‘The Vampire Diaries’ Star Nina Dobrev Leaving After Season 6

Fans of The Vampire Diaries, we have both good news and bad. On the plus side, we’ve just discovered that the sexy supernatural soap is still on the air, and airing its sixth season at that, so hooray! In less hooray news however, series star Nina Dobrev has decided to leave The Vampire Diaries behind after the current run. Who will write the Diaries, or … uh, Vampire the Vampires now? Is that what happens on this show?

Following rumors that surfaced over the weekend, Dobrev confirmed her exit from the series over Instagram in a lengthy post that offered further details of the eventual departure. In addition, showrunner Julie Plec also confirmed that series star Michael Trevino will step down from his regular role as Tyler Lockwood, albeit returning occasionally with guest status.

So reads Dobrev’s exit note:

Dearest TVD Family, I've just spent the most beautiful weekend on Lake Lanier in Georgia with my own TVD Family, the cast and crew of The Vampire Diaries. I want to be the first to tell you that it wasn't just a holiday celebration, it was a goodbye party. I always knew I wanted Elena's story to be a six season adventure, and within those six years I got the journey of a lifetime. I was a human, a vampire, a doppelganger, a crazy immortal, a doppelganger pretending to be human, a human pretending to be a doppelganger. I got kidnapped, killed, resurrected, tortured, cursed, body-snatched, was dead and undead, and there's still so much more to come before the season finale in May. Elena fell in love not once, but twice, with two epic soulmates, and I myself made some of the best friends I'll ever know and built an extended family I will love forever. There's more to come before we wrap this up, and I promise you'll get to hear all about my experiences over the next month as we approach the season finale (I have given an exclusive interview for the June issue of SELF Magazine that I am excited for you to see!), but until then I invite you to hop on the roller coaster ride that is Elena Gilbert's life and join me as I celebrate her and prepare to say goodbye to her -- and to my work family -- as I move on to the next chapter of my life. I want to share this goodbye with all of you (this weekend's pictures were just the beginning). You, the wonderful fandom who gave more love, support and passion than anyone could have ever imagined seven years ago, when a young Degrassi girl from Canada showed up in LA to audition for 'that Twilight TV show.' ;-) I love you all. Fasten your seatbelts. If you think you know what's coming, you don't. Love, Nina

A photo posted by Nina Dobrev (@ninadobrev) on Apr 6, 2015 at 5:01pm PDT

Adds Plec of the departures:

Saying goodbye to Nina is both bittersweet and beautiful. After six-plus years together, the entire cast and crew of The Vampire Diaries has reached a level of closeness that I don’t think any of us ever expected. Nina is excited to spread her wings, get some rest, travel the world and also take it by storm, and we support her a thousand-fold. We will miss Nina and the four hundred characters she played, but we look forward to the insane and exciting challenge of continuing to tell stories of our Salvatore Brothers and our much-loved and gifted ensemble.

Michael has been a beloved member of the Vampire Diaries family since Day 1. Even though he’s also going to be out in the world exploring new opportunities, we look forward to finding creative ways to make sure he and his character Tyler Lockwood always remain a part of the show.

It’s certainly surprising to see such a successful CW series losing its lead after only six seasons, at least compared with shows like Supernatural running for 11 (and counting), but the same success that spun off The Originals will likely keep The Vampire Diaries alive, Nina Dobrev or no. Surely, someone else will prove worthy enough to … turn the Diaries into … into Vampires. Okay, seriously, what is this show about?