It’s hard to picture anyone other than Nina Dobrev playing Elena Gilbert in The Vampire Diaries – but that very well could have been our reality.

The Vampire Diaries premiered in 2009 and lasted for eight successful seasons.

The mystery thriller was bound to be a huge success due to everyone’s obsession with vampire romance.

In part, we can think the Twilight saga for that!

The wildest detail of all is that Ashley Tisdale could have taken the role of Elena instead of Nina. How different would the show have been if that had been the case?

Why did Ashley Tisdale turn down ‘The Vampire Diaries’?

Ashley Tisdale turned down the leading role of Elena in The Vampire Diaries to star in Hellcats on The CW.

Unfortunately, Hellcats was canceled after one season. The cheerleader-themed show was quite interesting to follow, but it wasn’t received well by audiences.

Picturing Ashley in the role of Elena is a bit challenging when you think about some of the more cutesy and upbeat roles she’s done in the past such as High School Musical and The Suite Life of Zack & Cody on Disney Channel.

Still, Ashley is a dynamic actress who would’ve been able to take on a role as dark and serious as Elena if fate had allowed.

Fortunately, the role of Elena was well managed in a flawless manner by Nina.

Since Nina was filming The Vampire Diaries alongside Ian Somerhalder, they ended up dating in real life.

The relationship didn’t last, but it’s interesting to think about how they might not have ever gotten romantically involved at all if Ashley had taken the role over Nina.