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Steven R. McQueen on His Big "Vampire Diaries" Send-Off

Steven R. McQueen on His Big "Vampire Diaries" Send-Off

6:50·By Gemma G
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Actor Steven R McQueen returns to the YH Studio to tell us all about the departure of Jeremy Gilbert from The CW's long-running series "The Vampire Diaries" and what went down on his last day of filming! He also regales us with a couple celebrity impression, plus he tells us which of his cast mates is best at crying on cue and reveals his proudest moment from the show!

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Young Hollywood

Here's my first question for you. Okay. What's the weirdest bad smell you like? Weirdest bad smell.

Steven R. McQueen

You know what? Uh

Young Hollywood

Can I set this up first? It's true. Okay. We were talking about weird smells before we started rolling.

Steven R. McQueen

I don't know what she's talking about. This is a random question.

Young Hollywood

Yeah, it's just random. I just made it up.

Steven R. McQueen

A weird smell that I like. You know what sometimes if you're going through New York and like there's like there's like a sewer smell but like there's something you know what smell I'm talking about? Oh, my God, it's like a dirty, salty with a little pretzel

Young Hollywood

With like vanilla.

Steven R. McQueen

It's like vanilla garbage pretzel and for some reason.

Young Hollywood

I don't know the vanilla part. I don't know where you got that.

Steven R. McQueen

It's like a girl walked by. Maybe it's I don't know. It's just how I said I smell vanilla in there. All right, I don't know.

Young Hollywood

Good answer.

Steven R. McQueen

Thanks. I always enjoyed that smell. It's like I walk around. I'm like, I'm in New York right now. Yeah.

Young Hollywood

Oh, it's distinct. It's so good. Yeah.

Steven R. McQueen

I'm like uh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Young Hollywood

You can also take the subway in New York too. I don't know sometimes. Vampire Diaries and all that. You get car services, you know. Yeah. Well, maybe not anymore. Oh, yeah. Thank you. What are you going to do? You're going to go back to

Steven R. McQueen

Here's a little vinegar for the wound huh.

Young Hollywood

Sure. Okay. So, now that we have the we have Wilson. This is Wilson. I know you've done a great 2. 0. Arnold Schwarzenegger, Arnold impression before.

Steven R. McQueen

Arnold Arnold. I am not the tumor.

Young Hollywood

Who who are you? There you go. Just keep going. Oh, yeah. Sorry. I'm talking.

Steven R. McQueen

No, no. No. Go. Okay. Uh what do you want me to say?

Young Hollywood

Um I want a little Tom Hanks. A little uh Castaway. Wilson. That's a That's good.

Steven R. McQueen

Oh, thank you.

Young Hollywood

All right. So let's talk about. All right. Get ready for the cheers, people. Because you are exiting. There you go the Hanks. Thanks. Bring it. You are exiting Vampire Diaries. I don't know. Look, who graduated? He was okay with it? Sure. I mean, frankly, flunking. Missed 100 days of school and you could barely spell the word cat. But sure. He was fine with graduating early. We helped the process along. I'm going to get a drink. She okay? She will be. We all will. Somehow we'll all find a way to move on without you, Jeremy. Oh, hey. Just did. Oh, look at on the cap. I jacked a little going away present from Rick's girlfriend's dash. Put away your radio. Just watching the promo. Okay. I'm sad. Like I'm sad to see cuz he's such an endearing person and he's become so endearing to people. Yeah. Just the last moment cuz I know they always say it's a wrap for Steven. You know, they always do that and when you do a guest star on a show and it's one day, you're like, oh my gosh, this has been great. I can't imagine all those seasons later.

Steven R. McQueen

Yeah, six years. I you know, I started the show when I was I was uh I was I think 20. 19 when we shot the pilot and then 20 when we actually started. And uh you know, last day uh was weird. You know, it was one of those those moments where you kind of like had a countdown clock going. But you're like, oh, you know what? We're all hanging out with everyone. Everyone's laughing. You know, Malarkey just farted. You know, we're laughing about it. And then there was the last scene um which I I can't really say what happens uh but but

Young Hollywood

Of course, you can. Sure, you can. Why not? Well, you know. I mean, you've already left the show anyway. What's going to happen?

Steven R. McQueen

Right. Well, anyway, there's a scene where like I'm on the ground. And they kept on saying like, all right, let's do it again. Let's do it again. And like we did it about 10 times. I was like usual. Hey, uh Chris Grismer was a director of that episode and I was like, Grismer, what should we what's going on here? He's like, all right, one more time. They tilted the camera up and and faced it towards the door and uh and literally the entire cast the entire crew comes running out in superhero with a big old cake and like grabs my face and shoves my the cake in my face and I just like.

