Ian Somerhalder Reveals His Hardest ‘Vampire Diaries’ Scene Ever, Was It With Former Love Nina Dobrev?

Ian Somerhalder has had his share of difficult moments on The Vampire Diaries. From dealing with his complicated family problems to working through his feelings for his brother’s lover, fans would be hard pressed to guess which scene was the hardest for Somerhalder’s Damon Salvatore. With so many examples to choose from, did Somerhalder’s hardest scene ever involve his former love, Nina Dobrev?

In a recent blog post on Entertainment Weekly, Somerhalder revealed that his hardest scene on The Vampire Diaries happened way back in the second season of the show. Surprisingly, it had nothing to do with Dobrev’s character.

“Episode 14 of Season 2,” Somerhalder shared. “It’s when Damon is lying in the road, and the girl Jessica pulls up. She gets out of the car looking at this peculiar scene, a man lying in the middle the road drinking out of a flask… He is so distraught, missing being human, but he can tell no one his true feelings unless he compels them and kills them.”

Somerhalder went on to explain why this scene stuck out as particularly difficult. Specifically, Somerhalder noted how it “was such a cathartic scene for me to shoot,” and also revealed that a recent episode in Season 7 was right up there on his list of difficult scenes.

“A very close second was the scene at the end of episode 10 of this season when Damon tells his mom that he loves her and that he’s sorry in the battle!” Somerhalder revealed. “Wow, two great scenes…”

Meanwhile, Somerhalder is getting ready to take the helm and direct his second episode in the series. According to Entertainment Weekly, Somerhalder took a vastly different approach this time around. In fact, The Vampire Diaries star revealed that the episode he directed for Season 7 was very pivotal to the main storyline.

“We lost some amazing characters,” Ian Somerhalder told the outlet. “And rather than what I attempted to do the last time I directed, which was shock the hell out of you, this one was about, let’s really tug on the heartstrings of the audience and really let them feel what these characters are feeling. And that is a very, very different dynamic.”

The last time Somerhalder directed an episode was back in Season 6. The installment featured a rather dark storyline and included the likes of Candice King. In addition to going from directing a more shocking episode to a more emotional one, Somerhalder went on to add that getting all of the character’s feelings right was the most important part of the new episode.

“It was a different type of script and it was really just about getting these moments, these beats with these actors, so that you really felt what they were feeling and that was all it was,” he shared. “That simple.”

While fans certainly have a lot to look forward to as The Vampire Diaries gets ready to wrap up its seventh season, Somerhalder has been plenty busy outside of work. In fact, Just Jared reported that the actor was recently spotted making his way out of LAX Airport with his wife, Nikki Reed.

Somerhalder and Reed were returning home from an event in Boston called the Girls Impact the World Film Festival. In order to share some of his experiences at the event, Somerhalder took to Instagram with a few special words for Reed.

“My beautiful wife mentoring young filmmakers… Wow, what an honor to hear this talented, compassionate and giving human being. I can’t believe I get to spend my career and my life with her… Love, Ian.”

The seventh season of The Vampire Diaries continues Friday nights on The CW.

Tell us! Were you surprised that Ian Somerhalder’s hardest scene to shoot was so early on? Let us know in the comments below.

[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty]