How Did Matthew Davis Prepare For Alaric In The Vampire Diaries?

I’ve been to a couple of comic-con panels and fangroup meetups where people ask how actors get into roles like Alaric, and Matthew Davis’s approach is a neat mix of practical craft and character intuition. He clearly started by absorbing the scripts and backstory, then used physical signposts — voice, posture, and wardrobe — to make Alaric distinct from other roles he’d played. Those little details, like when he folds his arms or the way he fixes his glasses, weren’t accidents; they were tools to show Alaric’s teaching background and the weight he carries.

Beyond the calm, there’s the grit: stunt rehearsals, weapons practice, and choreography for fight scenes. You don’t fake that kind of comfort onscreen. Plus, he invested time in chemistry work with the cast — that’s why Alaric’s mentorship of younger characters and his complicated friendships feel so believable. As a viewer who re-watches scenes, I appreciate that Davis balanced the blunt, protective side with quieter vulnerability. It’s the combination of technical prep and emotional homework that turned Alaric into someone who could be funny one moment and utterly raw the next — and that variety is what kept me hooked on 'The Vampire Diaries' all over again.

When I first noticed Matthew Davis as Alaric Saltzman on 'The Vampire Diaries', what struck me wasn’t just the lines he had — it was how patina and purpose showed up in every small choice. I’ve tracked actors’ prep habits for years, and Davis seemed to build Alaric from the inside out: heavy script study to pin down the character’s history and motivations, then practical layering — wardrobe, props (those reading glasses became part of the man), and a deliberate physicality that read equal parts teacher, soldier, and weary dad. You can tell an actor worked the pages when a throwaway line lands like it’s been lived for a decade.

On top of the textual work, he leaned into the technical side. Fight coordinators, weapons training, and stunt rehearsals are standard on a show with hunters and fights, and Alaric’s confident, measured handling of both conversation and confrontation comes from that rehearsal room. I’ve read panel notes and interviews where castmates mention chemistry reads — so Davis also spent good time building relationships with co-stars so the emotional beats felt earned. That makes those quieter scenes — consoling, teaching, or flickering with pain — actually land.

Finally, his emotional prep felt intentional. Alaric’s humor, his guarded warmth, and his flashes of darkness suggest an actor who mapped out emotional triggers and kept a consistent center. He didn’t just act the plot; he created a lived-in guy who shifts as the story demands. Watching him, I felt like I was watching an adult slowly reveal themselves — and that kind of work sticks with you long after an episode ends.

I will always think of Alaric as a character built out of careful choices more than flashy acting moments. From what I picked up in interviews and behind-the-scenes clips, Matthew Davis took the time to carve out a detailed interior for Alaric: reading and re-reading scripts, creating a backstory that informed small gestures, and using costumes and props to shape his exterior. He also did the physical prep — fight choreography and weapon handling — so action scenes felt natural rather than staged.

What sold the role for me was the emotional calibration. Davis seemed to map where Alaric would be emotionally in any scene — protective one second, brittle the next — and stayed committed to those decisions. That steady internal map, plus rehearsal with the cast, made Alaric feel like a person you could believe in, not just a plot device. It’s that kind of layered preparation that turns a good part into something memorable.