Just a few months ago, Nina Dobrev announced she was leaving The Vampire Diaries following a six-season run on the popular CW drama. Her tenure on the series ended soon after, but it didn’t stop her from winning the Choice TV Actress: Sci-Fi/Fantasy Award at the Teen Choice Awards. During her acceptance speech, the actress formerly playing Elena Gilbert had some really nice things to say about her run on The Vampire Diaries and the fans who stuck with her through her entire tenure.
To lighten the mood, Nina Dobrev started out her speech with a joke, putting in the false vampire teeth you can buy cheaply at costume stores around Halloween. It’s a goofy and cheesy moment, but it’s the perfect setup for the more heartfelt stuff that comes after. The actress had a lot to say, thanking showrunner Julie Plec and the rest of The Vampire Diaries team for allowing her to play multiple characters on multiple shows in the franchise over the years, before getting to the meat of her speech, which involved thanking fans for sharing the series with her. If you can’t give the video a watch, here’s an excerpt.
So, change. It’s a scary word, or I used to think that, because it meant new beginnings. New beginnings with a future that was unknown. But change is necessary — necessary for you to grow and and to learn and to better yourself, because everything in life comes to an end.. because just like Elena, I started the show as a young girl, and together we grew up. We’ve grown up, and over the last six years, we’ve become women. These were six incredible years that I’ve had the pleasure of sharing with all of you guys. We wouldn’t be here without you, I wouldn’t be here without you… change is coming, so hold on and enjoy the ride.
Gilbert isn’t the only character to leave the series recently. Earlier in Season 6, Steven R. McQueen also was written out of the drama in order to pursue other roles. Still, Nina Dobrev’s departure was clearly the biggest change the series has seen in quite some time, since a chunk of the cast departed and left for The Originals. Moving forward, the show is expected to focus a lot more on brothers Damon and Stefan.
Season 7 of The Vampire Diaries will hit the schedule soon enough. You can catch new episodes of the drama starting on Thursday, October 8 at 8 p.m. ET. Following the TVD premiere, The Originals will also hit the schedule at 9 p.m. ET. Here’s what else is coming up this fall.
