NEWSPaul Wesley 'Absolutely Adores' Nina Dobrev Despite Not 'Getting Along' in Beginning of Their 'Back and Forth' Relationship
Paul Wesley and Nina Dobrev initially butted heads in the early days of 'The Vampire Diaries.'
July 22 2026, Published 1:51 p.m. ET
Paul Wesley looked back on his rocky start with Nina Dobrev as the Vampire Diaries costars are set to reunite on the big screen.
"So it's very public that Nina and I had this very fun kind of back-and-forth relationship in the sense that what I mean by that is, in the beginning, we didn't get along, and that's highly, you know, publicized," Wesley, 43, said during an appearance on the "Call Her Daddy" podcast on Wednesday, July 22.
Paul Wesley spoke to Alex Cooper about his friendly relationship with Nina Dobrev.
Paul Wesley 'Absolutely Adores' Nina Dobrev
Paul Wesley and Nina Dobrev are best known for their roles on The CW's 'The Vampire Diaries.'
Wesley and Dobrev, 37, famously played love interests on the teen drama, which aired from 2009 to 2017. Throughout the series, Dobrev's character, Elena, found herself caught in a love triangle between Wesley's Stefan and Ian Somerhalder's Damon.
Both Wesley and Dobrev have publicly acknowledged the on-set tension they experienced before eventually becoming close. "Now we're such good friends and I absolutely adore her," Wesley told host Alex Cooper.
Paul Wesley and Nina Dobrev Team Up for New Project
No official release date has been announced for 'You Deserve to Know.'
Last month, it was announced that Wesley and Dobrev were teaming up once again to star in the Hulu adaptation of Aggie Blum Thompson's 2025 novel, You Deserve to Know.
The series will follow three suburban couples who are neighbors and whose lives are turned upside down after one of their husbands is murdered, per Deadline.
Wesley explained that the pair hoped to collaborate again in the future, though the timing never aligned.
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Paul Wesley and Nina Dobrev Tried Working Together Again 'for Years'
Paul Wesley revealed that reuniting with Nina Dobrev for their recent project was years in the making.
"It's not like the show ended and we're like, 'Let's do something together,'" he recalled. "It's just sort of like, we would see each other, we'd stay in touch, and then enough time went on where I was like, you know, I don't know whose idea it was, but we kept saying, 'We should do something, you know? And let's make it special. Let's really make it great.'"
Wesley said the pair had been trying to find a project to work on together "for years," and were excited when You Deserve to Know came along.
Why Paul Wesley and Nina Dobrev Didn't Play Love Interests Again
Paul Wesley believed that if he and Nina Dobrev played love interests, it would be difficult for fans not to draw comparisons to their characters on 'The Vampire Diaries.'
Though the pair considered playing a romantic couple, Wesley pointed out that it would be hard for fans not to compare them to their belovedVampire Diaries characters.
"If we were playing husband and wife or boyfriend and girlfriend, people would compare that to Stefan and Elena," Wesley said of their respective roles. "So, we wanted to create a new dynamic so that we offered something new to the fans where we’re still interacting on screen, but it’s in a different capacity."
