The Vampire Diaries Spoilers Ian Somerhalder Dishes About Damon's Humanization

The NY Post got some juicy Damon dish from Ian Somerhalder about his character's rapid humanization and what that means for his different relationships. Damon's emotions are showing and the TVD fandom loves it ;).

PW: So you just weren't anticipating his evolution happening so quickly?
Ian: One of the appeals of the show is that it moves very quickly, which is fun because TV doesn’t typically move that way all the time. So Damon went through a pretty quick process of coming to town with an agenda to finding out that his agenda was completely wrong to staying in town because he started to care for people. That raised the stakes for him in a big way. When you forge relationships, you run the risk of caring. That makes it hard to walk away. And Damon, unfortunately, found himself subconsciously wanting to nurture those relationships. Now, he really cares about someone he wouldn’t have normally given a flying s*** about, pardon my French [laughs].

PW: It seems like his relationship with Elena almost opened him up to care about Rose so deeply.
Ian: We’re starting to see human similarities in him, which I understand are important, but it’s a fine balance between having him be Damon but not be Stefan. Stefan has this beautiful humanity but in all reality, Stefan has just grown really good -- through lots of discipline -- at controlling his urge to kill. Because don’t forget, Stefan natural instincts are to kill.

PW: Would you say that we're about to see Damon's dangerous side emerge again?
Ian: It’s difficult to create that fine line of being a caring individual and having him be a brutal killer who can, like Stefan, just turn it off. Does he have the capacity to love? That is his journey onto itself. Damon, I truly think, is being taken for a ride. This emotional journey for him is really difficult. But whether Damon helps a kitten out of a tree or brutally rips someone’s head off, he’ll do it in his own way. And he’ll probably do both of them with the exact same smile.

Read the full interview over at the NY Post.