Giannis Antetokounmpo says he would love to stay with Bucks, but sees writing on the wall: 'I want to be here to win' Chris CwikFebruary 5, 2026 at 4:19 AM 0 Giannis Antetokounmpo may have already played his final game with the Milwaukee Bucks. After years of sticking with the franchise, Antetokounmpo seems likely to be traded before the Thursday deadline. Over the years, Antetokounmpo has shown incredible loyalty to the organization, resigning multiple times when many expected he would leave and join a franchise with more superstar talent.

- - Giannis Antetokounmpo says he would love to stay with Bucks, but sees writing on the wall: 'I want to be here to win'

Chris CwikFebruary 5, 2026 at 4:19 AM

0

Giannis Antetokounmpo may have already played his final game with the Milwaukee Bucks. After years of sticking with the franchise, Antetokounmpo seems likely to be traded before the Thursday deadline.

Over the years, Antetokounmpo has shown incredible loyalty to the organization, re-signing multiple times when many expected he would leave and join a franchise with more superstar talent. Every time he's asked, Antetokounmpo always expresses his commitment to both the team and city.

But he also sees the writing on the wall.

With the trade deadline fast approaching, Antetokounmpo gave multiple interviews to local reporters reiterating his feeling toward the city of Milwaukee while also acknowledging that it's probably time for him to be shipped off to another franchise.

Antetokounmpo spoke to both the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel and The Athletic ahead of the deadline, providing similar quotes to both outlets about his current situation.

When asked about leaving the Bucks, Antetokounmpo laid out all the reasons why he doesn't want to leave Milwaukee. He mentioned that his children were born in the city, his dad was buried in the city and his mom owns a house in the city. "On what planet, on what Earth, would somebody want to leave this," Antetokounmpo expressed.

When asked what he would prefer moving forward, Antetokounmpo said he wanted to remain a Buck for the rest of his life ... but with a significant caveat: The team needs to be able to win a championship.

With the team sitting at 19-29 entering play Wednesday, Antetokounmpo knows that's not a possibility.

"Brother, if you ask me deep down what I want today, I want to be a Milwaukee Buck for the rest of my career," Antetokounmpo said. "I want to win here, another championship. And if you can tell me that's possible, let's just hang up the phone.

"You know basketball. You see basketball. You understand basketball. You've been around greatness. You've been around a championship team. You've been around a good culture. You've been around when the popcorn was popping. You were around; you saw it. If you tell me that that's possible, we can hang up the phone and keep on moving with our day."

It's not the first time this season Antetokounmpo has been critical of the team's play. In January, he called out teammates, saying the Bucks were being "selfish" on the court.

And while Antetokounmpo has still never officially requested a trade away from the Bucks, he made it clear he doesn't want to play for a team where he's "fighting for my life to make the playoffs."

That's a good description of the Bucks this season. If Antetokounmpo stuck it out, the Bucks would still be in a tough spot the rest of the way. And if the team rallied down the stretch to make the postseason, it likely wouldn't be seeded high. Barring an incredible turnaround and a superhuman effort from Antetokounmpo, it's tough to see the Bucks winning multiple playoff series against higher-rated teams in that scenario.

For that reason, it seems likely Antetokounmpo is on his way out. He not only seems open to the deal, but it might be the best thing for the Bucks' franchise at this point. Milwaukee stands to gain a number of draft picks or talented, young players in an Antetokounmpo trade. That could help the team rebuild much faster.

Still, it would be a sad end for Antetokounmpo and the team. No player has defined loyalty in this era more than Antetokounmpo. Seeing him leave the Bucks feels wrong, even if it's the best thing for both sides at this point.

Original Article on Source

Source: "AOL Sports"

Read More

---

Source: Sports

Published: February 04, 2026 at 07:28PM on Source: MANUEL MAG

#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle

Leon Draisaitl is Germany's flag bearer for opening ceremony before his Olympic debut February 5, 2026 at 4:11 AM 0 Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl celebrates a goal against the Los Angeles Kings during the second period of an NHL game, in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP) () MILAN (AP) — Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl was named Wednesday as one of Germany's flagbearers for the Milan Cortina opening ceremony in a sign of recognition for one of the NHL's biggest stars as the league returns to the Winter Olympics.

