After finding their leading lady, TVD needed the two male components of the essential love triangle. This was no easy task.

“We looked high and low to cast Stefan and Damon,” Plec explained, noting Dobrev “did chemistry read after chemistry read with multiple actors.”

Some of the actors who read for either (and sometimes both!) roles included Zach Roerig (who would go on to play Matt Donovan), Michael Trevino (who would land the role of Tyler Lockwood), Nathanial Buzolic (later cast as Kol), and 7th Heaven star David Gallagher. Plec admitted of the latter, “He impressed us so much originally…but the whole 7th Heaven thing, I wonder if he’ll ever be able to get past that.” (She would later cast him as a werewolf after seeing Super 8.)

Finally, they found their guys: Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder.

“Paul and Ian kind of came in late in the process. Paul auditioned like 15 times, and Ian kind of appeared out of the blue,” Plec said. For her part, Nina recalled Paul (who first read for Damon!) standing out from the rest of the guys reading opposite her in the chemistry reads: “The only one who wasn’t trying too hard, that didn’t speak to me at any point unless we were filming, was Paul Wesley,” she told EW. “So it’s funny to think that he did the right thing,”