Paul Wesley directed his first episode of television in 2014. It was a season 5 episode of The Vampire Diaries, the show in which he starred as the noble Stefan Salvatore for what would go on to be eight seasons. He’d add four more episodes to his director’s resume by the time the show ended in 2017. Since then, his television directing career has included Freeform’s hit series Shadowhunters and with this week, he adds Roswell, New Mexico and Legacies — the latest show in the Vampire Diaries universe — to the list.

EW talked to Wesley about his latest projects and his overall experience as a director.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did the experiences of directing Roswell, New Mexico and Legacies compare to each other, but also to your other directing experiences?
PAUL WESLEY: One of the things that I welcomed the most with Legacies was the humor. For years on Vampire Diaries we all wanted to flex our satirical muscles a little bit. I think it’s nice to be able to make fun of not yourself but I suppose of the genre and make it a little more of a wink to the audience. I really enjoyed that aspect of Legacies. And then Roswell is obviously a whole different tone and it’s a completely different set of actors, and it’s New Mexico. I’d never shot in New Mexico. It’s very beautiful; there’s big wide vistas and mountains. It feels almost like a western in a weird way. Those were the two big differentiations between the things that I’ve done already.

Do you have a preference between directing something where you’re familiar with the universe or something that’s completely new to you?
I think sometimes being too comfortable is not necessarily a good thing but then at the same time, I completely understand why someone like Cary Fukunaga would want to direct every episode of Maniac for Netflix. Because it’s kind of like one long movie. I think it depends on the show. Obviously if you’re doing six years of a show that’s 22 episodes a year, that’s not sustainable. The same person can’t do it. It’d be great to do something from beginning to end, and I think that is probably the most satisfying because you get to create the world and then you get to complete the world. I do think it’s difficult for directors to come in and step into someone else’s vision, but that’s part of the challenge. It’s a little more mathematical and logic-based, directing television. I mean that in a good way: you need to understand how the puzzle fits together. You need to have the tone, you need to understand what the pacing is like, and then you can add your own individual touches to it I suppose.

With Roswell, you’re coming in after a monster of an episode where the Rosa mystery was laid out in full. What are we dealing with in the aftermath?
My episode had less stunts and was more character-based, which I prefer. I’ve certainly done my fair share of stunts and green screens and all kinds of VFX but my episode of Roswell was a little more grounded, which was nice. I also think a big part of this is that it’s a season one show. That’s very important. I was very flattered when [showrunner] Carina [MacKenzie] asked me to direct because that’s a lot of responsibility. It’s a season one show, you need to find your audience, you obviously you want to impress executives and the networks and the studios and I think to give me the reins for an episode, it’s flattering. Because I’m still a fairly new director.

What has been your greatest challenge thus far as a director?
When it comes to television, the greatest challenge is time. Sometimes things aren’t working in your favor, whether it’s weather or if it’s an actor needs more time because they can’t find the moment. The biggest challenge is making sure you’re on time. You can’t go over a certain amount of hours and I’ll tell you, I’m super proud of Legacies, everyone loves it, but man there were times when I was like, “I’m not going to be able to finish my day.” I ended up finishing all my days and didn’t go over but it’s not easy when you have six, seven people in a scene, stunts, and fight sequences. Listen, I can shoot anything but in order to make it good you need some time and making something good on a short amount of time, that’s the greatest challenge.

Is there a scene or episode you’re most proud of that you’ve directed?
I think the ending of Legacies is very powerful. I really like the way it ends. As far as in general as a director, I’m not so sure. There’s a handful of scenes that I’m really proud of. There’s a few on the Vampire Diaries that I thought were probably some of my favorites. But I can’t quite recall at this point. It’s all blended in into one giant supernatural CW mix-up in my mind.

It’s been almost exactly two years since The Vampire Diaries aired its series finale, which — spoiler alert! — saw the heroic Stefan Salvatore sacrifice himself to save everyone he loved (not to mention the entire town of Mystic Falls). With his final shot of the series, Paul Wesley closed a chapter in his life, one that remains closed to this day. “I definitely closed the chapter of that part of my life in terms of in front of the camera. I can’t imagine entering that world in front of the camera,” Wesley tells EW. But the same can’t be said of his life behind the camera.

Thanks to Legacies, which exists in the same world as The Vampire Diaries, the TVD universe lives on with familiar faces (TVD star Matthew Davis is one of Legacies‘ leads) and familiar places (the Salvatore house is now the Salvatore School). So when Wesley was asked to direct an episode of the Originals spin-off, not only did he return to Atlanta, where they’d shot TVD for eight seasons, but he found himself standing in the Salvatore great room, where he’d filmed many a scene as Stefan (including his last).

