4. The Search for the Salvatores
After discovering their leading girl, TVD required the 2 male parts of the necessary love triangle. No simple job.
“We looked high and low to cast Stefan and Damon,” Julie described, keeping in mind Nina “did chemistry read after chemistry read with multiple actors,” Julie described.
Some of the stars who check out for either (and often both!) functions? Zach Roerig (who would go on to play Matt Donovan), Michael Trevino (who would land the function of Tyler Lockwood), Nathanial Buzolic (later on cast as Kol), and 7th Heaven star David Gallagher, with Julie confessing of the latter, “He satisfied us a lot initially … however the entire 7th Heaven thing, I question if he’ll ever have the ability to surpass that.” (She would later on cast him as a monster after seeing Super 8)
And then, lastly, they discovered their men.
“Paul and Ian kind of came in late in the process. Paul auditioned like 15 times, and Ian kind of appeared out of the blue,” Julie stated. For her part, Nina remembered Paul (who initially checked out for Damon!) standing apart from the remainder of the men checking out opposite her in the chemistry checks out: “The only one who wasn’t trying too hard, that didn’t speak to me at any point unless we were filming, was Paul Wesley—so it’s funny to think that he did the right thing,” she informed EW.