- - Leon Draisaitl is Germany's flag bearer for opening ceremony before his Olympic debut

February 5, 2026 at 4:11 AM

0

Edmonton Oilers' Leon Draisaitl celebrates a goal against the Los Angeles Kings during the second period of an NHL game, in Edmonton, Alberta, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (Jason Franson/The Canadian Press via AP) ()

MILAN (AP) — Edmonton Oilers center Leon Draisaitl was named Wednesday as one of Germany's flagbearers for the Milan Cortina opening ceremony in a sign of recognition for one of the NHL's biggest stars as the league returns to the Winter Olympics.

In a rare honor for a first-time Olympian, Draisaitl and ski jumper Katharina Schmid will carry the German flag in Friday's ceremony after they won both an internal poll of German athletes and a public vote. More than 135,000 people took part, the German Olympic committee said.

Draisaitl's opponents in the vote for male flagbearer were Tobias Wendl, who has won six career Olympic gold medals in luge since 2014, winning every Olympic event he's entered, and Nordic combined skier Johannes Rydzek, who's heading into his fifth Olympics and won two gold medals in 2018.

When it shortlisted Draisaitl for the vote, the German Olympic committee said its criteria for a flagbearer included a history of sporting success and being a popular role model for fairness in sports.

The main ceremony is in Milan. There will be other ceremonies and athlete parades in the Italian cities of Predazzo, Livigno and Cortina d'Ampezzo.

Schmid is heading into her fourth Olympics and won silver medals in 2018 and 2022. She will carry the German flag in Predazzo and Draisaitl will be in Milan.

The last time the NHL took part in the Winter Olympics in 2014, Draisaitl was an 18-year-old playing junior hockey in Canada. He was drafted by the Oilers later that year.

Draisaitl was the NHL MVP in the pandemic-shortened 2019-20 season, when he led the league in scoring with 110 points. He was the leading goal-scorer last season before he and longtime teammate Connor McDavid helped Edmonton make a second consecutive trip to the Stanley Cup Final. ___

AP Winter Olympics: https://ift.tt/DXFyYP8

Original Article on Source

Source: "AOL Sports"

Read More

---

Source: Sports

Published: February 04, 2026 at 07:28PM on Source: MANUEL MAG

#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle

Why a 2026 World Cup boycott is unlikely to be successful Kevin BaxterFebruary 4, 2026 at 11:00 PM 0 FIFA President Gianni Infantino gives President Donald Trump the FIFA Peace Prize at the Kennedy Center on Dec. 5. (Chris Carlson / ) Calls for a Europeanled World Cup boycott have grown louder and louder in recent weeks. Yet the possibility one could happen is "slim to none," said Alan Rothenberg, a man who knows a little bit about both World Cups and boycotts. Rothenberg organized the soccer tournament at the 1984 L.A. Games, which was boycotted by 19 countries.

- - Why a 2026 World Cup boycott is unlikely to be successful

Kevin BaxterFebruary 4, 2026 at 11:00 PM

0

FIFA President Gianni Infantino gives President Donald Trump the FIFA Peace Prize at the Kennedy Center on Dec. 5. (Chris Carlson / )

Calls for a European-led World Cup boycott have grown louder and louder in recent weeks. Yet the possibility one could happen is "slim to none," said Alan Rothenberg, a man who knows a little bit about both World Cups and boycotts.

Rothenberg organized the soccer tournament at the 1984 L.A. Games, which was boycotted by 19 countries. Ten years later, he led the organization that put on the 1994 World Cup, the first held in the U.S. and still the best-attended in history.

So while politicians and soccer officials in several key European countries — Germany, France, Denmark and the United Kingdom, among others — have raised the idea of skipping this summer's World Cup, largely in response to President Trump's demands that Denmark hand over Greenland, Rothenberg knows that talk is all bluster.

A boycott is not likely to happen for a number of reasons.

Read more:German soccer leader adds to calls for boycott of World Cup matches in United States

For starters the World Cup is run by the same organization, FIFA, which sanctions virtually every level of soccer globally, from the men's and women's World Cups, to confederation competitions including the UEFA Championships and the Copa América, to most major age-group tournaments. And since it both writes and enforces its own laws, it can ban a federation — and, by extension, its national teams — from any and all competitions.

So imagine the price a single country, say Spain, would pay for refusing to play World Cup games in the U.S. FIFA could ban its national team from the Euros and its women's team from next summer's World Cup, costing the federation millions of dollars in revenue. It could also prohibit Spanish youth teams from participating in age-group competitions and cut Spain off from any FIFA funding.

