‘The Vampire Diaries’ Stars Have Been Plotting Their Reunion for 10 Years [Exclusive]

For eight seasons, Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley played one of the hottest couples on television in the 2010s in The Vampire Diaries. The complicated romantic entanglement between the former’s Elena Gilbert and the latter’s good-hearted, over-a-century-old vampire Stefan Salvatore was the beating heart of The CW’s hit teen drama, even though the duo ultimately didn’t end up together. Yet, even after Stefan’s death and the death of TVD itself, the duo recently found their way back to each other when Dobrev and Wesley were cast in another book adaptation, You Deserve to Know, at Hulu. According to Dobrev, this wasn’t just happenstance, either.

The star recently sat down for an interview with Collider’s Maggie Lovitt for her new film, The Get Out, where the topic of her recently announced new role was brought up. She revealed that the mystery series came about for the duo because of the real relationship they built working together on The Vampire Diaries and their desire to collaborate again ever since the finale in 2017. “We have been plotting this behind the scenes for many years now, to be completely honest with you,” she said. “Paul and I have been wanting to… We’re really close, and we spend a lot of time together, and we have since the show ended, and we’ve talked about wanting to find the right thing.”

You Deserve to Know is based on Aggie Blum Thompson‘s 2025 novel of the same name, following three suburban couples whose tight-knit friendship with each other is upended when one of their husbands is murdered. With the idyllic peace of their cul-de-sac shattered, the cracks in the wives’ friendship become visible, and their dirty secrets and long-simmering tensions bubble to the surface. Dobrev plays Gwen, the member of the trio who lost her spouse and now has to weigh whether she can rely on her friends or face the harsh reality that their bond isn’t as airtight as it seemed. She’s bound to collide with Wesley’s character, Scott, another neighbor who’s on the opposite side of the murder investigation.

The choice to tackle such a story wasn’t made lightly, as Dobrev said her and Wesley’s goal was to find something that genuinely excited them that wasn’t an excuse to hang out, but instead something that honors their growth since TVD.

“Originally, we wanted to do a movie together, but we kept finding material or having things sent to us, because once we put it out there that we wanted to find something to do together again, a lot of things were sent to us, and we kept passing on everything. Nothing felt like the right thing. And we didn’t want to reunite just for the sake of reuniting for nostalgia’s sake. We really wanted it to be something that we both were really excited about that was elevated and different than the show, but also pays tribute in some way to the show as well, but with a fresh take and reflects who we are as people, as artists now 10 years later.”

Brian Tanen, who has previously written for Ugly Betty, Devious Maids, and Desperate Housewives, was tapped to adapt Smith’s book into a series, with a pair of production giants in Alex Cooper‘s Unwell and Aaron Kaplan‘s Kapital Entertainment backing the project. Ultimately, what got the pair involved and thinking this was the long-awaited idea they’d been searching for was Wesley actually cracking open the book himself. “I was slower to get to reading,” Dobrev continued. “It was sent to both of us, but he read it first, and he called me, and he was like, ‘You need to read this. I think this is it.’ And he kept on me — it was so annoying, to be honest with you — to read it. And then I was like, ‘Okay, I’ll get to it.'” Once she finally dug in, she instantly understood what her old on-screen boyfriend was so enamored by, and it quickly spurred them both to start gathering the right team to make their on-screen reunion finally happen.

“Then finally, once I did get to it, I finished the book in maybe a day or two, I couldn’t put it down, and I agreed with him that this was our next thing together. And so then started the long process of developing it and getting the team together and then finding the writer and creating the pitch and then pitching the studios. And so it’s been some time in the making. So it was really exciting for us to finally share it with the world that we were reuniting.”

Making the project even more exciting was the fact that they were more than just actors. Both Dobrev and Wesley are executive producing You Deserve to Know as well, getting them in on the ground floor of the adaptation process. “Not just as actors, but also that we’re executive producing it, and we’re bringing the story to life from both sides of the camera is extra exciting and special, especially after such a long journey together over the last however many years,” the actress ended.

What Is ‘The Get Out’ About?

Image via Vertical Entertainment

While her new Hulu series gets to work, Dobrev is currently busy enjoying a return to theaters with The Get Out. She plays the unhinged partner in crime of Aaron Paul, coming together to rob nightclub owner Marco Kapak (Russell Crowe), who’s nearing retirement. Directed by Derrick Borte, based on Thomas Perry‘s novel Strip, the film follows Marco’s attempts to leave his dangerous past behind him, though masked robbers are the least of his issues in that process. He’s also at the mercy of ruthless cartels and is trying to sway a mysterious buyer (Luke Evans) for his business, forcing him into a web of deception that makes escaping with his girlfriend, Sunny (Teresa Palmer), nigh impossible.

While the film is a silly crime comedy with Marco and Sunny’s relationship as its beating heart, there’s more depth than initially meets the eye. That’s especially true of its ending, which Dobrev explains is tied to the symbolism of California bears introduced in Marco’s journey for freedom. This idea of characters being driven from their homes and finding new starts applies just as much to her character, though the actress believes that Carrie is more deserving of getting a clean slate and, hopefully, grows from her experiences in a new life on the straight and narrow.

“Yeah, I mean, it symbolizes… Well, bears historically, especially in California, have been driven out of California, and they’ve had to go north and escape, and quite literally the title of the movie, The Get Out, it’s what we’ve done to them, and it’s what almost every character in this film… I think more so for Russell’s character, he’s been driven out of his home to seek asylum elsewhere and safety elsewhere like the bears in bear country, which is the National Bear of California. That was the original title of the film, and it still is the title in some territories, which is a little confusing, but that’s the main symbolism. In my character’s case, I mean, she’s sort of the only one who has a chance to start over, albeit by lying her way out of trouble, hopefully, but we don’t really see exactly what happens to her in the end, if she actually gets away with it or not. But I’d like to hope that she does, and maybe she learns something and grows and tries to start fresh on a more calm path for her future if she wants to have longevity.”

