Paul Wesley on 'The Vampire Diaries' set: Could Stefan and Elena ever get back together?

When we found Paul Wesley on "The Vampire Diaries" set a few weeks ago, he was playing around with one of Stefan's lines in a diner scene with Katherine, Rebekah, and Damon. "I think it can have a little more pizazz," he told the episode's writer. "He could be a little more sarcastic or something."

Season 4 Stefan may not be as mean as he was back in his ripper days, but he's definitely developed a sharper tongue -- and we like it. That's due, in part, to Wesley looking for opportunities to inject a little more wit into Stefan's lines. 

"I was demanding attitudinal behavior!" Paul jokes. "Season 4 has been a difficult transition for me, because Season 3 was my favorite season because of the things I was able to do as an actor. I had my fun, and now they're putting Stefan -- it's almost like, you play a game in basketball, and then the coach puts you on the sidelines for a minute, and you're like 'Put me out there, coach!'"

Currently, Stefan's love life is beyond complicated. His ex-girlfriend, who he's still in love with (at least, when she's not devoid of humanity) just moved into his house... with his brother. He's hooking up with Rebekah, his psycho-obsessive ex Katherine is back in the picture, and his BFF Caroline may find herself without a love interest pretty soon.

Lately, it's looking good for Stefan and Rebekah. "Rebekah! That's my main squeeze," laughs Paul. "I like Rebekah. Maybe it's just because I like Claire, but I like the character of Rebekah because she's multi-dimensional. She's got the villainous thing, and she's also super insecure and flawed and wants to be liked and accepted. I like that."

Let's just say that Paul is down for whatever romantic entanglements the writers want to throw Stefan's way... as long as Stefan stops pining for Elena. "Look, I think anybody can have anybody on 'Vampire Diaries.' Maybe even me and another dude," he says. It's true -- earlier that day, he'd been extolling the virtues of a potential Elijah/Stefan romance. "Whatever we can do to make him not mopey and running after Elena is great in my book. A little Rebekah, a little Caroline..."

Right now, Stefan is getting over Elena -- at least for now -- mostly because he doesn't find her new humanity-free incarnation particularly attractive. "I don't know about forever, but I do think her actions are going to dictate that," Paul says.

He does believe that they'll find their way back to each other eventually... but only if Stefan can manage to extract himself from the tangled web of Elena's life. "I think there's opportunity for a very powerful moment between them when they come together and something happens, something dynamic, because we haven't seen it in so long. The key to Stefan and Elena as far as I'm concerned is time and distance," he says. "The more you keep them away from one another, the less Stefan is trying to help Elena, trying to fix Elena, trying to run after her and pick up everything she drops -- the more she just screws up on her own, he screws up on his own, they have all these experiences, and then something maybe happens. That's the only way that Stefan and Elena can be together."