Catching Up With Paul Wesley of Lifetime’s ‘Flowers in the Attic: The Origin’

For eight years, Paul Wesley played Stefan Salvatore on the hit supernatural drama series The Vampire Diaries, which is finding an entirely new fan base these days thanks to streaming binges.

Lately, however, he’s returning to familiar stories of sorts taking on the role of Captain Kirk (a role originally played by William Shatner) in Season 2 of Paramount+’s Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, and in Flowers in the Attic: The Origin (Saturdays beginning July 9 at 8pm ET/PT) as John Amos, Olivia Foxworth’s (Jemima Rooper) cousin whose revelations change her life forever.

“I shot Flowers prior to doing Star Trek, so I was busy getting into my Star Trek character while [we were] filming in Romania,” Wesley tells us. “It was very exciting and quite daunting to step into the iconic role, but the producers and cast have been so incredible and supporting and I am grateful to them for being so welcoming.”

Without giving away too many spoilers, here he shares a bit more on his role in Flowers.

How and when were you first introduced to the V.C. Andrews’ universe? And what did you think about it?
To be entirely honest, I wasn’t familiar with it. I had heard of the book but had never read it. When I was offered the role, I did a bunch of digging and found out what a popular cult franchise this was. And Paul Sciarrotta and the team’s interpretation and script really impressed me.

On a moral compass, how best would you rate your character in Flowers in the Attic: The Origin? 
On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being immoral, he is a zero. A very confused and broken man who uses religion throughout his life as a means of dealing with his very severe issues. But we see towards the end of the limited series that the facade ends and his true self is revealed.

How would you describe your character’s relationship with Olivia (Jemima Rooper) over time? How fun was it aging into this character?
He’s in love with her his entire life but he completely hides that. He puts on the act of a caring and loving person in her life but deep down he is infatuated with her. The aging process was incredible because it was so wildly realistic. To be honest it was a bit uncomfortable to see but also really fun. The trick was to also make sure my posture matched my physical appearance.