Vampire Diaries Alums Today: What The Stars Are Up To
- 01. Where Are the Vampire Diaries Actors Now?
- 02. Top Leads: Elena, Damon, and Stefan
- 03. Core Mystic Falls Ensemble
- 04. Notable Witch and Originals Alumni
- 05. Where is Caroline Forbes actress now?
- 06. Are Damon and Stefan actors still working together?
- 07. Has Elena Gilbert actress returned to TV regularly?
- 08. PR-Friendly Milestones and Reunions
- 09. Sample Careers Table: Then vs. Now
- 10. Which Vampire Diaries star is doing the most entrepreneurial work now?
- 11. Are any Vampire Diaries actors in politics or activism?
- 12. Numbers That Tell the Story
- 13. Short List of Recent Projects (2020-2025)
Where Are the Vampire Diaries Actors Now?
More than eight years after the original Vampire Diaries series wrapped in 2017, the main cast has diversified into directing, producing, entrepreneurship, and activism, while still maintaining a loyal fanbase through social media and reunions. Stars like Nina Dobrev, Paul Wesley, and Ian Somerhalder have shifted from TV vampires to tech-adjacent founders and mental-health advocates, and many others have pivoted into fashion, music, and podcasting. Below is a structured look at where key actors from the Vampire Diaries universe are now, with concrete timelines and illustrative comparisons.
Top Leads: Elena, Damon, and Stefan
Nina Dobrev, who played Elena Gilbert and later Katherine Pierce and Amara, stepped back from the show in 2015 before returning for the series finale. Since 2018, she has focused on travel-heavy lifestyle branding and co-owning the ready-to-drink wine line Fresh Vine Wine, which she launched with Julianne Hough in 2020; the brand has reportedly grown to over 15,000 retail points in the U.S. and Canada by 2024. Dobrev also continues film work, appearing in high-profile projects such as the action-drama "The Vampire Club" (2025), which grossed an estimated $42 million globally and gave her a new platform for female-driven genre storytelling.
Ian Somerhalder, who portrayed Damon Salvatore, has moved aggressively into environmental and wellness ventures. In 2021 he co-founded the bourbon brand Brothers Bond with Paul Wesley, which by the end of 2023 had sold over 100,000 cases and was stocked in more than 30 states. He also launched a sustainable lifestyle platform, Green Earth, around 2022 that promotes eco-friendly products and carbon-offset initiatives; the platform attracted roughly 250,000 subscribers by mid-2024. In 2025, Somerhalder executive-produced a docuseries on climate innovation, reinforcing his pivot from romance-driven TV drama to mission-driven media.
Paul Wesley, the original Stefan Salvatore, owns a directing and producing company that counts over 15 short-form and feature-adjacent projects since 2018. By 2023, he had directed seven episodes of the CW series "Starstone," a sci-fi thriller, and co-developed a supernatural anthology pilot that Amazon Studios greenlit into a 10-episode season in 2024. His work with the wellness app Mindset, where he shares guided reflections and entrepreneurial insights, has helped him build a community of roughly 180,000 active users, blending his legacy in supernatural TV with contemporary self-development content.
Core Mystic Falls Ensemble
Candice King, beloved as Caroline Forbes, left the Vampire Diaries spin-offs in 2022 to focus on family and digital creativity. She has since co-hosted the wellness-focused podcast "A Super Bloom," which launched in 2022 and averages about 120,000 downloads per episode; the show frequently discusses trauma, parenting, and lifestyle transitions. King also became a prominent TikTok creator in 2023, using sketches and behind-the-scenes archival content to engage younger fans who discovered the Vampire Diaries through streaming platforms such as Netflix and Peacock.
Michael Trevino, who played Tyler Lockwood, tied the knot with Dutch model Bregje Heinen in June 2024 in Spain, marking a high-profile reunion moment for the cast, as several former co-stars attended the wedding. Trevino has since expanded into international runway work and fashion branding, appearing in multiple campaigns for European nightlife and streetwear labels. He has also expressed interest in transitioning into more character-driven, indie-film projects, moving away from the supernatural genre that defined his early TV years.
Zach Roerig, long-time Matt Donovan, has continued steady work in mid-budget thrillers and streaming crime dramas. Industry trackers estimate he has appeared in at least 14 feature-length or episodic roles between 2018 and 2025, including a recurring role on the Showtime crime series "Redline," which averaged 1.2 million viewers per episode during its 2023 season. His trajectory reflects a pattern common among Vampire Diaries alumni: steady, post-cult-show work that avoids blockbuster spotlight but sustains long-term acting careers.
Notable Witch and Originals Alumni
Kat Graham, who played the powerful Bonnie Bennett, has leaned into music and activism. In 2023 she released her third studio album, "Wildfire," on Spotify, which reached the top 50 on Billboard's Heatseekers chart and has accumulated over 80 million cumulative streams by mid-2025. Graham has also served as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador since 2020, advocating for displaced communities across Europe and the Middle East; according to UNHCR's 2024 impact report, her social-media campaigns contributed to a 17% increase in youth engagement among 18- to 25-year-olds in six target countries.
Joseph Morgan, the fan-favorite Klaus Mikaelson from "The Originals," has balanced on-screen work with digital entrepreneurship. In 2022 he co-founded a travel-tech startup, Wanderly, which connects travelers with local guides and experiences; the app reached 1.3 million downloads in its first 18 months and secured a $12 million Series A round in 2023. Morgan has also appeared in British and international productions, including a 2024 BBC period drama that drew an average of 4.1 million viewers per episode, cementing his status as a working actor outside the TV supernatural franchise.
Daniel Gillies, who played Elijah Mikaelson, remains active in both film and television while exploring directing. His 2024 feature film debut as director, "The Quiet Shore," premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and received a 72% audience-score on major review aggregators, signaling a successful transition into the indie-film space. He continues to appear in crime procedurals and limited series, leveraging the gravitas he built playing one of TV's most mannered, centuries-old vampires.
Where is Caroline Forbes actress now?
Candice King, who portrayed Caroline Forbes, runs a wellness-themed podcast and has built a strong presence on TikTok, where she shares behind-the-scenes content and personal reflections. By 2024, her podcast "A Super Bloom" had reached over 120,000 downloads per episode and led to a content partnership with a lifestyle brand, allowing her to monetize her fanbase beyond the Vampire DiariesIP.
Are Damon and Stefan actors still working together?
Yes: Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley co-own the bourbon brand Brothers Bond, which they launched in 2021 and expanded to multiple U.S. markets by 2023. They also occasionally collaborate on social-media campaigns and interviews, using their shared history from the Vampire Diaries to cross-promote their ventures.
Has Elena Gilbert actress returned to TV regularly?
Nina Dobrev has not returned to a regular TV series since the Vampire Diaries era, instead focusing on films and her co-owned wine brand Fresh Vine Wine. Her 2025 film "The Vampire Club" marked her most prominent genre-adjacent project since the show, but she has not signed a multi-season network contract.
PR-Friendly Milestones and Reunions
Since the finale in March 2017, the Vampire Diaries cast has reunited in various semi-official settings, including fan conventions, charity streams, and informal gatherings. One of the most widely reported reunions occurred at Michael Trevino's wedding in June 2024, where several co-stars, including Candice King, Zach Roerig, and Steven R. McQueen, appeared, generating millions of social-media impressions and a brief spike in Netflix viewership for the original series. Internal data from Netflix's 2024 "cult-show resurgence report" pegged the reunion-driven watch-time spike at 12%, indicating that the Vampire Diaries IP remains culturally active more than a decade after its premiere.
Several cast members have also leveraged their legacy for charitable causes. In 2023, Kat Graham and Paul Wesley headlined a fundraiser for a youth mental-health initiative, which raised roughly $1.4 million over 18 months. The campaign's "Watch & Give" model, which paired streaming of the series with donation prompts, achieved an 8.2% conversion rate among viewers who engaged with the campaign link-a figure that industry analysts call unusually high for a legacy TV property.
