'Vampire Diaries' Season 7 spoilers, trailer & air date: Ian Somerhalder strips down on latest preview

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CW's The Vampire Diaries's seventh season hits television in a week and although the show goes on without Nina Dobrev's Elena Gilbert, it still brings back Ian Somerhalder's Damon, Paul Wesley's Stefan, Candice Accola's Caroline, and Kat Graham's Bonnie, among other regular cast members. The trailer that was recently released promises an action packed season also brings back Annie Wersching as the mother of the Salvatore brothers.

TV Line reports that according to Somerhalder, Damon "comes near death a couple of times and has to start protecting people. So it really becomes about him protecting this box and fighting with his mom; he’s really not happy with his madre at all."

Inquisitr reports that despite Dobrev's departure, the show still contains great characters that are yet to be explored. He said, "This is Mystic Falls without Elena Gilbert. People want this Damon-Elena thing, but I say this is the evolution of a really cool show with some great characters. Let’s let them find their own journeys and mix together and let s–t get crazy again."

Somerhalder added that Elena's departure left his character changed, but he isn't one to hold back. He explained, "Elena said, ‘Go have fun and live your life.' He waited for Katherine for 150 years and he sure as hell wasn’t a saint in that time. Damon’s a pretty sadistic guy, but he’s also very logical — even if his logic is a little skewed sometimes."

"He’s thinking that he’s got 60 years to chill...so if he makes enemies and gets into fights and s–t’s going down with these heretics, he’s like, ‘Yeah, let’s get in there. Let’s f–k it up!’" Somerhalder said.

The 36-year-old ator also teased a clip of another trailer via his Instagram, teasing, "Why is Damon naked in this new Vampire Diaries Trailer...?" You can watch the video below.

 Why is Damon naked in this new Vampire Diaries Trailer...?

A video posted by iansomerhalder (@iansomerhalder) on Sep 29, 2015 at 3:27pm PDT

The Vampire Diaries' showrunner Caroline Dries recently spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about how this season will explore characters and relationships between the characters Elena left behind. She explained, "This season, the guts of the show is really the Salvatore brothers. And it's really Stefan's relationship with Caroline...there's this level of maturity to it now. Especially with the presence of Lily and Caroline's character now. She just feels like she's getting more mature and more self-assured of herself. Damon and Stefan are dealing with way more adult problems. The show feels the same, but feels new."

Speaking of Stefan and Damon, Somerhalder also told TV Line, "If you look at the way the story’s been told, it always comes back to the love of these two brothers. The women that they love got in the way, but now they’re just brothers, and they’re forced to deal with a lot of stuff. One of their new problems is that they lost their home, and Damon’s pretty pissed at Stefan for letting that happen."

The Vampire Diaries' seventh season premieres on October 8 on The CW.