{"id":2503611,"date":"2026-07-15T20:15:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:15:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2503611"},"modified":"2026-07-15T20:15:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T20:15:45","slug":"ian-somerhalder-shares-controversial-reason-he-pulled-the-plug-on-hollywood-im-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/ian-somerhalder-shares-controversial-reason-he-pulled-the-plug-on-hollywood-im-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Ian Somerhalder shares \u2018controversial\u2019 reason he \u2018pulled the plug\u2019 on Hollywood: \u2018I\u2019m out\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Ian Somerhalder revealed the cancellation of his Netflix series, &#8220;V Wars,&#8221; sparked his decision <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:to quit acting.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2024\/01\/18\/entertainment\/ian-somerhalder-has-no-regrets-about-ditching-hollywood-for-farm-life-i-dont-miss-any-of-it\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">to quit acting.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:On a recent episode of the\u00a0&quot;Haley on the Go&quot; podcast;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/episode\/6saEOj3VuvJgv5I43Lws9L?si=e661389ee25a4de8\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">On a recent episode of the\u00a0&#8220;Haley on the Go&#8221; podcast<\/a>, Somerhalder recalled that he &#8220;worked really hard&#8221; on the 2019 show, and even moved his whole family to Ontario, Canada for the job.<\/p>\n<p>But according to Somerhalder, the final product of the sci-fi horror series &#8220;wasn&#8217;t even watchable.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure flex justify-center mb-[1em] mx-auto\">\n<div style=\"max-width:960px\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>Ian Somerhalder (seen above) revealed that the cancellation of his Netflix series &#8220;V Wars&#8221; sparked his decision to quit acting. haley lickstein\/Youtube<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<figure class=\"content-figure flex justify-center mb-[1em] mx-auto\">\n<div style=\"max-width:960px\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/DB47A022A07F1C93AD1E37AD500946927B92329127A99FC9AC7D2EED15C3982C\/subgraphmysterio\/resizefit_w960_h640;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Faol_page_six_articles_932%2Faecc41efd4aa61caf665558eb3d62575\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>Somerhalder (pictured above on the &#8220;Haley on the Go&#8221; podcast) said the series &#8220;wasn&#8217;t even watchable,&#8221; so he asked Netflix if he could give them millions of dollars to take &#8220;creative control of the show.&#8221; haley lickstein\/Youtube<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;I said to the studio, &#8216;I don&#8217;t want to put my name on this. I&#8217;ll give you the money back. I&#8217;ll give you millions of dollars,'&#8221; the &#8220;Vampire Diaries&#8221; alum recalled.<\/p>\n<p>Netflix refused to give Somerhalder any money, he said, even when he and his producing partner, James Gibb, asked for &#8220;creative control of the show.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The pair took matters into their own hands by raising over $6 million and shooting &#8220;10 or 12 hours of footage in 6 days,&#8221; which landed Somerhalder in the hospital after his body &#8220;just shut down.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You give everything, and then the show was a hit,&#8221; Somerhalder, 47, explained. &#8220;We built a show that was No. 1 in 103 territories out of 120 territories. It was a big deal.&#8221;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure flex justify-center mb-[1em] mx-auto\">\n<div style=\"max-width:960px\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/312D89667FE123D131129A61124083779DF015D3917C3679C8BF141BD28F89C7\/subgraphmysterio\/resizefit_w960_h640;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Faol_page_six_articles_932%2Ff3a69eac5e76dc57aa04a24e4ad543a1\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>However, Netflix wouldn&#8217;t  do what Somerhalder (seen above in &#8220;V Wars&#8221;) asked. \u00a9Netflix\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<figure class=\"content-figure flex justify-center mb-[1em] mx-auto\">\n<div style=\"max-width:960px\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/C531B554A0B8ABED39DFE57A84AE6333C38E241465C17D54DE265EE9344C606C\/subgraphmysterio\/resizefit_w960_h640;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Faol_page_six_articles_932%2F91c385025e80660ef23eba9233abfd2e\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>Somerhalder (seen above in &#8220;V Wars&#8221; with Adrian Holmes) raised money to shoot new footage for the show. \u00a9Netflix\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Despite that, &#8220;the execs were fighting, and someone quietly canceled the show,&#8221; Somerhalder said.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And the powers that be at Netflix were like, &#8216;It&#8217;s unfortunate. Yes, it shouldn&#8217;t have happened. We can&#8217;t go back, because it would set a precedent that would be terrible, so the show is done,'&#8221; he recalled.<\/p>\n<p>The &#8220;Lost&#8221; actor said the decision made him realize he didn&#8217;t want his &#8220;career and livelihood to be dictated&#8221; by more powerful figures in the industry.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure flex justify-center mb-[1em] mx-auto\">\n<div style=\"max-width:960px\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/33E4D679FC14E1B3AAFB7119DF6EBA3E0530B6904A09989E67B87C42F90369F9\/subgraphmysterio\/resizefit_w960_h640;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Faol_page_six_articles_932%2F62ce718a8573c8bc06dc9342f84b4033\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>Despite &#8220;V Wars&#8221; being &#8220;a hit,&#8221; the show was canceled after one season (Somerhalder is seen above with Paul Wesley in &#8220;The Vampire Diaries&#8221;) \u00a9CW Network\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<figure class=\"content-figure flex justify-center mb-[1em] mx-auto\">\n<div style=\"max-width:960px\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/CD58D1C0D319881CFB102F38E586496507D73C49F2DE087AC90DDB668DBABD98\/subgraphmysterio\/resizefit_w960_h640;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Faol_page_six_articles_932%2F4e6b5ca482d4aaf76f9fd9469ae3caba\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>Somerhalder (seen above in &#8220;Vampire Diaries) said he realized he didn&#8217;t wan&#8217;t his life &#8220;to be dictated&#8221; by Hollywood. \u00a9CW Network\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>&#8220;So I pulled the plug. That was it. I walked away,&#8221; he shared. &#8220;These executives are bitching at each other, and I&#8217;m like, are you kidding me? Done. I&#8217;m out.