Consider the case of Russia. After that country invaded neighboring Ukraine in the winter of 2022, FIFA — under enormous international pressure — banned Russia from international soccer completely, barring it from competing in qualifying for the 2022 and 2026 World Cups and keeping it out of the 2024 Euros.

As a result, Russia has not played in a competitive match since November 2021.

U.S. President Donald Trump, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum and Canadian prime minister Mark Carney stand on stage with IOC President Gianni Infantino at the Kennedy Center in December, (Kevin Dietsch / Getty Images)

(FIFA's penalties can be arbitrary and maddeningly inconsistent, however. In 2014, four days after the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia invaded Ukraine the first time, annexing Crimea. Yet less than four months later Russia played in the World Cup and four years later it hosted the tournament, with FIFA president Gianni Infantino sitting beside Vladimir Putin, who ordered both the 2014 and 2022 invasions. Now Infantino is pushing to lift the sanctions on Russia completely despite the fact Putin has stepped up the war, bombing civilians and resisting calls for peace.)

No country has boycotted a World Cup since World War II, though Olympic boycotts have been more frequent with coalitions of as many as five dozen countries refusing to take part in the Summer Games four times between 1956 and 1984.

Those protests were largely coordinated by politicians, not athletes or their federations. President Carter led the largest boycott, rallying more than 60 nations to skip the 1980 Moscow Olympics following the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Four years later, a group of mostly Soviet Bloc countries stayed home from the L.A. Olympics in response.

No World Cup boycott could hope to succeed without a similar coalition and that's unlikely to happen. But that hasn't stopped people from talking about one just the same.

Read more:California lawmakers flag concerns about World Cup visas, ban threats and ticket prices

In Germany, Oke Gottlich, one of the German soccer federation's 11 vice presidents, said last month that it's time to "seriously consider a boycott." Bernd Neuendorf, the federation president, said the idea was not "a major debate at all," calling it "completely misguided."

Last Saturday, Germany officially ruled out a boycott.

In France, where politicians have discussed a boycott, sports minister Marina Ferrari and Philippe Diallo, president of the country's soccer federation, both dismissed such talk out of hand.

Still, the idea isn't completely dead. Mogens Jensen, who serves in the Danish parliament, said a World Cup boycott was "one of the last tools in the toolbox" and said if the U.S. were to instigate a real conflict, then a "boycott discussion in very, very relevant."

Still, as improbable as a boycott may be, keeping alive the possibility may be just as effective as actually following through with it. Talk of some sort of World Cup protest, for example, may have played a part in Trump's decision to back off his threats of invading Greenland, the issue that has most angered Europeans.

But that's not the only issue. Coverage of immigration raids in Minnesota and threats by Trump — the host of the U.S. portion of the World Cup — to bomb Iran (a World Cup qualifier) after using the military to extract the president of Venezuela have created a vision of violence and chaos in the U.S. that has frightened and appalled many in Europe.

"I don't know what things are going to look like in June," said Andrew Bertoli, an assistant professor at IE University in Segovia, Spain, and an expert on the social and political effects of sports. "But the perceptions right now are the United States is in a very volatile political situation and it's very unusual."

If national soccer federations feel trapped between a rock and the World Cup, however, there's nothing to keep fans from voting with their wallets and electing to stay home.

Others have opted to attend matches only in Mexico or Canada, which are sharing hosting duties with the U.S., while some have changed their mind about coming to the tournament at all and have reportedly begun reselling their tickets. FIFA will benefit from the change in plans, gaining a 15% fee from the seller and a 15% fee from the buyer of resold tickets.

"I absolutely think that could prevent tourists from going to the United States," said Bertoli, the Segovia professor.

Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report.

This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.

Original Article on Source

Source: "AOL Sports"

Read More

---

Source: Sports

Published: February 04, 2026 at 07:27PM on Source: MANUEL MAG

#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle

USA TODAY and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article. Pricing and availability subject to change. Studentathletes as employees? Deion Sanders' program a 'big flashing light' in debate Brent Schrotenboer, USA TODAYFebruary 4, 2026 at 8:31 PM 1 Studentathletes as employees? Deion Sanders' program a 'big flashing light' in debate A heated debate about college sports recently has been raging in Congress and the federal court system: Should college athletes be considered employees who should be provided hourly wages and labor rights? The NCAA and Republican Sen.

