Nina Dobrev was 'terrified' to quit Vampire Diaries: 'I want to play adult roles'

Nina Dobrev quit Vampire Diaries after the season 6 finale but it was hard for fans to forget Elena. Her exit from the show came as a huge shock to fans and many thought she had left following the souring of her romantic relationship with Ian Somerhalder.

Months after the CW series aired its series finale, the actress admits she was terrified to leave the show. "If anything, the fact that [leaving] terrified me drove me even more. I needed to feel that fear of 'Oh, my God, what if I never get a job again?'" she told Harper's Bazaar. "That just made me want to work five times as hard to make sure that didn't happen."

The show was immensely popular for the toxic love affair between Damon and Elena. In order to keep the possibility of a Dalena romance alive, show creator Julie Plec avoided Elena's death after Dobrev's exit from the show. Instead, he made Elena fall into a deep sleep after an evil magical spell by Kai. Started as a teen drama, the series narrated the story of young Elena and her friendship and love affairs with vampire brothers Stefan and later his elder brother Damon.

However, the 26-year-old actress reveals that she wanted to move on from her teen image in order to do adult roles. "I don't want to play a teenager anymore. I want to play adult roles and be challenged and work with great filmmakers and tell incredible stories, and that has meant being really picky," she explained.

Soon after the actress wrapped up her final scene in TVD season 6, Dobrev went backpacking alone in Europe and East Asia without booking a hotel or itinerary and without being recognised by her fans. "My rule of thumb is, I'll try anything once. I have a healthy — or possibly unhealthy — obsession with trying things for the first time. Nobody imagines me to be by myself backpacking, so they just think, 'It can't be her,'" she added.

Soon after leaving the popular CW drama series, the actress bagged a role in Vin Diesel's xXx: Return Of Xander Cage. Nina is currently working on her upcoming projects Crash Pad, Flatliners and Departures.