Nina Dobrev leaving ‘The Vampire Diaries’

M*A*S*H* lost Larry Linville, aka Frank Burns; E.R. lost George Clooney; and now, the The Vampire Diaries will lose star Nina Dobrev. Dobrev announced the bad news on Instagram.

“I always knew I wanted Elena’s story to be a six-season adventure, and within those six years I got the journey of a lifetime,” Dobrev wrote. “I was a human, a vampire, a doppelganger, a crazy immortal, a doppelganger pretending to be human, a human pretending to be a doppelganger.”

The show, currently in its sixth season, will return for its seventh without its female star.

“Saying goodbye to Nina is both bittersweet and beautiful,” executive producer Julie Plec said in a statement, as the Hollywood Reporter noted. “Nina is excited to spread her wings, get some rest, travel the world and also take it by storm, and we support her a thousand-fold. We will miss Nina and the 400 characters she played, but we look forward to the insane and exciting challenge of continuing to tell stories of our Salvatore Brothers and our much-loved and gifted ensemble.”

In a society that’s been mad for bloodsuckers at least since the publication of Bram Stoker’s Dracula in 1897, The Vampire Diaries proved — proves — to be a workaday entry into the genre getting vampire aficionados through until the next big thing. It wasn’t Nosferatu or Twilight — or even True Blood. But, hey: It’s about vampires, and was at one point the CW’s most-watched show. The kids love this frequent Teen Choice Awards winner.

“Six seasons into a show, it’s hard to do anything that’s truly brand new,” the Onion’s A.V. Club wrote earlier this year. “Season six of The Vampire Diaries has been mostly successful in its attempt to shuffle something old into something new and interesting,”

Dobrev, who came to TVD from Degrassi: The Next Generation thanked her fans.

“I want to share this goodbye with all of you,” Dobrev wrote. “... You, the wonderful fandom who gave more love, support and passion than anyone could have ever imagined seven years ago, when a young Degrassi girl from Canada showed up in LA to audition for ‘that Twilight TV show.’”

As the Hollywood Reporter pointed out, TVD isn’t quite the ratings powerhouse it once was, but the show will soldier on despite the loss of several main players.