Paul Wesley Is Producing a TV Show About a Vampire Who Wants to Be an Actor

Paul Wesley is sinking his teeth into a new TV show about a vampire who dreams of being an actor.

Wesley, 42, is an executive producer on an untitled Fox comedy about a determined 25-year-old vampire who struggles with running the family business for his murderous and suffocating vampire parents while trying to chase his dream to become an actor, according to Deadline.

The series, which has yet to be officially picked up, is written by Unstable cocreator Victor Fresco and directed by The Rookie‘s Liz Friedlander. This isn’t the first time Wesley has found himself caught up with the supernatural genre.

Wesley became a household name after he starred alongside Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder on The CW’s The Vampire Diaries. The series, which aired from 2009 to 2017, focused on a love triangle between Elena (Dobrev), Stefan (Wesley) and Damon (Somerhalder).

Since his fan-favorite role as Stefan Salvatore came to an end, Wesley has explained why he has no interest in going back.

“No … I’m vampired out,” Wesley exclusively told Us Weekly in 2022 about his disinterest in a TVD spinoff before revealing which costars he is still friends with. “We don’t have a big group thread, but I’m still super close to Nina, I’m super close with Michael Malarkey — all of them! I mean, I talk to all of them on a somewhat regular basis. We haven’t had, like, a big reunion in a while. I did just have dinner with at [cocreator] Kevin Williamson‘s house with [cocreator] Julie Plec and Nina.”

He continued: “It was great to see everyone. Look, we’re all very busy. We all travel a lot so we don’t have, like, big parties or anything like that, but we’re all great and friendly.”

More recently, Wesley said a remake of The Vampire Diaries was a “hard pass” for him.

“I would never do another vampire anything, period, let alone Vampire Diaries,” he told InStyle in 2023. “I don’t really miss anything about playing [Stefan], and I don’t mean that in a [negative way]. Eight years is a long time, and I’m so glad to put that to rest. Eight seasons.”

Wesley clarified that he has appreciation for the way his character has resonated with viewers, adding, “Because the show ran for such a long time, in order for it to not become monotonous, every season, Stefan sort of had a different arc.”

Wesley enjoyed getting to stretch his acting muscles while playing Stefan. “At one point he was pure evil, and he started out as the good guy and then he ended as the good guy,” he added. “But I liked the challenge of trying to keep the character fresh.”