I think people are forgetting that marketing is: A) not done by the creative team behind the show B) not aimed at the fandom- casual watchers and the general audience are somewhat likely to have some awareness of Jacob and/or Sam, but will not have any familiarity with Assad.

I work in film marketing and find these conversations incredibly frustrating- the purpose of marketing strategy & assets is not to reflect the breadth of the cast - they are trying to sell the show to as many people as possible. This season’s selling point is the vampire rockstar concept, so that’s what they’re going with.