BACK FOR MORE BLOOD Ian Somerhalder talks V Wars
‘Vampire Diaries’ star heads up the new Netflix horror series ‘V Wars’
When Ian Somerhalder’s trusted team brought him the script for new show V Wars, the mere mention of ‘vampires’ was enough to make him hesitate. “I was a little taken aback, just because it was a vampire thing – like, this could be disastrous! I just played one for eight years, you know what I mean?” Somerhalder tells WHO of his previous role as vampire Damon Salvatore in The Vampire Diaries until 2017.
But once he read it, it didn’t take him long to come around, especially after some encouragement from his actress wife Nikki Reed, who also happens to have a little vampire experience from her Twilight days!
“This is five books by a bestselling author, and my team, and my wife actually, very quickly reminded me that there’s a huge opportunity to be a major driving creative force behind this show,” Somerhalder says.
The 40-year-old actor admits that starring in, producing and directing the new Netflix sci-fi horror series was a “daunting” job, but the story was too good to pass up. Somerhalder plays scientist Dr Luther Swann, who’s tasked with finding out what’s happened to his best friend, who’s been struck down with a mystery virus that has turned him into a blood-feeding creature. Soon it’s humans against the ‘bloods’.
“This isn’t a $20 million episode of Game of Thrones but we knew that we had something special,” Somerhalder says. “We have an idea of where the story can go for the next five or six seasons, we have incredible amounts of source material because the show is dealing with things that we are actually dealing with right now ... climate change, borders, racism, disease, fear, politics, the politics of fear and how it seeps into our devices and our psyche.”
He adds, “This is the first time you’ve ever seen vampires where there’s nothing supernatural – this is medical science that turned them into vampires. It’s very much in the realm of 28 Days Later.”
A lengthy post-production period has meant Somerhalder has spent 16 months all up nurturing the V Wars project, making life busy, to put it mildly.
“I’ve been in Tokyo, then New York, Germany and then the UK, then home,” he says of his itinerary in recent weeks. “I can honestly tell you I have never been busier in my life than I am right now. My life is always extremely hectic but I’m also putting together a huge deal for my foundation and launching two companies. So it’s all very exciting but on top of being a dad, it’s f--king insane, pardon my French.” Somerhalder takes his family duties seriously, and putting in long days on set before rushing home to Reed, 31, and their 2-year-old daughter, Bodhi, has been a whole new ball game.
“For me, my family is my real focus, and when we started shooting this show, our baby was 8 or 9 months old, and I refuse to not be present – the only person who can play the role of her dad is me,” he says. “I’d worked very hard on The Vampire Diaries but I’d never done it being a dad, and you have to give 110 per cent to your show, and 110 per cent to your family … but you’ve just gotta do it.”
Meanwhile, Somerhalder is also about to give Vampire Diaries fans a real treat, teaming up with his TV brother Paul Wesley to launch their own bourbon.
“It’s going to be huge, ’cos the Salvatore boys are very famous for drinking bourbon and it’s something that Paul and I are also incredibly passionate about,” Somerhalder says.
“We knew we had something special”
– Somerhalder