Vampire fans were well-fed with the debut of Netflix's V Wars trailer (you can watch it below). We already knew The Vampire Diaries alum Ian Somerhalder had a lead role as Dr. Luther Swann, and he's also a producer and directed one of the 10 episodes of V Wars Season 1. But surprise surprise, the official trailer revealed Somerhalder's wife, Twilight alum Nikki Reed, also has a role in V Wars.
Nikki Reed is playing a character named Rachel, and even though that's all we know about her today, she's clearly very close to Ian Somerhalder's Dr. Swann -- and maybe she's his wife as well?
Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed became the reigning king and queen of Vampire Nation when they got married, and they now have a daughter together. Since Somerhalder was so heavily involved in making V Wars Season 1 from the start, you have to imagine Reed and their daughter were regulars on set. So it would be a perfect fit to cast Reed in a role on V Wars. Plus, what a thrill for fans!
V Wars could've promoted the husband-and-wife's on-screen pairing right after they finished filming, but The Powers That Be saved it as a surprise cameo appearance for the trailer debut before the December 5 premiere. I'm guessing Nikki Reed only has a very small role, but we'll see. Either way, how fun to get a quick glimpse of her in the otherwise dark and intense trailer.
V Wars marks another vampire show for Ian Somerhalder, right after The Vampire Diaries, but he plays a human this time. His Dr. Luther Swann is battling an outbreak that turns people like his best friend Michael Fayne (Adrian Holmes) into vampires.
Ian Somerhalder used to date his Vampire Diaries co-star Nina Dobrev, and Nikki Reed was married to American Idol alum Paul McDonald. But when their respective relationships dissolved, Ian and Nikki started dating and got married in 2015. Their first child was born in July 2017. Somerhalder was recently at a fan convention marking the 10th anniversary of The Vampire Diaries premiere, and he said Delena fans who shipped his character Damon with Dobrev's character Elena were "problematic" to his own personal life. Some Delena fans weren't happy abut Somerhalder dating Reed and weren't quiet about it.
Ian Somerhalder and Nikki Reed are both passionate about activism and have worked together in that sense, but not as co-stars. In 2017, it was announced that The CW had put into development their hour-long soapy drama Prohibited. Somerhalder and Reed were listed as executive producers, per Deadline. We're still waiting for a follow-up on that, and with Somerhalder busy with V Wars -- and openly asking fans to push Netflix for a V Wars Season 2 -- I'm not sure when the team would have time.
Ian Somerhalder recently told Schön! magazine (via JustJared) that he wasn't sure about doing V Wars at first, but Nikki Reed encouraged him to say yes:
I said no like three different times. It just didn’t seem like the right move to dial into another vampire show…Once I dove into the books and the comics, I realized the level of I.T. and science in the story. V Wars isn’t about supernaturals, it’s more about science and society, about relationships and love. It deals with the stuff that we’re all dealing with now: borders, racism, medicine, food, security.
Ian Somerhalder has been open about how different V Wars is from The Vampire Diaries, and how Dr. Luther Swann is a very different man than snarky Damon Salvatore. That was a major part of the appeal of taking this role:
I wanted to be a normal good man. He's a dad, a husband, and has a true love of science and medicine… Swann's superpower is simply that he's a good dad and loves helping the world through science. Things turn in his world very quickly, but he will always remain that core strength. But we'll see the evolution of this man and what he means to the world.
V Wars star Adrian Holmes recently talked to CinemaBlend about Ian Somerhalder's impressive balance of directing and acting on the show. They had a lot of fun making it, even with some injuries and stress along the way. V Wars Season 1 will release all 10 episodes on December 5.
