Sebastian Stan Explains the Shocking Reason He Turned Down a Role on “The Vampire Diaries”

Victoria EdelTue, October 6, 2026 at 2:31 PM UTC

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Sebastian Stan in September; Paul Wesley on ‘The Vampire Diaries’Credit: Brianna Bryson/Getty; Annette Brown/The CW -

Sebastian Stan opened up about turning down a role on The Vampire Diaries

He said that after starring on NBC’s short-lived series Kings, he didn’t want to be on another show that was cancelled after one season

The Vampire Diaries ultimately ran for eight seasons, but Stan says he still doesn’t regret his decision

Sebastian Stan got offered a role that could have led to his big break — but turned it down.

Stan, 44, opened up about the early days of his career on the Monday, Oct. 5, episode of the Happy Sad Confused podcast.

In 2006, Stan starred in The Covenant as a warlock alongside Steven Strait, Laura Ramsey, Taylor Kitsch, Jessica Lucas, Toby Hemingway and Chace Crawford. Looking back, he called the experience “amazing” because most of the cast “made $65,000 each.” At the time, that amount of money felt “unbelievable,” he told host Josh Horowitz.

“I was still working at a restaurant, doing delivery and and being a maître d’ on the weekends and stuff,” he said. All things considered, he said it was “a great paycheck.”

After the movie, some of his costars started to move on to bigger projects: Crawford got Gossip Girl, making him a household name, and Kitsch starred in Friday Night Lights. Horowitz asked Stan if he felt like he was “one step behind.”

“I did a little bit,” he admitted. At the time, he booked his Broadway debut — Eric Bogosian’s Talk Radio starring Liev Schreiber — which “made me feel better about myself,” he said.

But Horowitz noted that in a recent book about the making of The Vampire Diaries, he learned Stan was up for a major role in that show.

Sebastian Stan in ‘The Covenant’Credit: Jonathan Wenk/Columbia/Screen Gems

“They offered me um Paul Wesley‘s role,” Stan confirmed. On the show, Wesley played Stefan Salvatore, a good-natured vampire who often comes into conflict with his brother, Ian Somerhalder‘s Damon. The show ultimately debuted in 2009.

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But Stan didn’t want to do it. He had just come off the short-lived NBC show Kings, a story loosely based on the biblical story of King David but set in the modern day. Stan played Jack, a counterpart to the biblical Jonathan who is secretly gay. The show failed to find an audience and was quickly cancelled (though it still has a cult following).

“I had just come off Kings and, I think, I felt really burnt out from like that not working out,” Stan said. When presented with The Vampire Diaries, he thought, “Oh, I’m just going to sign up again for something that probably is not going to get to the second season.”

Plus, like The Covenant, it was also set in a “supernatural world,” and he didn’t want to do that again.

“I didn’t do it. And then the show went on to be super super successful,” he said. The Vampire Diaries ultimately ran until 2017, for eight seasons and 171 episodes.

Sebastian Stan in MayCredit: Daniele Venturelli/WireImage

Looking back at the many near misses of his career, like The Vampire Diaries as well as Green Lanternand Star Trek, “I feel grateful in a way, ‘cause I don’t know if I was really ready for that kind of exposure when I was younger, to be honest.” He said that “emotionally and mentally” he knows what he went through during those early years and noted, “My focus was all over the place.”

“Maybe that’s just cause it worked out the way it did and this is like my story, but I almost feel like I’m definitely in a place right now where I wouldn’t change anything,” he said.

In 2011, Stan made his debut as Bucky Barnes in the MCU and has reprised the role in multiple films, including 2014’s Captain America: The Winter Soldier, 2025’s Thunderbolts* and 2026’s upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. He received an Oscar nomination for his role as Donald Trump in 2024’s The Apprentice and also received attention for roles in Political Animals, Pam & Tommy and A Different Man. This fall, he stars in the legal thriller Fjord, and he’s also set to appear in 2028’s The Batman: Part II.

“I’m very lucky,” Stan said on the podcast. “So I can’t look back and go, ‘Oh, what if?’ That’s why timing is such a big thing. It really happens in certain ways when I think you’re ready. And I think I was a late bloomer in a lot of ways.”

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Source: “AOL Entertainment”