Even after Jamie Dornan was cast as Christian in the cinematic adaptation of Fifty Shades of Grey, some fans of the E.L. James' book held out hope that he'd one day be replaced by True Blood hottie Ian Somerhalder. This had less to do with Dornan and more to do with the internet's unhealthy obsession for Somerhalder. So, on a recent late-night talk show swing by Jimmy Kimmel, Dornan was asked if he actually WAS going to be replaced by Somerhalder in the upcoming sequels, and the incredibly weird question led to this equally weird answer:
No. I mean, no, I don't know. That would be really hard for them to do, considering we shot both of the movies. That's an expensive mistake, I'll put it that way. But good luck to him---he'll be great!
I swear, sometimes it seems like Jimmy Kimmel asks questions of his guests just to see what he can get to go viral the next day. I mean, the Ian Somerhalder chatter surrounding Fifty Shades of Grey was loud around the time the first movie came out. And it grew all the more deafening every time Jamie Dornan made it known that he didn't love playing Christian Grey, that the sex scenes in the movie might have been affecting his marriage, and that he'd pass the role off to a rival hunk if need be (he may have hinted at that without ever actually going on record to say it).
But as Jamie Dornan points out in the full interview (which I'll put below), he's done filming. What I didn't know is that they filmed the two sequels -- Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed -- back to back. But seeing as how they are due to hit theaters a year apart starting on February 10, 2017, it makes sense. And therefore, replacing Dornan with Ian Somerhalder, as much as it might please a subsection of the Web, wouldn't make any sense:
And yet, here I am. Writing about it. Which means Jimmy Kimmel wins again. He asked a silly question, and he got a silly answer from a perplexed actor. This means, as we knew, Jamie Dornan will be in both Fifty Shades Darker and its trilogy capper, Fifty Shades Freed. He'll co-star alongside Dakota Johnson, and will be joined on screen this time out by Kim Basinger, Hugh Dancy, Bella Heathcote and Eric Johnson.
