'Vampire Diaries': Nina Dobrev Looks Back at the Craziness of Starring in Such a Successful Show

Nina Dobrev is reflecting on the craziness that came with starring on The CW's hit supernatural drama The Vampire Diaries. The actress starred on the series for the first six seasons as Elena Gilbert and came back in the series finale two seasons later. The show is arguably one of the network's biggest series, and while a guest on The Jess Cagle Show on Radio Andy, Dobrev looked back at her time on the show and the transition from being on Canada's hit drama Degrassi: The Next Generation, to being on TVD.

"I mean, it was pretty wild," Dobrev said. "I think I did have a little bit of a transition. I was lucky in that way because I was on a TV show in Canada from when I was 15 until 19, and it had some success, but not the level of success that Vampire Diaries did. So I sort of gradually built up to that, I guess." While Degrassi was definitely a hitmaker, both in Canada and in the States, going on for 14 seasons, there is just something about a teen supernatural drama about vampires that was all the rage in the early 2010s.

Even though Nina Dobrev was somewhat prepared for the success of TVD, when it came to Comic-Con, she says that "nothing can prepare you for the thousands of people at Comic-Con that are still passionate and excited. It was a really cool experience." The cast went to every San Diego Comic-Con throughout its run, beginning in 2009 and going to 2016, and it's likely their appearances only grew and grew each year in terms of fans. There is a reason that the supernatural series managed to last for eight seasons and spawn two successful spinoffs, and fans are partly the cause.

Even to this day, The Vampire Diaries remains a favorite among fans, and some were probably upset when it was revealed that it would be leaving Netflix last year. However, it soon found a new streaming home on then-HBO Max, and fans were once again able to take a trip to Mystic Falls. Though with the cancellation of spinoff Legacies last year, the TVD franchise is no more, at least for now. With the success of the show, it wouldn't be surprising if it came back from the dead sometime in the future.