The Vampire Diaries: Nina Dobrev Won’t Return For Season 7

It’s true. Yet another member from the Gilbert’s family is leaving Mystic Falls soon.

Over the weekend, “The Vampire Diaries” (TVD) star Nina Dobrev was rumoured to be leaving the CW series after several TVD crew members posted a series of mysterious photos (which have been deleted/edited) on Instagram.

The caption in one of the photos read, “lake life in honor of @michael_trevino and @nina_dobrev,” while the other read, “playin a little croquet at the lake #unicornlake #ninawewillmissyou.”

Panic ensued among the fans because it did seem like Dobrev was having a big farewell party with the “TVD” cast and crew.

On 7th April, Dobrev finally took to Instagram to confirm that she is officially leaving the series.

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

A photo posted by Nina Dobrev (@ninadobrev) on Apr 6, 2015 at 5:01pm PDT

Nina Dobrev joined “The Vampire Diaries” in 2009 to portray Elena Gilbert. Much of the series revolves around Elena’s relationships with the Salvatore brothers, Stefan and Damon. It was later revealed that she is a Petrova Doppelgänger, which is thus responsible for her being identical to her ancestors: Katherine Pierce, Amara, and Tatia.

After TVD exec producer Julie Plec announced the departure of Dobrev’s onscreen brother Steven R. McQueen, the 26-year-old actress also confirmed on Instagram that she will make her final appearance in the 6th season of the series.

Plec said in a statement that “saying goodbye to Nina is both bittersweet and beautiful”.

She added:

After 6-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. We will miss Nina and the 400 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.

Dobrev isn’t the only key cast member to be leaving the series.

Plec further revealed in the statement that Dobrev’s co-star Michael Trevino might not return to reprise his role as Tyler Lockwood as well.

Image source: Pradux

It was revealed that Trevino already booked a role in ABC’s “The Kingmakers” pilot. Thus, he will be leaving TVD if the pilot moves forward.

Plec said:

Michael has been a beloved member of the Vampire Diaries family since Day 1. Even though he’s also going to be out in the world exploring new opportunities, we look forward to finding creative ways to make sure he and his character Tyler Lockwood always remain a part of the show.

Fortunately though, “The Vampire Diaries” is not coming to an end yet.

Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley will return to the 7th season to reprise their roles as the Salvatore brothers. Candice Accola and Kat Graham are also on board to play their respective roles as Caroline and Bonnie.

It is unclear how the series will continue without Dobrev’s character, but stay tuned for more updates.