Nina Dobrev's departure from The Vampire Diaries was certainly tough on fans, despite her eventual return for the final season. And there's no doubt that her exit (and re-entrance) was emotionally taxing on the actress as well, as seen when she said goodbye to the series for good on Instagram earlier this spring.
But all chapters must come to an end (even the best ones), and now, Nina is opening up about why she left the show in the first place. It turns out that the decision not to return for season 7 was entirely her choice, and it was actually a super-important crossroads for the actress. In an interview with E! News, Nina explained: "If anything, the fact that [leaving] terrified me drove me even more. I needed to feel that fear of ‘Oh, my God, what if I never get a job again? That just made me want to work five times as hard to make sure that didn't happen."
It actually makes a ton of sense when you think about it. Sometimes getting comfortable in a place (whether it's school or a career) can be harmful to your motivation, and it might take a total change of plans in order to reboot your system. For Nina, it seems to have paid off, because she's had several roles since her TVD hiatus.
So what's next for Nina? It sounds like she has a pretty clear vision for her future. "The things I want to do aren't necessarily the things that are expected of me," she told E! News. "I don't want to play a teenager anymore. I want to play adult roles and be challenged and work with great filmmakers and tell incredible stories...." It certainly sounds like a good plan to us, and knowing Nina, she'll work as hard as she can to achieve it.
Related:
- What It's Like to Have a SLEEPOVER With Nina Dobrev
- The Vampire Diaries Spin-Off, The Originals, Is Officially Ending, Too
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