Ian Somerhalder chats about Damon with PopWrap and TV Line

Ian Somerhalder discusses Damon’s evolution and growth over the series with New York Post’s PopWrap.

PW: You said before that Damon today is totally different than how you envisioned him. Could you expand upon that?
Ian: I had called Kevin [Williamson, co-creator], freaking out because I wasn’t ripping more people’s heads off and dancing half-naked with sorority girls. He told me, “Damon is evolving.” There is a 100 episode arc to this guy’s journey and he must evolve … or die.

PW: So you just weren’t anticipating his evolution happening so quickly?
Ian: One of the appeals of the show is that it moves very quickly, which is fun because TV doesn’t typically move that way all the time. So Damon went through a pretty quick process of coming to town with an agenda to finding out that his agenda was completely wrong to staying in town because he started to care for people. That raised the stakes for him in a big way. When you forge relationships, you run the risk of caring. That makes it hard to walk away. And Damon, unfortunately, found himself subconsciously wanting to nurture those relationships. Now, he really cares about someone he wouldn’t have normally given a flying s*** about, pardon my French [laughs].

READ THE REAST OF THE INTERVIEW OVER AT POPWRAP.

Ian chats with TV Line about Damon’s new human lady friend, Mystic Falls’ newscaster Andie Star (we wonder if she’ll be asking any awkward questions about her predecessor, Logan Fell), and how no one is safe on the Vampire Diaries.

Enter Andie Star (played by Dawn Olivieri) as Damon’s new girlfriend. Sadly, this is no love story. ”Damon gets a hot beard, who just so happens to be a local newscaster,” Somerhalder explains. ”She’s super-fun to be around, and she’s a woman, not a high school girl. She adds a totally different dynamic to the show. She’s very quirky, very witty, she doesn’t have anything to lose. She’s not running from any supernatural entity, she’s just a person — but underneath it all, it’s sad that the only way he can express his real feelings is when he has compelled someone not to do anything.”

READ THE REST OF THE INTERVIEW OVER AT TV LINE.