USA TODAY and Yahoo may earn commission from links in this article. Pricing and availability subject to change.

Student-athletes as employees? Deion Sanders' program a 'big flashing light' in debate

Brent Schrotenboer, USA TODAYFebruary 4, 2026 at 8:31 PM

1

Student-athletes as employees? Deion Sanders' program a 'big flashing light' in debate

A heated debate about college sports recently has been raging in Congress and the federal court system: Should college athletes be considered employees who should be provided hourly wages and labor rights?

The NCAA and Republican Sen. Ted Cruz say definitely not.

But player advocates say yes, they should. And there's one team they can hold up as the poster case for how players are treated as employees under the control of a pro-style program — Colorado with football coach Deion Sanders.

Sanders, 58, has been unabashed about it, most recently with an NFL-style disciplinary system in which players are fined for team rules violations, including $500 for being late to practice.

"Viewed in a broader context, what Sanders is doing is an extension of longstanding control tactics by NCAA coaches," Illinois law professor Michael LeRoy told USA TODAY Sports. "They set schedules, manage work, expect performance, push out or cut deficient players, recruit better ones. But Sanders' approach strips any remaining veneer from the idea that his players are not employees."

'Train wreck.' Unlimited transfer portal 'sucking life out of college sports.' Ask man who ignited it

Toppmeyer: NCAA lied about NIL. College sports have never been more popular

The way he operates and markets his program takes the debate to a different level, complete with dozens of annual free-agent signings and a de facto waiver wire for players who have fallen out of favor.

"At the end of the day, man, this is an NFL-based program," Colorado receiver Sincere Brown said in September. "It's like a mini-NFL program."

What's at stake in this debate about college athletes as employees?

It's about more money and rights for players. Those who oppose college athletes as employees generally say it would be too expensive for colleges that already are struggling to come up with the money to pay players under the revenue-sharing terms of the House vs. NCAA legal settlement.

One pending lawsuit, Johnson vs. the NCAA, wants college athletes classified as employees under the Fair Labor Standards Act so they can be entitled to wages for services they provided unrelated to academics. That case is still active in federal court after being filed by plaintiffs attorney Paul McDonald in 2019.

"Certainly, what's going on in Colorado is a big flashing light kind of thing," McDonald told USA TODAY Sports.

But to McDonald and his case, the issue is much simpler: Why can regular college students earn employee wages for selling popcorn at games in a work-study program but not student-athletes for playing in the games? He's pushing for an answer in court.

The political football of college athletes as employees

Separately, under the National Labor Relations Act, players as employees could unionize and reach a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with private schools or conferences for more money and benefits. In exchange, they would make tradeoffs in a CBA, such as a cap on the number of times a player can transfer to a new school.

In 2021, the then-general counsel of the National Labor Relations Board, Jennifer Abruzzo, issued a memo that said she considered college athletes to be employees under the NLRA.

"Under common law, an employee includes a person 'who perform(s) services for another and (is) subject to the other's control or right of control,'" the memo stated. The memo said payment for services "is strongly indicative of employee status."

The Trump Administration rescinded that memo in 2025. Now the U.S. Congress is in conflict about the issue as it considers legislation to regulate college sports. Democrats don't want to forbid employment status for college athletes while Cruz recently told ESPN it was "absolutely critical" to clarify "that student athletes are not employees."

2003: Deion Sanders and family celebrate Kids Day at the New York Knicks vs. New Orleans Hornets NBA game at Madison Square Garden in New York, on Nov. 29, 2003.

" data-src=https://ift.tt/ghywjU1 class=caas-img data-headline="See Deion Sanders' 'Prime Time' career in football, baseball and coaching" data-caption="

2003: Deion Sanders and family celebrate Kids Day at the New York Knicks vs. New Orleans Hornets NBA game at Madison Square Garden in New York, on Nov. 29, 2003.

">2003: Deion Sanders and family celebrate Kids Day at the New York Knicks vs. New Orleans Hornets NBA game at Madison Square Garden in New York, on Nov. 29, 2003.

" src=https://ift.tt/ghywjU1 class=caas-img>2000: Washington's Deion Sanders jukes the Detroit Lions' Brock Olivo at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, on Sept. 10, 2000.

