On a recent episode of Entertainment Weekly’s podcast Binge: The Vampire Diaries, Ian Somerhalder sat down with the show’s creator Julie Plec and talked about the sixth season of the show. During the interview, the actor revealed that even though he loved playing the ruthless yet endearing Damon Salvatore, he was envious of the role of one particular co-star on the show.
The 42-year old actor revealed that he was jealous of Chris Wood’s character, Malachi “Kai” Parke, a villainous warlock that had the power to naturally siphon magic. Parker dies at the end of Season 6.
After Wood joined the show for that season, Somerhalder acknowledged the shift in the dynamic, giving Damon’s character more of a hero complex. However, he was upset that his co-star had the opportunity to play a pure villain and not be a “one-trick pony.”
“That’s why I was always so in love with what Chris Wood was doing on screen, because up until that moment, there was never a character in the show, other than Stefan in the Ripper age, that actually had the ability to not be so serious, to do horrific things but do it with a smile,” the actor explained.
Wood also appeared on the podcast, and shared that he drew inspiration for the character from serial killer Ted Bundy - if he were “really funny.”
“It was the worst person in the world who’s also, like, maybe a good hang if you can get him to shut up for a second,” the Supergirl actor explained. “That was sort of what I was always going for.”
The Vampire Diaries first premiered on the CW in 2009, and lasted for eight seasons before coming to an end in 2017. The show made breakout stars of lead actors Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev, and Paul Wesley, and spawned two spin-off series; The Originals and Legacies.
In February 2020, Wood reprised his role as the evil Kai Parker in the latest spin-off show Legacies, reuniting with co-stars Josie (Kaylee Bryant), Lizzie (Jenny Boyd), and his brother-in-law Alaric (Matthew Davis).
Wood told E! News at the time that he was beyond excited to come back and reprise the role of Kai.
“Honestly it was so great to be that sort of unique monster because the show has a very different approach to this Salvatore-based universe,” he said.
“Kai is very different from anyone [The Legacies] ever dealt with, and also he has, you know, not to quote the title of the show, but he has this deep legacy where all the characters there have heard the horror stories and know how awful he was. It just presents a really different interaction with a monster because he is a monster, just one in human form.”
If you want to see Wood’s on-screen performance as the villainous warlock Kai Parker, all seasons of The Vampire Diaries and Legacies are available to stream on Netflix.