Actor Ian Somerhalder's recent social media activity has sparked rumours that his "The Vampire Diaries" stint could be coming to an end soon. Somerhalder, who plays Damon Salvatore in the CW drama, recently shared on Instagram a screenshot of his look from season 1, and captioned it, "The good old days... Look what was #1!!!!! Thank you for 6 years on the air!!!"

This post has a number of fans worried, as speculations are rife that the actor could be thinking of moving forward with other acting opportunities. Although it is not immediately known if Damon will be killed off, rumours are rife that Damon might not have a happy ending.

Interestingly, when actress Nina Dobrev exited the show, the showrunners decided against killing her character Elena Gilbert. Instead, the season 6 finale saw villain Kai casting a sleeping spell on Elena and linking her life with Kat Graham's Bonnie's in such a way that Elena would not wake up as long as Bonnie lived.

With Elena out of the picture, the show will now focus on other cast members, and they will now have their own storylines.

The focus of season 7 is expected to be Stefan and Caroline's love story, and Damon and Stefan's relationship with their mother, Lily Salvatore.

"The singular positive of her being out of the picture is that we've had this massive ensemble over the years. If the story wasn't revolving around Stefan, Elena and Damon at its core and they weren't part of that story then they were sort of marginalised," Julie Plec told reporters at San Diego Comic-Con, according to Zap2It. "They are really great characters and really, really great actors playing those characters. It opens up the world."

"There isn't the 'what is the conflict of Elena this week?' that everybody else has to react to. Everyone can now have their own point of view and have their own storylines. The world expands as a result," Plec said.

"The Vampire Diaries" will return to CW in October.

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