" data-src=https://ift.tt/q56KzkE class=caas-img data-headline="See Deion Sanders' 'Prime Time' career in football, baseball and coaching" data-caption="

2000: Washington's Deion Sanders jukes the Detroit Lions' Brock Olivo at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, on Sept. 10, 2000.

">2000: Washington's Deion Sanders jukes the Detroit Lions' Brock Olivo at the Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan, on Sept. 10, 2000.

" src=https://ift.tt/q56KzkE class=caas-img>

1997: Deion Sanders at the plate for the Cincinnati Reds during the 1997 season. The Reds were among four different MLB teams that Sanders played for during a nine-season career.

" data-src=https://ift.tt/cDwofnS class=caas-img data-headline="See Deion Sanders' 'Prime Time' career in football, baseball and coaching" data-caption="

1997: Deion Sanders at the plate for the Cincinnati Reds during the 1997 season. The Reds were among four different MLB teams that Sanders played for during a nine-season career.

">1997: Deion Sanders at the plate for the Cincinnati Reds during the 1997 season. The Reds were among four different MLB teams that Sanders played for during a nine-season career.

" src=https://ift.tt/cDwofnS class=caas-img>

1 / 34See Deion Sanders' 'Prime Time' career in football, baseball and coachingHead coach Deion Sanders of the Colorado Buffaloes walks the sideline during the first quarter against the Wyoming Cowboys at Folsom Field on Sept. 20, 2025 in Boulder, Colo.The 'mini-NFL program' under Deion Sanders

To be sure, Sanders promotes classwork and education at Colorado. He has said he wants to develop his players as young men, not just football players.

At the same time, probably no other major college sports program in America is a better example of a college team treating players like employees in a setting that advertises itself as a pro development operation. Here are some examples below.

Deion Sanders issues fines for rules violations

Colorado players are fined for infractions like in the NFL — $400 for being late to a meeting and up to $5,000 for "social media misconduct."

This isn't the first time a college program has tried this. In 2015, the Richmond Times-Dispatch in Virginia reported Virginia Tech had a system for fining players, including $100 for drawing a personal foul penalty. The newspaper said Virginia Tech's athletic director "had no idea" about it and discontinued it immediately.

"The fact that the players are required to follow specific rules and are subject to consequences for violating them is a level of control often seen in the employment context," Abruzzo told USA TODAY Sports. "This conduct seems to be similar to an employer taking action against a worker for a handbook rule infraction. But, rather than suspend the worker, thus making them unavailable for work (games), for example, he assesses fines."

Deion Sanders' pro-style roster control

Sanders pioneered the practice of signing dozens of free-agent transfers every year, even more so than NFL teams. This year, he's signing players for money under the national revenue-sharing rules that started last July. He also has used the transfer portal as a pro-style waiver wire as an escape hatch for players who underperform. He's not the only coach who controls roster spots like this, but he's been the most famous example of it. He's said he had to "get rid of" the mess he inherited.

"Those of you we don't run off, we're gonna make you quit," Sanders told his inherited Colorado players at his first team meeting in December 2022.

Deion Sanders 'wanted pros' for pro development

Sanders has advertised his program as a pro-development program filled with former NFL players and coaches. Last year, three Pro Football Hall of Famers were on staff. His offensive coordinator last year, Pat Shurmur, previously was the head coach of the NFL's Cleveland Browns and New York Giants.

"We have two new coordinators that are wonderful, that combined I believe they have over 35 years of NFL experience, because I wanted pros," Sanders said in 2024. "It's like a navigational system. You can't tell me where to go unless you've been there (the NFL)."

Online classes and reality TV at Colorado

His players previously signed releases or agreements to appear in a reality show featuring Sanders on Amazon Prime Video, including for compensation.

Many of his players don't attend classes in-person and do their college classwork online instead. His quarterback son Shedeur Sanders said he attended only one in-person class in his time at Colorado. This isn't unique to Colorado and isn't unusual for athletes after the pandemic of 2020, but it doesn't exactly contribute to the notion players are living the campus life as "student-athletes." Instead, it adds to the notion these players are separated from the rest of the student body while "working" on a separate revenue-generating mission.

"The rules, the perhaps implied coercion to appear on and promote the reality TV shows for his financial gain, and the lack of taking in-person classes if as a consequence of scheduling conflicts related to games, traveling, practice (and) training where academics is forced to take a second seat to athletics, all together suggest that the player is more akin to an employee than a student," Abruzzo said.

