't like it! Is there any chance that they can move on and repair their relationship while Damon is with Elena?
Then it wouldn't be fun to watch! We do see some stuff with them where they're just kind of brothers. I personally think it's cool; I do like seeing them not at each others' throats and being a unit with one another. I dig that. I think it's cool to see. But it has the benefit of being great drama when the boys are at each others' throats. It's for pretty serious reasons, you know. They're in love with the same girl.
Does Damon want the cure for himself? Or does he only want it to, potentially, cure Elena of the sire bond?
He doesn't want it! You know this! The last f***ing thing that Damon wants to do is take this cure. There is no point. Why would anybody want that? No way, man. Why would he ever want to be a normal human being? To him, that's just like 'Who would want that?'
You guys are headed to an island, soon, to find the cure. I'm sure you loved all the outdoor filming in the middle of winter.
Basically, I missed "Lost," and I asked to relive my glory on "Lost" and do a "Lost" episode. I'm just joking! We were actually lucky, it was a bit of a warm spell in Atlanta, so it wasn't too brutal.
Is there any time for Damon and Elena to get some romance in, or are they just constantly trying not to die? How does their relationship evolve on the island?
The island is a representation of a lot of interesting stuff ... Living only for Elena's well-being, security, happiness, and all of that stuff, is starting to become very difficult and dangerous for Damon. He's starting to see that it's really not a good thing for her to take the cure.
Does she still want to take it?
She wants it. But do I want it? Hell no. We can live happily frickin' ever after. I've got a big house, we can party, and travel, and whatever, man. Damon and Elena could like, go buy a building in New York with an art gallery in it, and then go live on an island in the Caribbean. They could have a pretty badass life. He's thinking the cure is bulls***. There's no reason for it. The big difference between Damon and Stefan right now, is that Stefan thinks Elena needs to have it. If she gets it, then Stefan can take it, and he'll live happily ever after with her. The last frickin' thing that Damon wants is this cure, and he'd be the first one to tell you that.
Why hasn't Damon murdered Shady Shane yet? He keeps letting him live.
You know why? Because he's such an amazing, convincing character. I love David Alpay. He's brought so much life to Shane, man. Not only is he handsome as hell, but he just brings it, he brings it every time. This guy intrigues Damon. He makes Damon sick, I want to just rip his head off, but there's just too many things preventing him from doing that.
Is there anything good coming for Damon and Elena? They released all these photos of you looking all bloody and bruised, so I'm just guessing there are more bad days coming.
I get my ass kicked, basically. When I first signed up for this character, I thought I'd be working two days a week. Damon's like dessert. He's one of the best parts of the meal, but you can't have him all the time! So here I am, thinking, four years ago, I'd just do a couple days a week in Vancouver, go back and forth to Los Angeles, and then I realized that it's five days a week of getting my ass kicked left and right! But, I'm surrounded with great people, and every once in a while I get to make out with Nina Dobrev on screen, and it could be worse.
How do you feel about the spin-off news? Would you be bummed to see Joseph Morgan go do another show?
I think it's frickin' amazing! They're my friends, everyone involved. What I'm thinking is that they use some of their time and efforts and resources on "The Originals" backdoor pilot, and maybe, we'll get some time off!
I can't believe they're doing a New Orleans spin-off and you're not in it.
Right? It's unbelievable. I didn't even get invited to go down and tech scout or something. I should be a producer for the New Orleans stuff. I'm going to get on that.
I think you're busy enough. Speaking of which, do you have any updates on the ISF Sanctuary?
It's all happening! The first agreement is physically being drawn up ... fans have been so insanely supportive. We won the Mozilla Firefox Challenge [on Crowdrise, with a total of $120,000], which was incredible. That's huge ... so, what we're doing is, is we're putting together the sanctuary. It's coming together. We've got it all under control. It's going to be awesome.
Tune in Thursday night at 8 p.m. EST on The CW, and read more about the Ian Somerhalder Foundation's animal sanctuary here.
Ian Somerhalder will be the first person to admit that the race for the cure isn't exactly going well for Damon on The Vampire Diaries. "It's getting to a point now where only living for Elena's well-being and getting this cure is starting to take a serious toll, and it's starting to become not the healthiest thing in the world," he says. "But he's gonna do it anyway."
In this week's episode (Thursday at 8 p.m. ET on The CW), Damon's still being held captive in the Salvatore family cellar because Kol compelled him to try to kill Jeremy. Stefan asks Klaus to babysit Damon, which results in Klaus promptly letting slip that Stefan slept with Rebekah. Damon will, of course, get out of the cellar at some point, because we've already seen shots from the Feb. 7 episode, "Into the Wild," of him joining the Professor Shane-led expedition to an island off the coast of Nova Scotia in search of the cure. "You have Elena, Damon, Stefan, and Rebekah all sitting around a campfire looking at each other. What an odd moment. Everyone has basically slept with each other," he says, laughing. "Pretty funny." But as so often happens on this show, things do take a serious turn. Photos from the Feb. 14 episode, "Down the Rabbit Hole" (pictured), reveal that Damon suffers more than awkward moments on that island: He runs into a skilled Hunter named Vaughn (guest star Charlie Bewley), one of The Five, who banters with him but also beats him. We're used to seeing Damon tied up and tortured, but usually with his shirt open. What gives? "I think A.) it's really cold in Georgia, so we opted against that," Somerhalder says, laughing again. "But I just thought, 'You know man, I would love to get my ass kicked once but have clothes on.' And it wasn't like it was Rebekah, or Katherine, or some awesome lady [doing it], it's a guy in the woods."
The knocks will keep coming off-screen as well for Somerhalder, who's set to take part in DirecTV's 7th annual flag-football Celebrity Beach Bowl this Saturday (along with Nina Dobrev). "I think what I'm gonna do is just eat a lot, because a guy like Deion Sanders or someone hits you, you better have some cushion," he says of his preparation. And p.s., just like TVD, the game should have a great soundtrack: "When they do the football game, they say, 'Hey, if you were to score, what kind of song do you want to play?' So apparently they play one over the speakers, which will be cool. I'll be curious to see if you like my song."
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