Is Ian Somerhalder seriously hoping that Nina Dobrev does not return for the final series of The Vampire Diaries?

According to multiple reports, Nina has been in talks to reprise her role as Elena on the hit show, and that’s despite the fact that Dobrev has only been gone for a year. But with the official word from the show’s creator, Julie Plec, that the program will be concluding next season, having Nina return would evidently make a lot of fans happy.

It’s unclear whether Nina has signed on for a possible return to the show just yet. Some reports claimed that the actress won’t consider an offer from execs because of how well her career has been going since she announced her departure last summer.

Dobrev just finished filming xXx: Return of Xander Cage, and she just recently started shooting scenes for her next movie, Flatliners. Sources say she’s been auditioning for a bunch of films, and so far, everything is looking really positive for the 27-year-old, so much so that her return to The Vampire Diaries would completely jeopardize everything she’s worked for thus far.

While Plec and Dobrev have yet to comment on the situation regarding Nina’s possible return to the show, Celeb Dirty Laundry alleges that Ian hopes his ex-girlfriend doesn’t make the much-awaited comeback, and it’s all down to financial reasons.

The outlet claims that Ian and Paul Wesley both saw their salaries increase following Dobrev’s decision to leave the show. Producers seemed to have feared that the vampire sucking characters would be next to announce they were leaving, so in order to assure fans that TVD would go ahead with at least one more series, they would need the likes of Paul and Ian to sign their contracts first.

Nina Dobrev Will Return For ‘The Vampire Diaries’ Final Season – ‘A Promise Was Made’ Claims Creator Julie Plec https://t.co/Xb8N5eaiFw — Inquisitr Showbiz (@IQShowbiz) July 30, 2016

Celeb Dirty Laundry claims that Somerhalder would have to acknowledge that his salary could potentially be reduced with Nina Dobrev’s return, particularly since she will be the main character of the show. This would mean that Nina could quite possibly make the highest amount of money for the final series, which the outlet alleges is something Ian certainly doesn’t want to see happen.

The actor commented on the chances of his former flame making a comeback for the final series at the San Diego Comic-Con gathering, stressing that there was only an “18.75 percent chance” fans could expect to see Elena back on their television screens once the new series kicks off later this year.

Just last week, sources alleged that Ian and his wife, Nikki Reed, were facing marital problems, and the return of Nina Dobrev would, therefore, send their relationship into crisis mode.

Some reports, including Hollywood Life, still believe that Nina’s intentions of leaving the show were solely down to her feeling uncomfortable working with her ex-boyfriend as Nikki would show up on set and watch the twosome engage in steamy, affectionate scenes with each other. It eventually came to the point where Dobrev supposedly felt very uncomfortable but had reportedly been stressing for weeks in advance that she was considering to leave the show to pursue a career in Hollywood instead.

New pic of Nikki Reed & Ian Somerhalder after she found out that Nina Dobrev is BACK for the last season of #TVD???????? pic.twitter.com/LGSK8zd73q — Spuffy Latino (@SpuffyLatino) July 25, 2016

And while there doesn’t seem to be any bad blood between Nina Dobrev and Ian Somerhalder, the actor seems to have made it perfectly clear that having his ex-girlfriend reprise her role as Elena would see him face a salary slash and the chance of his marital problems worsening, both of which the actor most certainly wouldn’t be looking forward to.

[Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images]