'Vampire Diaries' Paul Wesley Talks Nina Dobrev's 'Satisfying' Return and Paying 'Homage' to Fans With Steroli

By
The CW

Here comes the (vampire) bride!

In tonight's penultimate episode of The Vampire Diaires, Stefan and Caroline are tying the knot -- and unraveling some Mystic Falls trouble along the way.

Earlier this week, ET caught up with star Paul Wesley to get the behind-the-scenes scoop on tonight's epically romantic wedding and inside details on what's ahead when Nina Dobrev returns next week for The Vampire Diaries' series finale.

Wesley, who jokes that Stefan has seen and done it all over these last eight seasons, (I've died 17 times and killed 18,000 people, and I'm still the hero!") confesses that a wedding was still on his TVD bucket list.


MORE: Nina Dobrev Will Return For 'TVD' Series Finale -- See the Sweet Announcement!

"It's funny because you know I had heard about this 'June wedding' for the first time at Comic Con. I had no idea what everyone was talking about and I still kind of don't really know what it's about," Wesley admits with a laugh to a group of reporters.

True TVD fans remember that in the very first episode of the series, Caroline gushes to Bonnie about all of the information she has already gathered on the attractive, yet mysterious new student Stefan Salvatorre.

"We're planning a June wedding," she breezily adds.

The actor continues, "So when they first told me that we were going to have a June wedding, I was like, 'Oh, cool. We're paying homage to the fans,' But yeah it was kind of amazing."

Wesley reveals that he knew that from the moment that the Vampire Diaries writers "dangled that carrot" with the news of a Steroline proposal, that a wedding was inevitable. "I know how this show works in the sense that if we hadn’t gotten married, I thought that'd be a real twist," he says. "And [Vampire Dairies creator] Julie [Plec] is way too nice of a person. You know, she wouldn’t do that."

"Stefan and Elena were such the pair for so many years and I never in a million years thoughts Caroline and Stefan would end up being that kind of -- I don’t want to say true love because I think true love can exist in many forms -- but I never knew that they would be equally as powerful as a couple. So it was equally surprising to me," he explains.


EXCLUSIVE: 'The Vampire Diaries' Boss Talks 'Powerful' Series Finale!

The CW

Speaking of Elena, fans were overjoyed to learn that former TVD leading lady Nina Dobrev will officially be returning in the drama's series finale to reprise her roles as both Elena Gilbert and Katherine Pierce.

"I think it would be very strange to not have Nina come back for the finale," he shares. "It’s like the whole story is about two brothers essentially -- I mean the crux of it -- is two brothers fighting over a girl. I mean, there’s a zillion other storylines. But, I felt like it would have been a real shame for the fans and for the show to not sort of wrap that up to a degree."

Wesley confirms that Dobrev's return in the final episode will be a very "satisfying" ending for audiences and that he even got a little choked up when reading the very last script.

"I read the script on the plane," he recalls. "It’s just a culmination of so many emotions. You’re like, 'OK, this is the last script I’m ever going to read for this show.' I got a bit teary-eyed and I’m kind of a cold-hearted bastard," he confesses. "So I took a selfie with just a bit of red eyes, and I sent it to Julie and Kevin [Williamson]. I was like, 'Good work, guys.'"


The Vampire Diaries
airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on The CW.