Young Hollywood

I heard about this.

Steven R. McQueen

And then it got it on camera. Yeah, and it's just one of those moments where it's like everything was coming to an end but these people I grew up with. You know, I learned to not be such a such a a dumb kid. Well, I guess I'm still a dumb kid. I play video games but uh you know, it's just a

Young Hollywood

80-inch TVs by the way. I'm a 65-inch by the way.

Steven R. McQueen

Oh, I'll say one day one day. You know. Um and uh I don't know. It's just one of those moments where it was it was family saying goodbye. Like sending me off and it was uh it was incredibly they shot the entire thing. There's footage of it and uh it was it was really special.

Young Hollywood

I wanted to ask you um about the whole UFC thing that you're into.

Steven R. McQueen

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And it's a sport and I'm just involved again.

Young Hollywood

Yeah. You what? No. I do I do train. You do train. No, I do. You do train. I wanted to know if there's anything you could teach me.

Steven R. McQueen

Uh well, I mean, what do you want to learn?

Young Hollywood

How to kick some butt. How to kick some serious behind. Okay. Um Like I want to know what to do if some creepola comes up to me in a bar and I want to just drop them.

Steven R. McQueen

You want to just kick them in the nuts. That's what that's what I recommend. He'll drop real quick.

Young Hollywood

I want you to give out some awards. Okay, to your cast mates. Because you're departing. All right. Who is the best crier on Q? And you can name yourself. Feel free.

Steven R. McQueen

No, I feel like Kat Graham. Kat Graham usually like we'll do take after take and like a lot of the time you'll see like people when it's on someone else's coverage, they'll kind of hold back. But Kat whether it's your coverage whether it's her coverage. She consistently brings it there emotionally and uh she's a consumment professional.

Young Hollywood

Season one. Season one. Season one. Um Who do you think does the best vampire face? That's my boo. Let me see what's like a vampire face. Oh, you know, Joseph Morgan was here and we did the whole thing. And they CGI this situation. First, open your mouth really wide. You have to imagine you have the fangs there and then just like kind of squint up your eyes and think furious. And I can do a vampire and a werewolf and I'm a really more attractive vampire than a werewolf. Okay. But I will only do it if you do it too.

Steven R. McQueen

Well, I don't know how to do it. So you have to show me.

Young Hollywood

If you insist. Um okay. Vampire is Is that that doesn't seem like a vampire. I didn't really commit to it. That was like count chocolate. I still try to be semi-attractive. Okay. That was count chocolate. That's most. And then werewolf I'm really going to go there. So, okay. Like so awful. So like vampire is like like It's the overbite right? Overbite. Okay. Okay. And do you have looking back one moment you're most proud of?

Steven R. McQueen

I'm proud of like the friendships that I made last last six years.

Young Hollywood

Thank you for coming in.

Steven R. McQueen

Thank you for having me.

Young Hollywood

Come back.

Steven R. McQueen

I would love to. Um when you're a superhero.

Timestamps are approximate — click one to jump the player.

PEOPLE MENTIONED

  • Steven R. McQueen

    The interviewed actor, discussing his departure from 'The Vampire Diaries'.

  • Malarkey

    Cast member mentioned in a funny anecdote about farting on set.

  • Chris Grismer

    Director of Steven R. McQueen's final episode on 'The Vampire Diaries'.

  • Kat Graham

    Co-star named as the best at crying on cue.

  • Joseph Morgan

    Co-star mentioned in the context of doing vampire faces.

  • Arnold Schwarzenegger

    Actor Steven R. McQueen does an impression of.

  • Tom Hanks

    Actor Steven R. McQueen does an impression of.

FAQ

Why did Steven R. McQueen leave The Vampire Diaries?+
Steven R. McQueen left The Vampire Diaries as his character, Jeremy Gilbert, graduated and departed the series, with his exit being described as a send-off by the cast and crew.
What happened on Steven R. McQueen's last day filming The Vampire Diaries?+
On his last day, after multiple takes of a scene where he was on the ground, the entire cast and crew surprised him with a cake and shoved it in his face as a going-away present.
Which Vampire Diaries co-star is best at crying on cue?+
Steven R. McQueen believes Kat Graham is the best at crying on cue among his Vampire Diaries co-stars.
What is Steven R. McQueen's proudest moment from The Vampire Diaries?+
Steven R. McQueen's proudest moment from the show is the friendships he made over the six years of filming.
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