The Vampire Diaries star and Hollywood heartthrob Ian Somerhalder has revealed why he “pulled the plug” on acting following the cancellation of his Netflix series, V Wars.
In an incredibly candid episode of the Haley on the Go podcast — hosted by Haley Lickstein — Somerhalder opened up about why he left Hollywood, and how the cancellation of his Netflix series, V Wars, was the root of his departure from the craft.
“I wanted to do V Wars because it was me, not as a vampire, it was me as a scientist,” he began, explaining how passionate he was about the Netflix project.
“[We] shot the show, moved my whole family to Northern Ontario. Worked really hard on this thing for almost a year, and the show that got turned in wasn’t even watchable,” he explained.
“I said to the studio, ‘I don’t want to put my name on this. I’ll give you the money back. I’ll give you millions of dollars.’ And they were like, ‘What? What are you talking about?'” he revealed, before adding that he and his producing partner, James Gibb, negotiated “creative control” over V Wars with the streaming giant.
“And Netflix said, ‘Sure. We’re not giving you a dollar more,’” Somerhalder continued before adding that they had managed to raise “$6 million plus” for reshoots.
Somerhalder claimed they shot “10 or 12 days’ worth of footage in six days or five days” with the money they raised. In the midst of the reshoots, Somerhalder ended up in the hospital due to being overworked.
Although the show was a “hit”, Somerhalder claimed that someone “quietly cancelled” the show after one season.
“The execs were fighting, and someone quietly cancelled the show. And the powers that be at Netflix were like, ‘It’s unfortunate. Yes, it shouldn’t have happened. We can’t go back, because it would set a precedent that would be terrible, so the show is done,’” Somerhalder said.
How V Wars‘ cancellation changed Ian Somerhalder’s career
Ultimately, the cancellation of V Wars — despite the multiple reshoots and acclaim it received — immensely affected how Somerhalder saw the entertainment industry.
“I looked at myself in the mirror, and I said to my wife, ‘Man, I’m 40 years old. I don’t want to spend two years of my life doing something, working this hard — one year fully unpaid — for this executive who had issues in high school, so they want to exert power now, [to cancel it],’” Somerhalder explained.
“I am not here for my career and livelihood to be dictated by someone who has mummy or daddy issues, or they weren’t popular in school.
“So I pulled the plug. That was it. I walked away. These executives are bitching at each other, and I’m like, are you kidding me? Done. I’m out.”
Alongside his clash with the streaming giant over V Wars, Somerhalder explained that he was struggling with an “eight-figure debt” due to a failed business.
“That’s really, honest, kinda controversial way of why I walked away from the business. And it wasn’t because my show was cancelled,” Somerhalder shared.
Earlier this year, Somerhalder opened up about falling into debt, admitting to E! News that he went through significant “financial upheaval” after he quit acting.
“Due to fraud, it put my wife and I into an eight-figure hole. Eight figures is a hard hole to climb out of. But Nikki [Reed] and I did it. You know, she really negotiated us out of this deal, but we sold houses, paintings, cars, watches, everything,” he shared, revealing the situation left him owing at least $10 million.
“I should’ve been retiring off of one of the biggest TV shows in the world [instead of] starting companies that were not gonna pay me possibly ever,” he added at the time.
As for whether he would ever return to acting, Somerhalder told PEOPLE magazine in 2024 that his time in Hollywood is “in the rearview mirror”.
Image source: Getty Images / Netflix / The Vampire Diaries
The post Ian Somerhalder Reveals ‘Controversial’ Reason Why He ‘Pulled The Plug’ On Acting appeared first on PEDESTRIAN.TV .