“As a director, it was still a new experience for me. I was directing a whole new set of actors. The scripts have a different tone,” Wesley says. “But obviously there’s similarities. We were in the Salvatore great room and that was totally trippy. I was having weird flashbacks. Vampire Diaries ended two years ago, and I felt like it had ended three decades ago and when I stepped in there, all these weird memories started coming back. I was like, ‘Oh my god I remember when I sat here and I did this scene and I remember talking to Ian [Somerhalder] about this.’ Everything came rushing in and then it just passed and I moved on. But for a minute there, I had this flood of memories. It was very unusual.”

As for how the directing experience went, Wesley found comfort in some familiar faces he saw around set. “It was so nice having some old friends there,” Wesley says. “Matt Davis of course, some of the crew, my cinematographer and my A.D. These are guys I worked with very intimately for years and it was so nice to see them again and to hang out, and we really all worked our asses off to try to create something good.”

Steven vraagt zijn fans om te doneren voor zijn team voor het Thirst Project. Een goed doel dat voorzieningen bouwt zodat mensen toegang hebben tot schoon drinkwater en dus geen ziektes krijgen door vervuild water.

Klik hier om te doneren.

Hey guys, please support my walk for Thirst Project this World Water Day 2019. Thirst Project is something I am passionate about, 4,100 children still die every day from waterborne diseases. I believe that water is a human right. Please help by giving $20.19 to sponsor my walk this World Water Day and help us END the water crisis.

Phoebe was eerder gisteren aanwezig op de nieuwste modeshow van Chanel tijdens de Paris Fashion Week in de Franse hoofdstad.

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http//: March 5: Paris Fashion Week – Chanel Womenswear Fall/Winter 2019/2020

Zach heeft een gastrol gescoord in de CBS serie ‘God Friended Me’, zijn afgelevering was afgelopen week te zien op de Amerikaanse TV.

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http//: Season 1: Episode Stills
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Kaylee was eind vorig jaar te zien in NKD Magazine met een nieuwe fotoshoot

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http//: Catherine Powell (NKD Magazine)

De laatste foto’s van Ian staan in de galerij, afgelopen maand was hij bij enkele events met vrouw Nikki, samen met zijn organsatie ISF is hij een partnerschap aangegaan met FatFitFun en lanceerde hij zijn eerste eigen wijn ‘Dark ll Dawn’. Deze wordt uitgebracht in China.

Ian over zijn wijn: My wine. I’ve named it Dark ll Dawn or D2D. It’s launching literally right now TODAY in China! I’m so proud of this wine. Over 3 years, 90 blends and countless hours of work and travel to make this happen. Let your friends in China know that we are in the marketplace and to grab this up. We Only have a few thousand cases of it and it will go fast! Please share this with your friends in China to let them know that I have teamed up with COFCO to bring this amazing juice from Chile from the incredible minds at @vik_wine . Go to MY Weibo for information: IanSomerhalder_Official I have a very personal story that I will share with you WHY this wine is so special to me tomorrow when I wake up. I’ve been working all night and i must sleep… Thank you to all that made this dream come true and thank you for supporting me in this amazing endeavor.
Remember- this is a YOUNG wine, it’s a 2017. It’s beautiful, but like all things in life, it’s needs to breathe a bit. Give it 15 minutes minimum after opening it!
I can’t wait for you to try this! Thanks to my team and COFCO and thank you all!
With immense gratitude and love,
Ian

Galerij Links:
http//: Februari: ISF Team Marine interview
http//: Februari 21: Cadillac Celebrates The 91st Annual Academy Awards
http//: February 23: Armani pre-Oscar party
http//: February 24: 27th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Academy Awards Viewing Party
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http//: Dark ll Dawn Wine Portraits
http//: Dark ll Dawn Wine Portraits – Behind the Scenes
http//: Dark ll Dawn Wine Portraits – Promotion
http//: Ian Somerhalder Foundation (FunFabFit Partnership Portraits)

Danielle heeft een nieuwe fotoshoot een interview gehad met Pulse Spikes online. Klik hier om deze te lezen, foto’s van de bijbehorende fotoshoot staan in de galerij.

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http//: Derrick Freske (Pulse Spikes)

Charles promootte laatst zijn nieuwe serie ‘For The People’ met collega Britt Robertson. Het tweede seizoen waarin Charles een vaste rol in heeft begint morgen op de Amerikaanse zender ABC, de eerste foto’s staan in de galerij.

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http//: Season 2: Promotion
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De laatste appereances en fotoshoots van Danielle Rose Russel staan in de galerij. Klik hier om haar interview met Schön Magazine te lezen, en hier voor haar interview met Pulse Spikes online.

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http//: February 15: Teen Vogue’s 2019 Young Hollywood Party Presented By Snap
http//: Bryce Thompson (Schön Magazine)
http//: Anna Zhang ( Pulse Spikes)
http//: Mike Ruiz (A Book of Magazine)