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Somerhalder added, &#8220;That&#8217;s really the honest, kind of controversial way of why I walked away from the business.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>After quitting acting, Somerhalder and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:his wife, Nikki Reed,;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2023\/08\/25\/nikki-reed-shares-intimate-snaps-from-sons-home-birth\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">his wife, Nikki Reed,<\/a> moved to a Southern California farm and began focusing on other business ventures, including their Absorption Company, which offers high-absorption powdered supplements.<\/p>\n<p>Somerhalder also co-founded Brother&#8217;s Bond Bourbon with his &#8220;Vampire Diaries&#8221; co-star Paul Wesley.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"content-figure flex justify-center mb-[1em] mx-auto\">\n<div style=\"max-width:960px\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/E8D4226F30B1CE5EAA349D4159102C432BFCCEABC7CCF2D05111D4DCBD4DBC27\/subgraphmysterio\/resizefit_w960_h640;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Faol_page_six_articles_932%2F6ef1aa92044d3ee4a7e8ff523112e72c\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>&#8220;So I pulled the plug. That was it. I walked away,&#8221; Somerhalder said (He&#8217;s seen above in &#8220;Lost&#8221; with Terry O&#8217;Quinn). \u00a9ABC\/Courtesy Everett Collection<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<figure class=\"content-figure flex justify-center mb-[1em] mx-auto\">\n<div style=\"max-width:960px\">\n<div class=\"content-image\"><img alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"960\" height=\"640\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"standard-img w-full w-full h-auto\" style=\"color:transparent\" src=\"https:\/\/s.yimg.com\/lo\/mysterio\/api\/5986E519B4490528C3B9074E3E49021A7212543F3E2C8384F8942C12BA91D6CC\/subgraphmysterio\/resizefit_w960_h640;quality_80;format_webp\/https:%2F%2Fmedia.zenfs.com%2Fen%2Faol_page_six_articles_932%2Fa40a29710a2237df11d4fe8a58611bb9\"\/><\/div><figcaption class=\"fig-caption\">\n<p>Somerhalder (seen above with wife Nikki Reed) now lives on a California farm and is focused on his business ventures, with no plans to return to acting. WireImage<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>In April, Somerhalder revealed he and Reed, 38, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:ended up in an eight-figure debt;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aol.com\/lifestyle\/ian-somerhalder-reveals-wife-nikki-223115969.html\">ended up in an eight-figure debt<\/a> because of a failed business.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Eight figures is a hard hole to climb out of,&#8221; he <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:told E! News;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.eonline.com\/news\/1431458\/ian-somerhalder-on-8-figure-debt-how-nikki-reed-helped\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">told E! News<\/a>. &#8220;But Nikki and I did it. You know, she really negotiated us out of this deal, but we sold houses, paintings, cars, watches, everything.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Somerhalder, who is now seven years removed from his last acting role and prioritizing his businesses and family, <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:previously said;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"https:\/\/people.com\/ian-somerhalder-thinks-his-acting-career-is-in-the-rear-view-mirror-but-reveals-what-would-draw-him-back-exclusive-8735600\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">previously said<\/a> he has no plans to restart his Hollywood career.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:&quot;I think it's in the rearview mirror.;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;\" href=\"https:\/\/pagesix.com\/2024\/10\/29\/celebrity-news\/ian-somerhalder-says-his-acting-career-is-in-the-rear-view-mirror-after-ditching-hollywood-for-farm-life\/\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer nofollow\" target=\"_blank\">&#8220;I think it&#8217;s in the rearview mirror.<\/a> I do,&#8221; he shared.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.aol.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ian Somerhalder revealed the cancellation of his Netflix series, &#8220;V Wars,&#8221; sparked his decision to quit acting. On a recent episode of the\u00a0&#8220;Haley on the Go&#8221; podcast, Somerhalder recalled that he &#8220;worked really hard&#8221; on the 2019 show, and even moved his whole family to Ontario, Canada for the job. But according to Somerhalder, the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2503612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25177],"tags":[318471,367437,53647,488021,367696],"class_list":["post-2503611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-celebrities","tag-everett-collection","tag-ian-somerhalder","tag-netflix-series","tag-somerhalder","tag-vampire-diaries"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Ian-Somerhalder-shares-\u2018controversial-reason-he-\u2018pulled-the-plug-on.com2Fen2Faol_page_six_articles_9322F2cb89a19494f7e3ac329a602a4d4b643.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2503611"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503611\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2503613,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2503611\/revisions\/2503613"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2503612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2503611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2503611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2503611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}