Despite being the lead of “The Vampire Diaries,” Nina Dobrev never made as much money as her costars, Ian Somerhalder and Paul Wesley. In “I Was Feeling Epic: An Oral History of The Vampire Diaries,” Samantha Highfill’s book released on Tuesday, Dobrev fought for seasons for equal pay.
“Candice [King], Kat [Graham], and I were the three lowest-paid series regulars in the first two seasons,” Dobrev, who was also portraying Katherine Pierce in addition to Elena Gilbert, says. “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 workload. 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.”
In Season 3, when cast negotiations began, she got a raise — but it was never equal to what her male co-leads were making. The studio agreed to pay her when she portrayed Katherine — and then allegedly told creators Julie Plec and Kevin Williamson to no longer use Katherine.
“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 we shot eighteen-hour days sometimes, and nights, and I was putting my absolute heart and soul, blood, sweat, and tears into it,” Dobrev recalls. “I remember feeling like the studio didn’t appreciate what I was bringing to the show, and it felt like they were saying that all the hard work I was putting into it didn’t matter to them and that I wasn’t an equal to my male counterparts, and so that was upsetting to me.”
Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley
©CW Network/Courtesy Everett Collection
Eventually, Plec says, the studio was “granted a certain number of episodes” with Katherine and had to eventually kill the character off.
Dobrev left at the end of Season 6 but was open to returning for the eighth and final season. Despite the creators wanting her back for multiple episodes, another pay disparity prevented that from happening.
“I was always open to coming back for the finale, and storyline-wise it made sense. I felt like it was important and it needed to happen for the show, it needed to happen for the fans,” Dobrev says. “It was just really important to me that at the end of the show, as a woman, I wanted to make sure that I was compensated and that I was an equal to my male counterparts on the show, and so it came down to that.”
Since Wesley and Somerhalder had gotten multiple raises since her exit, the network wouldn’t budge. Initially, Dobrev claims, the “opening offer” for the finale was “five times less than what I made when I left in Season 6.”
She continues, “That’s the only reason why at one point I almost didn’t come back. I needed to be paid parity to the boys. I had to put my foot down and say if it didn’t happen I wouldn’t be able to come back. And it wasn’t about the money — I didn’t give a shit about the money at all — it was the principle. … It was my second time trying to make this point. It wasn’t about the actual dollar amount, it was about being an equal. They really didn’t want to give it to me, and I politely declined the offer. That’s when Julie stepped in and put her foot down and spoke to everyone.”
After Plec stepped in and worked on the deal for weeks, The CW and studio allegedly agreed to the pay — but only for one episode.
“The reason we couldn’t have her for more than the one episode is because they just wouldn’t pay,” Plec says in the book. “It took a lot of work before they finally relented, but it came back that it was one episode only that they’d say yes for.”
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