The Vampire Diaries lead actress Nina Dobrev, who plays Elena, has announced she’s leaving the long-running CW drama.
Following rumors, the actress made it official via Instagram. In her announcement we learn Dobrev celebrated the end of her Vampire Diaries run this past weekend with the show’s cast and crew. Her full message is below:
Dearest TVD Family,
I’ve just spent the most beautiful weekend on Lake Lanier in Georgia with my own TVD Family, the cast and crew of The Vampire Diaries. I want to be the first to tell you that it wasn’t just a holiday celebration, it was a goodbye party. I always knew I wanted Elena’s story to be a six season adventure, and within those six years I got the journey of a lifetime. I was a human, a vampire, a doppelganger, a crazy immortal, a doppelganger pretending to be human, a human pretending to be a doppelganger. I got kidnapped, killed, resurrected, tortured, cursed, body-snatched, was dead and undead, and there’s still so much more to come before the season finale in May. Elena fell in love not once, but twice, with two epic soulmates, and I myself made some of the best friends I’ll ever know and built an extended family I will love forever.
There’s more to come before we wrap this up, and I promise you’ll get to hear all about my experiences over the next month as we approach the season finale (I have given an exclusive interview for the June issue of SELF Magazine that I am excited for you to see!), but until then I invite you to hop on the roller coaster ride that is Elena Gilbert’s life and join me as I celebrate her and prepare to say goodbye to her — and to my work family — as I move on to the next chapter of my life. I want to share this goodbye with all of you (this weekend’s pictures were just the beginning). You, the wonderful fandom who gave more love, support and passion than anyone could have ever imagined seven years ago, when a young Degrassi girl from Canada showed up in LA to audition for ‘that Twilight TV show.’ ;-) I love you all. Fasten your seatbelts. If you think you know what’s coming, you don’t.
Love, Nina
Dobrev has been with the show since its premiere in 2009. It remains to be seen how the show writes her character off, but based on the actress’s statement on Instagram, it should be a nice farewell for Elena.
“Saying goodbye to Nina is both bittersweet and beautiful,” said series creator Julie Plec in a statement. “After six-plus years together, the entire cast and crew of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ has reached a level of closeness that I don’t think any of us ever expected. Nina is excited to spread her wings, get some rest, travel the world and also take it by storm, and we support her a thousand-fold.”
Plec also hinted at what lies ahead for the show. “We will miss Nina and the four hundred characters she played, but we look forward to the insane and exciting challenge of continuing to tell stories of our Salvatore Brothers and our much-loved and gifted ensemble,” she said.
The big question is how The Vampire Diaries can continue without such a critical character. The network has already renewed the show for a seventh season.
Related: ‘The Vampire Diaries’ season 7: Bring on more Bonnie
Meanwhile, the show’s next new episode airs next Thursday, April 16 on The CW.