LOS ANGELES: Nina Dobrev says she is leaving her starring role on 'The Vampire Diaries' at the end of its current sixth season.

Rumors of her departure began to circulate in recent days when cast mates posted, and then removed, Instagram photos of Dobrev with the hashtag #WeWillMissYouNina.

The actress, who plays Elena Gilbert on The CW series, turned to Instagram to reveal she was leaving the supernatural drama.

“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. I was a human, a vampire, a doppelganger, a crazy immortal, a doppelganger pretending to be human, a human pretending to be a doppelganger. I got kidnapped, killed, resurrected, tortured, cursed, body-snatched, was dead and undead, and there’s still so much more to come before the season finale in May. Elena fell in love not once, but twice, with two epic soulmates, and I myself made some of the best friends I’ll ever know and built an extended family I will love forever.”

“There’s more to come before we wrap this up, and I promise you’ll get to hear all about my experiences over the next month as we approach the season finale,” she added.

The CW announced in January that 'The Vampire Diaries' had been renewed for a seventh season.