It seems Ian Somerhalder has all but given up about Nina Dobrev's return to "The Vampire Diaries" and that's fine since Nikki Reed's husband said that the show can survive even with Elena's exit.

Talking to Variety, Ian Somerhalder said that he's one of those who had reservations about Nina Dobrev's exit from "The Vampire Diaries."

"I thought it was going to be a huge departure for the typical formula of our show," he said. "By virtue of the fact that it wasn't a huge leap for mankind, as far as changing it up, there were some differences that sort of mixed up the formula."

"What we've just started shooting is such a departure (from what is expected of the show). I just started shooting episode 10, which is a concept episode," Nikki Reed's husband continued.

"The episode was really about Damon, but that's not why I think it was the best at all. The way the story was put together ... every artisan from set to producers to wardrobe to everyone was just so on-point."

Ian Somerhalder also revealed that it was the one episode that caused creators Kevin Williamson and Julie Plec sleepless nights trying to come up with a very good story that would hopefully pave the way for the rest of the season.

"It was a Civil War episode. I was covered in dirt and gunpowder with things blowing up around me. From a Monday to a Friday, I lost six pounds," Nina Dobrev's ex added.

Nina Dobrev announced her exit from "The Vampire Diaries" earlier this year amid rumors that Ian Somerhalder's marriage to Nikki Reed is causing tension between the former lovers.

The actress made the announcement on her Instagram as Nina Dobrev claimed that she always knew Elena would exit by season six.

"Within those six years I got the journey of a lifetime. I was a human, a vampire, a doppelganger, a crazy immortal, a doppelganger pretending to be human, a human pretending to be a doppelganger," she wrote. "I got kidnapped, killed, resurrected, tortured, cursed, body-snatched, was dead and undead."