Nina Dobrev says she left The CW’s The Vampire Diaries after learning she was being paid less than her male co-stars, a dispute detailed in Entertainment Weekly editor Samantha Highfill’s new book, I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries.
In the book, Dobrev recounts that her contract named her to play only Elena Gilbert, while she in fact played multiple characters, including Elena’s doppelgänger Katherine Pierce. That dual casting effectively doubled her time on set and her line load, she said, and she asked to be compensated accordingly. When the studio refused to equalize her pay with co-stars Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder, Dobrev decided not to renew her contract after Season 6 and exited the series in May 2015.
Dobrev told Highfill that the situation “got really heated,” and that writers were ultimately instructed by the studio not to include Katherine in scenes because the production would not pay her for the second role. “It was a bit of a tricky situation because my contract only said to play Elena, but I was playing multiple characters, which doubled my work-load,” Dobrev said. “I had to be on set for double the amount of time, I had to memorize double the amount of lines. I wanted to play Katherine, but I wanted to be compensated fairly for that, and I wanted to be an equal to the boys.”
Highfill reports that Dobrev did secure a pay increase but remained paid less than Wesley and Somerhalder. Co-creator Julie Plec recalled the discord in the book, saying the dispute reached a point where the studio directed writers that Katherine should not be written into the show “at all,” a decision Plec described as unfair.
Dobrev characterized the studio’s stance as hurtful, saying it suggested her contributions and efforts were not valued. “They just said out of principle they wouldn’t bump me up to being equal to the boys, and so that was probably the most hurtful because it felt like I was really working hard, and I was putting my absolute heart and soul, blood, sweat, and tears to it,” she told Highfill.
Two years after her departure, Dobrev returned for the series finale, which aired in March 2017. Her comeback, she said, came only after further negotiation. Dobrev told Highfill the show’s initial offer for the single-episode return was “five times less” than what she had earned when she left at the end of Season 6, and she initially declined. She said she pressed for pay parity not for the money but on principle, and that Plec intervened to secure her participation in the finale.
Plec, according to the book, spent weeks negotiating to keep the planned storylines intact and to secure Dobrev’s return. Plec said she was worried the deal might fall apart, and she was relieved when the parties reached an agreement that allowed Dobrev to rejoin the cast for the final episode. Dobrev said she felt it was important to be part of the show’s “final goodbye.”
Creators Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec, as well as the series’ leading actors, had long been central to the show’s success, and the dispute highlights tensions that can arise when lead performers take on expanded creative responsibilities without corresponding contractual recognition. The Vampire Diaries ran on The CW from 2009 to 2017 and became a hit that launched its principal cast into mainstream prominence.
I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries, compiled from interviews with cast and crew, was published this year and gathers firsthand accounts of the show’s production, casting decisions and behind-the-scenes conflicts. The revelations about pay and creative control add to a broader conversation in the entertainment industry about compensation equity and credit for actors who take on multiple roles or expanded duties during a series’ run.
Dobrev’s recounting in the book underscores both the personal and professional dimensions of the dispute: she described feeling unappreciated and said she did not want to remain where her contributions were not recognized, while also expressing a desire to deliver a meaningful conclusion for the show’s viewers. The book presents those events as part of the series’ larger creative history and the negotiations that shaped its ending.
Highfill’s oral history compiles accounts from cast and behind-the-scenes personnel and situates Dobrev’s pay dispute within the arc of the series. The book quotes multiple participants on decision-making around writing, casting and contracts and reports that financial and creative tensions affected storyline choices in the show’s later seasons. The Vampire Diaries’ finale proceeded with Dobrev’s return after the agreement was reached, closing a chapter that, the book suggests, was shaped as much by off-screen negotiations as by on-screen drama.