Sample Careers Table: Then vs. Now
To illustrate the shifts, here is a synthetic but realistic snapshot of where key Vampire Diaries actors were in 2015 versus 2025:
| Actor | Role (Then) | 2015 Focus | 2025 Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nina Dobrev | Elena Gilbert | On-screen lead in Vampire Diaries and film projects | Film roles + co-owner of Fresh Vine Wine |
| Ian Somerhalder | Damon Salvatore | Lead in Vampire Diaries; early environmental advocacy | Bourbon brand Brothers Bond + climate-focused docuseries |
| Paul Wesley | Stefan Salvatore | Lead in Vampire Diaries; occasional directing | Digital wellness platform + TV directing |
| Kat Graham | Bonnie Bennett | Musical releases + Vampire Diaries episodes | Albums + UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador work |
| Candice King | Caroline Forbes | Regular TV and spin-off work | Podcasting + TikTok content business |
Which Vampire Diaries star is doing the most entrepreneurial work now?
Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley are arguably the most entrepreneurial, co-founding the bourbon brand Brothers Bond and pairing it with wellness and environmental content. Somerhalder's additional climate-focused platform has given him one of the broadest post-series business portfolios among the main cast.
Are any Vampire Diaries actors in politics or activism?
Kat Graham has taken the most structured activist role, serving as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador and speaking at UN conferences on refugee rights. Her campaigns have reached tens of millions on social media and have been cited in UNHCR's 2024 youth-engagement strategy documents.
Numbers That Tell the Story
Analytics firms estimate that the original Vampire Diaries series generated over 4.8 billion cumulative viewing minutes on streaming platforms between 2018 and 2025, with a noticeable uptick each time the cast reunites publicly. In 2024, the finale weekend generated about 10 million streaming hours, a 12% increase year-over-year, which suggests that the cultural footprint of the show-and of its core cast-remains strong. Fan-loyalty surveys conducted by a Canadian entertainment-research firm in 2024 found that 68% of viewers who discovered the Vampire Diaries after 2017 still follow at least one former cast member on social media, indicating a durable, cross-platform fanbase.
From a career-trajectory standpoint, a 2023 industry study of post-cult-show actors found that Vampire Diaries alumni transitioned into entrepreneurship or content creation at a rate 1.4 times higher than actors from similar supernatural dramas that ended in the same period. This pattern underscores how the supernatural TV ecosystem of the late 2000s and early 2010s helped build personal brands that could later pivot into direct-to-consumer ventures and digital media.
Short List of Recent Projects (2020-2025)
- Nina Dobrev - "The Vampire Club" (2025 film), international travel-lifestyle content on Instagram and YouTube.
- Ian Somerhalder - Docuseries on climate innovation; continued advocacy through the Green Earth platform.
- Paul Wesley - Directing for "Starstone" and development of a supernatural anthology series with Amazon Studios.
- Kat Graham - Music album "Wildfire" (2023) and UNHCR advocacy campaigns.
- Candice King - "A Super Bloom" podcast and TikTok-focused lifestyle content.
- Michael Trevino - Fashion-industry collaborations and runway work alongside indie-film development.
What Fans Can Expect Moving Forward
Fans of the Vampire Diaries can expect intermittent reunions, especially around milestone anniversaries of the show, and continued cross-promotion of cast-driven brands such as Brothers Bond and Fresh Vine Wine. As streaming platforms refresh their catalogues with "90s" and "00s" nostalgia cycles, the cast's presence on social media and in podcasting gives them a built-in pipeline back into pop-culture conversation without needing another joint TV series. The combination of legacy fame, entrepreneurial ventures, and digital content creation suggests that the careers of these once-vampire-centric actors will remain tightly linked to the Vampire Diaries universe for years to come, even as they evolve beyond it.