'Pro Day' at Colorado on NFL Network

Sanders hosted a massive "pro day" event last April, in which NFL scouts, coaches, executives and media came to campus to measure his players and watch them work out before the NFL draft. Other schools have "pro days," too, but this was televised on the NFL Network — the kind of marketing and publicity that other programs want but few can get.

Sanders called it "a tremendous boost for our program and what we're trying to accomplish here at CU."

'Focused on the NFL' at Colorado

To legal experts, it's a matter of control and compensation in exchange for services provided, not marketing. In the Johnson vs. NCAA case, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeal set up a test to determine whether minimum-wage law applies to college athletes.

The court said they may be considered employees in this context if they "perform services for another party, that are "necessarily and primarily for the (other party's) benefit," under that party's control or right of control and in return for "express" or "implied" compensation or "in-kind benefits."

"My view has long been that the football and basketball players in the Power 5 conferences easily meet the definition of employee," said Marc Edelman, law professor at Baruch College in New York. "So while Deion Sanders adding fines to compensated athletes marks another obvious indicia of employment status, this decision just seems to be indicative of a far broader scope of control over athletes, extending from control over what they wear to control over their social media."

Sanders has never tried to hide what he's been trying to build. At his introductory news conference in December 2022, he said he wanted his players focused on more than making money from their names, images and likenesses (NIL).

"I'm not crazy about the NILs, but I understand the NILs," Sanders said then. "But I would rather our kids be focused on the NFL, not just the NIL."

Follow reporter Brent Schrotenboer @Schrotenboer. Email: [email protected]

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why Colorado's Deion Sanders fuels labor debate over college players

Original Article on Source

Source: "AOL Sports"

Read More

---

Source: Sports

Published: February 04, 2026 at 07:27PM on Source: MANUEL MAG

#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle

Also, Julie Plec reveals why Bamon never happened. Vampire Diaries boss reveals the real reason they killed Katherine in season 5 Also, Julie Plec reveals why Bamon never happened. By Samantha Highfill :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/SamanthaHighfillauthorphoto0917254112e875604542d49744a27de908d183.jpg) Samantha Highfill Samantha Highfill is an executive editor at , where she's worked for more than 12 years covering television. EW's editorial guidelines August 18, 2021 9:00 a.m. ET Katherine Pierce was a staple of the Vampire Diaries universe.

Also, Julie Plec reveals why Bamon never happened.

Vampire Diaries boss reveals the real reason they killed Katherine in season 5

Also, Julie Plec reveals why Bamon never happened.

By Samantha Highfill

Samantha Highfill

Samantha Highfill is an executive editor at **, where she's worked for more than 12 years covering television.

EW's editorial guidelines

August 18, 2021 9:00 a.m. ET

Katherine Pierce was a staple of the *Vampire Diaries* universe. But at one point in the series, the writers had to fight to tell more of her story.

"We had to negotiate for the right to let Nina [Dobrev] play Katherine again because the season 2 Katherine [story] had really taken everything out of her and the network was being very protective," executive producer Julie Plec says about the show's fifth season during episode 5 of *EW's Binge: The Vampire Diaries*. "[The network] and studio were being very protective and they were like, 'You can't do that anymore, you can't have Katherine.'"

On an earlier episode of the podcast, Dobrev spoke about how exhausted she was at the end of season 2, the first season in which she played both Elena and Katherine in the present day. So when it came time to make Katherine human and even introduce a third Petrova doppelgänger, the writers had to get creative. "We had to basically beg the network to let us even write story for Katherine," Plec says, noting that "the triplegänger made the whole thing worth it."

Nina Dobrev as Katherine Pierce on 'The Vampire Diaries'. Tina Rowden/The CW

Fans will remember that season 5 featured Katherine taking over Elena's body, which meant that for a good chunk of the season, Dobrev only had one character to play. And then, eventually, Katherine met her demise, a decision that also came about following those negotiations. "I literally think we had to say we'll kill her in order to get permission to use her," Plec recalls.

Additionally, during the podcast, Plec discusses the choice to have Bonnie (Kat Graham) and Damon (Ian Somerhalder) be the two characters who "die" together at the end of season 5, which led to a discussion about Bamon, the popular ship. "Bonnie and Damon had a thing in the books we had sort of always said, 'We don't buy a romantic connection between Bonnie and Damon because Damon's just done too many terrible things and Bonnie just has more integrity than that,'" Plec says. "But we wanted to service that relationship in the canon a little bit."