When asked about when the bear idea first resonated with her, Dobrev cited the first scene of Marco explaining the history of the bear, which admittedly baffled her upon first reading. “I remember being so confused,” she added. “Why are you telling this long monologue story about this?’ And then it finally comes together at the end, which I thought was really beautiful. And it’s that reminder for Carrie, she comes face to face with the bear, and it gives her that opportunity that it could destroy her, but it lets her go. And so it gives her the chance for a fresh start, like everyone in the film is looking for that.” She appreciated that The Get Out was willing to go a bit out there with an idea and trust audiences to follow along until it pays off in the end and beautifully ties into the story being told.

Dobrev’s ‘The Get Out’ Role Is “Unlike Anything” She’s “Ever Done Before”

Carrie is practically from a whole other planet compared to Dobrev’s role as Elena. The trailer alone paints a chaotic portrait of the character, who can be a bit of a literal shoot-first, ask questions later type, down to go along with her partner Jeff’s (Paul) plan. “She really wreaks a lot of havoc in this film, which is exciting and fun for me to play as an actor,” Dobrev told Lovitt. Having so much freedom to explore with this very different part, with some brilliant screen partners like Crowe and Palmer, as well as an old friend in Paul, proved to be a refreshing change of pace. “And that’s what drew me to wanting to play this character because it’s so unlike anything I’ve ever done before, and doing it in that environment with Aaron, who’s a longtime friend, allowed for me to have that comfort and safety to go big and try things and have that freedom and safety to explore in a way that I don’t know if I would have if it was with someone else. So I’m really grateful to him for that.”

Like the ending of the film, there’s a greater depth to Carrie that Dobrev wanted to capture. Her questionable decisions are rooted in a very identifiable feeling of restlessness in a world that has become even harder to get a leg up in. Dobrev approached the role with “a lot of sympathy for somebody, that I’m sure you’ve seen in the news, that millennials nowadays were not afforded what the boomers and what their predecessors had, and the opportunities, and with the inflation and housing going up, it’s not the same golden era that they were promised. And so she’s living not the life that she wants to live, it’s very mundane, and she’s looking for excitement in any way that she can, albeit without a lot of thought or foresight, it’s all very impulsive.”

The most critical part of selling Carrie as a character with a conscience was ensuring that those moments of clarity, where the reality of her actions set in, are played with real gravity. Another boon to The Get Out was that Dobrev was able to give her input on how to best get that point across and make her less of a “caricature.”

“And I know those people. I know the people that speak before they think, that act before taking some time to really consider what the consequences will be, and you get to see that moment for Carrie where she’s impulsive, impulsive, impulsive, and then reality sets in once she goes one step too far, and she realizes what she’s done and finally has a wake-up call and a conscience. And that scene actually in the car with Aaron when she’s throwing the money out of the car, that wasn’t scripted that way. Initially, they were just celebrating that they got away with it, and I was like, ‘I don’t know, I feel like this should be a wake-up call for her, for her character arc to ground her and make her a real person instead of a caricature.’ I really felt like it was important to make sure that for her arc that she comes to her senses.”

Derrick Borte Made ‘The Get Out’ a Collaborative Experience

Image via Vertical

Getting that level of agency within a role comes with “time and experience,” Dobrev says. “When I first started, I was just happy to be there and have a job. As I get older, I’m getting much pickier, and it’s so important to me the material, the character, who I’m working with, personalities. Life’s just too short at this point to not be creatively fulfilled, but also just have fun and be around good people, and enjoy yourself.” Borte, in particular, sold her on The Get Out, as she immediately knew from their first meeting that “he was a collaborator” and not merely a director. “He was very open to letting us bring these characters to life.”

Dobrev wasn’t the only one whose role evolved thanks to Borte’s openness to suggestions. Crowe was also critical in shaping who Marco was and, in turn, how his journey unfolded to best portray him as a layered character. “I don’t know if I mentioned this already, but Russell Crowe, for example, it wasn’t scripted that he was Albanian,” she continued. “He decided he wanted to bring that layer to the role. And a lot of those decisions and little things elevated the script, and we all added our little things to each of our characters to help strengthen

it and make it what it ultimately became. And so I’m so grateful to Derrick for giving us that creative freedom and being open to collaboration and letting us improv on set.”

The Get Out‘s atmosphere of collaboration came to a head at the very end of the movie in a sequence involving Carrie that came largely off the top of Dobrev’s head. “I mean, the end credit scene where I’m sitting at the police station, that was almost entirely improv. So he just kept the camera rolling, and he was like, ‘Go for it.'” By all indications, Borte intimately understood who his cast was and what their level of comfort was when asked to take the reins of a scene. Thus, the final product that came to screens is a monument to the confidence he had in everyone to play their parts to perfection, from the Oscar-winning Crowe to Dobrev, and the rest of the cast of crooks inhabiting his world.

“And a lot of the scenes had an element of that, which was really great. And like I said before, I think it takes a lot of time and experience to be comfortable enough when you’re given that opportunity to improv and to play, and when a director asks you what you think about something to have not just the integrity, but the confidence to express your opinion and know that it will be received positively.”

The Get Out is now in theaters and available through video on demand. Stay tuned here at Collider for more on Dobrev’s new series, You Deserve to Know, as it continues development at Hulu.

Release Date

June 26, 2026

Runtime

96 minutes

Director

Derrick Borte