Vampire Diaries' Ian Somerhalder: It'll Be Quite Some Time Before Damon Embraces Elena's Love

The Vampire Diaries gang is embarking on a journey that could forever change their future.

With Kol dead and Jeremy's mark (aka map) fully grown, Professor Shane can now lead Damon, Elena, Stefan, Rebekah, Bonnie and Jeremy to a remote location that holds the cure to vampirism. Once faced with the idea of becoming human again, everyone begins to think of what they want — or don't want — for their future.

The Vampire Diaries: Who's going to die?

"It's pretty plain and simple. Damon has no desire for himself or Elena to take this crap and he's thinking, 'Why would one want to do that?" Ian Somerhalder tells TVGuide.com. "But it's what she wants and the whole reason Damon is here is for the woman he loves. Her desire and her safety is his whole life at this point."

Damon also fears that if Elena becomes human again, she'll no longer love him, whether it's because it breaks the sire bond or because she comes to her senses. Elena says that being human won't change a thing, but Somerhalder is skeptical. "I think there's a 50-50 chance that this girl is in love with him."

The Vampire Diaries New Posters: Who's uniting and who's returning?

Even if their love is real, Somerhalder admits that he's not sure that Damon could ever embrace it — at least not in the near future. Why? Blame Katherine. 

"It's safe to say it would ultimately be quite some time before he would allow himself to [fall in love]," Somerhalder says. "Even as dumb and crazy as Damon can be, it's like, 'ouch fire hot, ouch fire hot, ouch fire hot.' I would hope the man would take a break. Hell, people get burned over a six-month relationship and take a year to heal. If you got screwed over for 150 years, you can imagine how that carries forward.

So will Damon and Elena end up together in the long run? Not without some serious complications, Somerhalder says. "That romantic in us wants to believe that would be the case, that they would be able to work themselves out, but then there's this thing called story on The Vampire Diaries, and it's very difficult to let people be happy for very long."