For more about season 5—and the series overall—listen to the full episode below:

**To listen, subscribe to *EW's Binge: The Vampire Diaries* feed via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also subscribe to EW's YouTube page to catch all the video interviews and stay tuned to EW.com.**

**Related content:**

- *Vampire Diaries* bosses on the 'controversial' sire bond and the role Pedro Pascal auditioned for

- *Vampire Diaries* boss Julie Plec explains why Klaroline could never happen today

- *Vampire Diaries* star Paul Wesley on Stelena's season 2 split: I was 'dealing with my own stuff' on screen

- *Vampire Diaries* creators talk season 1 Katherine twist, the fan response that left them 'aghast'

- Sci-Fi & Fantasy Shows

Original Article on Source

Source: "EW Sci-Fi"

Read More

---

Source: Sci-Fi

Published: February 04, 2026 at 06:19PM on Source: MANUEL MAG

#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle

Vampire Diaries star Ian Somerhalder reveals why he was jealous of Chris Wood's Kai By Samantha Highfill :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/SamanthaHighfillauthorphoto0917254112e875604542d49744a27de908d183.jpg) Samantha Highfill Samantha Highfill is an executive editor at , where she's worked for more than 12 years covering television. EW's editorial guidelines August 20, 2021 9:00 a.m. ET The Vampire Diaries creators have talked a lot about the importance of a great villain for the series, and in its later seasons, there was one villain that stood out among the rest: Kai Parker (Chris Wood).

Vampire Diaries star Ian Somerhalder reveals why he was jealous of Chris Wood's Kai

By Samantha Highfill

Samantha Highfill

Samantha Highfill is an executive editor at **, where she's worked for more than 12 years covering television.

EW's editorial guidelines

August 20, 2021 9:00 a.m. ET

The* Vampire Diaries* creators have talked a lot about the importance of a great villain for the series, and in its later seasons, there was one villain that stood out among the rest: Kai Parker (Chris Wood). Introduced in season 6, the sociopathic siphoner quickly became a favorite in the *TVD* fandom, and for Ian Somerhalder, whose Damon Salvatore was the series' first villain, Kai marked a significant shift for the show.

In episode 6 of *EW's Binge: The Vampire Diaries*, Somerhalder recalls his hesitation about Damon becoming a good — or at least better — guy in the show's third season. "I was so upset about the trajectory of Damon," Somerhalder says. "So much so that at one point I was sitting across from [executive producer] Julie [Plec] in her office in Atlanta almost in tears so angry about this."

Plec, along with her co-creator Kevin Williamson, explained that Damon couldn't be what they called a "one trick pony," that he was going to be the villain at times and the hero at others. But that's precisely why Somerhalder says he was jealous of what Chris Wood got to do as Kai in season 6. "That's why I was always so in love with what Chris Wood was doing on screen, because up until that moment, there was never a character in the show, other than Stefan in the Ripper age, that actually had the ability to not be so serious, to do horrific things but do it with a smile," Somerhalder says.

As far as Wood's inspiration for Kai, Wood, who's also on the podcast, says, "We talked about Ted Bundy if he was really funny. It was the worst person in the world who's also like maybe a good hang if you can get him to shut up for a second. That was sort of what I was always going for."

For more listen to the full podcast episode, featuring Somerhalder, Wood and executive producer Julie Plec, below:

**To listen, subscribe to *EW's Binge: The Vampire Diaries* feed via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also subscribe to EW's YouTube page to catch all the video interviews, and stay tuned to EW.com.**

**Related content:**

- *Vampire Diaries* boss reveals the real reason they killed Katherine in season 5

- *Vampire Diaries* bosses on the 'controversial' sire bond and the role Pedro Pascal auditioned for

- *Vampire Diaries* boss Julie Plec explains why Klaroline could never happen today

- *Vampire Diaries* star Paul Wesley on Stelena's season 2 split: I was 'dealing with my own stuff' on screen

- Sci-Fi & Fantasy Shows

Original Article on Source

Source: "EW Sci-Fi"

Read More

---

Source: Sci-Fi

Published: February 04, 2026 at 06:19PM on Source: MANUEL MAG

#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle

Listen to the final episode of EW's Binge: Vampire Diaries podcast. Vampire Diaries bosses on casting Enzo as a Salvatore brother and Damon's fate in the finale Listen to the final episode of EW's Binge: Vampire Diaries podcast. By Samantha Highfill :maxbytes(150000):stripicc()/SamanthaHighfillauthorphoto0917254112e875604542d49744a27de908d183.jpg) Samantha Highfill Samantha Highfill is an executive editor at , where she's worked for more than 12 years covering television. EW's editorial guidelines August 27, 2021 9:00 a.m.

