Rumors of "The Vampire Diaries" actor Ian Somerhalder replacing Jamie Dornan in "Fifty Shades of Grey" franchise have emerged and spread like wildfire that some fans were surprised and even Dornan himself. But finally, the "Fifty Shades Darker" actor has put these rumors to rest during an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live on Thursday.
The host of the talk show asked Jamie Dornan if rumors about Ian Somerhalder taking the role of the mysterious and sexy Christian Grey and he replied that he didn't know about the rumors. The actor then added, "That would be really hard for them to do, considering we shot both of the movies. That's an expensive mistake, I'll put it that way. But good luck to him - he'll be great!" With Dornan's statement, all rumors about Somerhalder taking over in "Fifty Shades Darker" have been debunked.
This isn't the first time that Ian Somerhalder has been linked to the "Fifty Shades of Grey" franchise. While it's clear now that he won't play as Christian Grey in "Fifty Shades Darker," the 37-year-old actor had been one of the candidates to play the business-savvy young man who's into BDSM. Fans had wanted to see Somerhalder bare it all and pull off the role of Grey ever since the movie franchise was greenlit, but obviously, this part went to Jamie Dornan, who portrayed it well.
Once "Fifty Shades of Grey" released in 2015, various rumors regarding Jamie Dornan and Dakota Johnson have surfaced. There had been reports about the co-stars having an affair to rumors about Dornan's wife, Amelia Warner, getting in the way of Dornan's filming the sequel, "Fifty Shades Darker." There were even reports suggesting that Warner wanted Dornan to drop the project because she felt that her husband's sex scenes were too much. But clearly, there's no stopping the hunk from portraying the role as the sequel is set to release in February 2017.