Praise Damon! It's a beautiful day in The Vampire Diaries Universe. Ian Somerhalder gave fans an update on his upcoming vampire Netflix series, V-Wars - and also talked about helping to clean the oceans, being a good dad, etc. Fans got a little bit distracted from the message in his caption because the image of his latest post was, um, this:
Hello, brother! Some of Ian Somerhalder's fans announced they are now deceased after that shirtless muscle shot, so they could use an old-fashioned vampire revival.
If you concentrate really hard, you can read The Vampire Diaries alum's update on V-Wars. As he wrote, there are "only some months" of post-production left before it'll head onto Netflix.
In the new series, Ian Somerhalder, age 40, plays the lead character of Dr. Luther Swann. It's a vampire show, but this time he plays the human best friend of Michael Fayne (Adrian Holmes), who turns into a vampire.
Ian Somerhalder said he was drawn to the character of Dr. Luther Swann because he's so different from snarky, rich Damon Salvatore on The Vampire Diaries. Dr. Swann's only superpower is just being a great dad -- plus he's a scientist, which is something Somerhalder said he always wanted to be.
Netflix has a page up for V-Wars with this description:
After a mysterious disease begins transforming people into vampires, Dr. Luther Swann is pitted against his best friend, now a powerful vampire.
As the disease spreads, and more people are transformed, V-Wars will show a society fractured into opposing camps pitting "normal" people against the growing number of "vampires." Ian Somerhalder's Dr. Luther Swann races against time to understand what’s happening, while his best friend Michael Fayne rises to become the powerful underground leader of the vampires.
There's no word yet on the premiere date for V-Wars -- beyond fans expecting it sometime in 2019 -- but Ian Somerhalder did talk more about the series during a recent appearance at Wizard World Philadelphia 2019. He told the audience he had been up editing V-Wars until 3 a.m. that morning, before traveling for the panel discussion:
I've been in post-production for eight months on this show. A 10 episode show! I've never heard of anything like it. It's not like this is Game of Thrones. It's not like it's a 20-day $15 million episode. This is a vampire show. Who knew I would leave vampires only to go back to vampires? And I married one, exactly.
(Ian Somerhalder is married to Nikki Reed of Twilight fame, as you probably know.)
Ian Somerhalder directed one episode of V-Wars, and previously showed off some footage from when he was directing on set. He said he was glad he only did one episode because "it probably would've killed me" to do more. However, he's excited about the genre and story -- based on Jonathan Maberry's graphic novels -- and the relevant messages of the show. He's also talked in the past about hoping fans like V-Wars Season 1, or at least watch it enough that Netflix gives them a chance to go back for more in V-Wars Season 2.
Ian Somerhalder gave fans their first look at his Dr. Luther Swann last summer. Now we just have to wait for a trailer and a premiere date on Netflix. Here's what we know so far about V-Wars, including all the cast details. Stay tuned for more. Meanwhile, The Vampire Diaries Universe continues with the second spinoff series, Legacies, following The Originals' Hope Mikaelson. Legacies Season 2 premieres on The CW this October.