Listen to the final episode of EW's Binge: Vampire Diaries podcast.

Vampire Diaries bosses on casting Enzo as a Salvatore brother and Damon's fate in the finale

Listen to the final episode of EW's Binge: Vampire Diaries podcast.

By Samantha Highfill

Samantha Highfill

Samantha Highfill is an executive editor at **, where she's worked for more than 12 years covering television.

EW's editorial guidelines

August 27, 2021 9:00 a.m. ET

For *The Vampire Diaries* creatives, casting Enzo was a particularly difficult task. Because originally, the role was going to be very different.

"You were supposed to be the third Salvatore brother," executive producer Julie Plec tells star Michael Malarkey in episode 8 of *EW's Binge: The Vampire Diaries*. Writer Brett Matthews adds, "That was always the plan, and then it went a different direction, but that's why it was so hard to find the person. We thought it was going to be a Salvatore brother, so we cast a very wide net [and] looked very hard." Ultimately, they scrapped that plan and made it so Enzo didn't share Salvatore blood, but he was a brother figure for Damon (Ian Somerhalder) for many years (and he was sired by Lily Salvatore).

But that wasn't the only plan that changed in the writers' room over the years. In discussing the *Vampire Diaries*' final season, Plec and Matthews recall the final major debate: Which Salvatore were they going to kill in the series finale? "We went back and forth in the writers' room all season long," Plec says. "We finally landed on: We're killing Damon. That's the right thing to do. He is the one with the consequence to pay. Stefan was morally a bit stronger of a character."

Michael Malarkey as Enzo and Ian Somerhalder as Damon on 'The Vampire Diaries'. Annette Brown/The CW; Bob Mahoney/The CW

Matthews adds, "Damon's a fairly obvious choice," noting that the writers really fell in love with the idea of Damon compelling Stefan (Paul Wesley) to let him die. But when executive producer Kevin Williamson proposed that it should be Stefan that dies, they started to rethink their plan. "It felt like dying for Stefan freed him from a lot of weight, whereas it felt like living for Damon freed him to go and be the man that he was always supposed to be," Plec says.

Of course, both Salvatores were meant to die in the original ending Plec and Williamson came up with during the show's second season. In that ending, "The boys would sacrifice themselves to save Elena so that Elena could go and have a life and be human and live," Plec recalls during the podcast. "To save her, they would die together, and that was always the pitch. And then when Nina [Dobrev] left, it felt like the show can't be as much about protecting Elena's happiness, although that's important to us, but we want to protect the bothers' happiness, we want them to get something out of this. Then it shifted to: We can't kill both of them for her because that feels somehow like nobody got what they wanted. Let's find a different way to give one of these brothers the happiness that they need and the other brother the closure that they need."

(One other way Dobrev leaving changed the plan? Plec says, "I thought that by the time we came back to the end of the series, whenever it was, that Elena would've found her way back to Stefan and Damon would've found a different path.")

For more about the final season, listen to the full podcast episode below:

**To listen, subscribe to *EW's Binge: The Vampire Diaries* feed via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can also subscribe to EW's YouTube page to catch all the video interviews, and stay tuned to EW.com.**

**Related content:**

- *Vampire Diaries* star Ian Somerhaldher reveals why he was jealous of Chris Wood's Kai

- *Vampire Diaries* boss reveals the real reason they killed Katherine in season 5

- *Vampire Diaries* bosses on the 'controversial' sire bond and the role Pedro Pascal auditioned for

- *Vampire Diaries* boss Julie Plec explains why Klaroline could never happen today

- Sci-Fi & Fantasy Shows

Original Article on Source

Source: "EW Sci-Fi"

Read More

---

Source: Sci-Fi

Published: February 04, 2026 at 06:19PM on Source: MANUEL MAG

#ShowBiz#Sports#Celebrities#Lifestyle