The upcoming new episode of The Vampire Diaries called The Downward Spiral is directed by one of the show's stars; Ian Somerhalder.

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This episode marks Somerhalder's directorial debut and the actor recently opened up about taking the leap from being onscreen to behind the camera.

Last Saturday, Feb. 21, Somerhalder made an appearance at the Wizard World's Cleveland Comic Con event, which ScreenSpy attended and got the scoop right from his mouth about directing an episode of The Vampire Diaries. 

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"Coolest thing ever," Somerhalder shared about making the leap from actor to director for The Downward Spiral.

"I worked with 130 people - well, even more with artists included, about 170 who all had my back. I had an incredible story that Brian Young and Caroline Dries wrote. And literally a group of my - my cast - my brothers and sisters, everyone had my back," he said.

Somerhalder really valued getting to direct an episode of the hit supernatural show he's on.

"It was the coolest environment to learn in," Somerhalder said, adding, "And thank you Warner Bros for the couple million bucks to spend really creating an incredible 42 minutes of television. It was my favorite professional experience ever. And I've done some cool s---. That was the coolest thing ever imaginable."

Somerhalder gushed over the title of the episode since it's his "favorite Nine Inch Nails album."

"Every episode of this show this season is a song from 1994. The early nineties were actually really bada-- for music," Somerhalder explained.

Catch The Vampire Diaries airing on The CW on Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET.

The Downward Spiral will air on Mar. 12.

Tags: the vampire diaries vampire diaries the cw television ian somerhalder