The Vampire Diaries' Paul Wesley Just Found His Next Big TV Show

Paul Wesley Vampire Diaries
(Image credit: The CW)
(Image credit: The CW)

Get ready to get your fairy tale on, Paul Wesley fans, as the Vampire Diaries vet has just signed on for a new show reteaming him with the supernatural drama's co-creator Kevin Williamson. Wesley has joined the cast of the CBS All Access original thriller Tell Me a Story, which already includes Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall. To understand Wesley's role better, you have to understand the context, so here is what you need to know.

Unlike Once Upon a Time's approach to fairy tales, the psychological thriller Tell Me a Story is a dark reimagining of some of the most famous story legends. Set in modern-day New York City, Season 1 will chronicle some form of sordid drama that entwines elements from The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, and Hansel and Gretel into a collective story. Those familiar with the material may notice the common thread between two of those stories is the presence of a wolf in the narrative. Uh oh.

Without any wolf-esque traits made evident, Paul Wesley was cast as Eddie, a troubled bartender who struggles with substance abuse involving drugs and alcohol. While he bartends, he also moonlights as a drug dealer and thief, alongside his brother Mitch, according to TV Line. Mitch never misses an opportunity to put down little brother Eddie, meaning their relationship is no better than the Salvatores' was in Season 1 of TVD. The potential parallels are going to be interesting to see, since Wesley is no stranger to playing the strained bonds of brotherhood.

It is hard to tell which fairy tale Paul Wesley's Eddie will specifically fit into. We know that Kim Cattrall will be portraying the grandmother of a character played by The Originals' Danielle Campbell, which seems to indicate they will be involved in the Little Red Riding Hood portion of the story. Nothing in his character description indicates Wesley's more fantastical ties, so he might be involved with Cattrall and Campbell, or maybe not at all. It's going to be interesting to learn Eddie's overall role in this story.

While fans of The Vampire Diaries may have wanted a reunion between Paul Wesley and Ian Somerhalder on their next projects, that is pretty unlikely. Somerhalder has already signed on for an upcoming Netflix series that features -- what else? -- vampires. Given that vampires and fairy tales are not so far off from each other, fictionally speaking, Wesley will be a strong fit for Tell Me a Story.

CBS All Access has yet to reveal a premiere date for Tell Me a Story, so stay tuned. For new upcoming and returning television shows, you can watch, check out CinemaBlend's guide to TV's summer premieres. If you are curious about forthcoming TV content that is set to stream on other services, CinemaBlend has you covered with our 2018 Netflix premiere rundown, as well as our guide to Amazon Prime's premiere schedule.

Britt Lawrence

Like a contented Hallmark movie character, Britt happily lives in the same city she grew up in. Along with movies and television, she is passionate about competitive figure skating. She has been writing about entertainment for 5 years, and as you may suspect, still finds it as entertaining to do as when she began.