Michael Malarkey Had Never Heard of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Before Auditioning
The Vampire Diaries is among the best series to properly include fantasy elements such as vampires and werewolves. The popular CW drama continued the time-honored tradition of vampire and human love romances popularized by shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer and True Blood.
TVD ran for eight seasons, from 2009 to 2017, and was set in the fictional town of Mystic Falls, Virginia, where supernatural beings like vampires and werewolves thrived. And while the series was so popular, Michael Malarkey, one of the cast members, had never heard of it before auditioning.
Michael Malarkey almost played the third Salvatore sibling in ‘TVD’
Damon and Stefan Salvatore were the only brothers of the original Salvatore family introduced to viewers of TVD in the television adaptation of the series. However, at one point, TVD executives had explored expanding the cast by including a third Salvatore sibling.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly, Malarkey and former TVD showrunner Julie Plec revealed that Malarkey almost landed the role of the third Salvatore sibling. Speaking to Malarkey during their EW chat, Plec said, “We talked about this in an earlier episode, but you were supposed to be the third Salvatore brother.”
While TVD executives eventually changed things, so Enzo wasn’t related to the Salvatores, he nevertheless played a brother figure for Damon for a long time.
Michael Malarkey had never heard of ‘The Vampire Diaries’ before auditioning
Malarkey appeared at the Comic Con Scotland 2022 last month with other TVD cast members. At the convention’s Q&A session, one fan expressed how popular TVD had become. The fan then went ahead and asked the TVD cast members at what moment they realized that the show would be a huge success. In response, Malarkey revealed that he didn’t know how popular TVD was when he auditioned.
The actor said, “I joined late, so it was already a bit of a thing. But I had no idea it was this much of a thing. I had been working in theater in London and flew over to do this small part on a show I’d never heard of.” Malarkey went on to explain how it was after his first convention that he realized how popular the show was;
“I found myself doing my first convention, which was in Rome, and I was shocked. When I went out for my solo panel, there were a thousand people in an auditorium, all screaming, some of them crying and applauding. I looked behind me, and I was like, ‘Surely one of the other guys is full of it.’ And it was all for me. It was a very moving moment, but also the moment where I realized, ‘Holy s***, this is a big f***ng show.'”
Malarkey ended up playing Enzo, a character who never had it easy
In TVD, Malarkey played Enzo, a vampire and Damon’s old cellmate from the 1950s at Whitmore College. Enzo’s life was hardly a bed of roses. The character is an orphan who was raised on the streets of England. He starts off as a villain but ends up being a hero.
After being turned into a vampire by Lily Salvatore and essentially abandoned by his sire, Enzo was subjected to decades of experimentation at the hands of the Augustine Society. Enzo fell in love with Maggie James, the woman studying him. Sadly, she was murdered by Damon Salvatore.
He then befriends Damon (not realizing he was his sire’s son). However, when Damon escapes the Augustines by starting a fire, he abandons Enzo. Later in the series, Enzo falls in love with Bonnie. But when things are looking up for the couple, Enzo dies.
Even though Malarkey didn’t know how popular TVD was when he auditioned, his character went on to be a fan favorite!
