With THE VAMPIRE DIARIES rolling right along in Season 7 and THE ORIGINALS full-steam ahead in Season 3, there is not much time to stop and reflect about the collision point between past, present and future on these shows – especially now that it has been revealed that both shows are more fully-intertwined than one would suspect at first glance. With the revelation that killing one Mikaelson family member could result in the death of every single person in that person’s vampire linage – meaning from the first person they turned on down through the centuries – there is a race to see which sire-line will win the Sire War. After the deaths of Finn Mikaelson (Casper Zafer) and Kol Mikaelson (Daniel Sharman/Nat Buzolic) and watching thousands of vampires die right before their eyes as a result, suddenly the First Generation of sired-vampires has turned up in THE ORIGINALS to protect their respective linage lines and covertly plot the demise of the others.
This has an immediate and dire effect on THE VAMPIRE DIARIES as all our favorite vamps on that show are direct descendants from the Mikaelsons, one way or another. If Klaus Mikaelson (Joseph Morgan) or Elijah Mikaelson (Daniel Gillies) or Rebekah Mikaelson (Claire Holt/Maisie Richardson-Sellers) were to die, the entire population of vampires (heroes or not) in THE VAMPIRE DIARIES could be unexpectedly dead in an instant.
So with the threat that the Mikaelsons’ days are numbered this season on THE ORIGINALS, every fan of both shows needs to be watching very carefully.
In order to ascertain what the full ramifications are and what contingencies are planned to protect all our heroes (even those who wear that distinction dubiously), we turned to the executive producers of THE ORIGINALS and THE VAMPIRE DIARIES for some answers and here is what they shared with press about the big red bulls-eye on all the vampires daring to bare their fangs on these shows.
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
Can you talk about the decision to put Bonnie (Kat Graham) and Enzo (Michael Malarkey) together?
CAROLINE: We had this scene last year, in Episode 21, where Bonnie opens the door and Enzo was there and he has like an iPod and he is bringing some music that Lily likes, and Kat and Michael had such sparking chemistry in such a short, funny scene and we were like, “Huh, they actually have fun energy.” So we were like, “Let’s explore that relationship.” Of course, they have no reason to like each other, so in present-day we have just been telling their kind of “hate story,” and so the whole point is when you see them kissing in the future, you’re supposed to be like, “How do they get to there?!” Hopefully, it creates enough intrigue to keep you guessing.
CAROLINE: We had this scene last year, in Episode 21, where Bonnie opens the door and Enzo was there and he has like an iPod and he is bringing some music that Lily likes, and Kat and Michael had such sparking chemistry in such a short, funny scene and we were like, “Huh, they actually have fun energy.” So we were like, “Let’s explore that relationship.” Of course, they have no reason to like each other, so in present-day we have just been telling their kind of “hate story,” and so the whole point is when you see them kissing in the future, you’re supposed to be like, “How do they get to there?!” Hopefully, it creates enough intrigue to keep you guessing.
So far, the flashforwards have been taking one character per episode. Is there going to be a point where you start to circle back to characters?
CAROLINE: Yeah. We’re just trying to hit where everyone is right now — which I know is frustrating because it takes so long to hit everyone, but it is just to give you a flavor of the world that we’re at and we will start to tell an actual linear story once you are oriented.
Going off of that, as you say, it’s just giving a taste of that world. How long are we going to have to wait?
CAROLINE: A while longer. It won’t be confusing really with what that plot line is, but we want to make it actually feel like there is something going on besides these little snippets that you could actually follow a story. So if you were to splice it all together and lay it out linearly, it would actually make sense and tell a little bit of a story, at least.
CAROLINE: Yeah. We’re just trying to hit where everyone is right now — which I know is frustrating because it takes so long to hit everyone, but it is just to give you a flavor of the world that we’re at and we will start to tell an actual linear story once you are oriented.
Going off of that, as you say, it’s just giving a taste of that world. How long are we going to have to wait?
CAROLINE: A while longer. It won’t be confusing really with what that plot line is, but we want to make it actually feel like there is something going on besides these little snippets that you could actually follow a story. So if you were to splice it all together and lay it out linearly, it would actually make sense and tell a little bit of a story, at least.
Can you talk a little bit about Alaric (Matt Davis) and I’m going to call her “Jo” (Jodi Lyn O’Keefe) even though I don’t know who she is, and about their relationship moving forward? Can we expect him to accept her as this new kind of like a bodysnatching Faux Jo?
CAROLINE: Well, last year when Alaric died, we thought, “What would be the natural reaction of this guy having lost his wife on the alter — with their babies inside of her?” Like, “What would he go through?” So we wanted to tell THE VAMPIRE DIARIES version of the most organic story. So we came up with, “Could we bring Jo back? How would that even work?” Then, of course, we have this mythology of the Phoenix Stone and what it actually does. So the mystery, sort of, for next episodes will be kind of like how Faux Jo — or whatever you want to call her — how she can integrate into the world that we have created in Mystic Falls and at Whitmore. It’s the story of what we have dealt with in the writer’s room of: “How do you handle somebody who looks exactly like your dead wife, but kind of isn’t?” It became this question and a lot of writers had different takes on it because some people were like, “Oh, they should fall in love” and some people were like, “No, gross. Like that undermines the actual character.” So I think it will play out in an interesting, tragic and also a bittersweet kind of way for Alaric.
So Faux Jo could be around for a while.
CAROLINE: For an arc, I will say.
Speaking of Alaric, we saw last week in his flashforward that he has two daughters. When are we going to find out a little bit more about that?
CAROLINE: In the teaser, so to speak, of the next episode, you’re going to get some pretty good info. So don’t tune in late for that episode!
With the Gemini ability to have twins, does that stay with one’s body or one’s soul? Is that something Faux Jo could also do?
CAROLINE: Yeah, sure.
Is it possible that the soul inside Faux Jo could be somebody we have met before?
CAROLINE: It is possible, but I wouldn’t let that keep you up. I wouldn’t start writing fan-fiction.
Speaking about the soul inside of her. Did she just happen to get connected to a kinder soul than Oscar (Tim Kang) did?
CAROLINE: It will all be explained. Yeah. We left it with her eyes opening and no answers on purpose as a tease. But you will find out in episode 6.
CAROLINE: Well, last year when Alaric died, we thought, “What would be the natural reaction of this guy having lost his wife on the alter — with their babies inside of her?” Like, “What would he go through?” So we wanted to tell THE VAMPIRE DIARIES version of the most organic story. So we came up with, “Could we bring Jo back? How would that even work?” Then, of course, we have this mythology of the Phoenix Stone and what it actually does. So the mystery, sort of, for next episodes will be kind of like how Faux Jo — or whatever you want to call her — how she can integrate into the world that we have created in Mystic Falls and at Whitmore. It’s the story of what we have dealt with in the writer’s room of: “How do you handle somebody who looks exactly like your dead wife, but kind of isn’t?” It became this question and a lot of writers had different takes on it because some people were like, “Oh, they should fall in love” and some people were like, “No, gross. Like that undermines the actual character.” So I think it will play out in an interesting, tragic and also a bittersweet kind of way for Alaric.
So Faux Jo could be around for a while.
CAROLINE: For an arc, I will say.
Speaking of Alaric, we saw last week in his flashforward that he has two daughters. When are we going to find out a little bit more about that?
CAROLINE: In the teaser, so to speak, of the next episode, you’re going to get some pretty good info. So don’t tune in late for that episode!
With the Gemini ability to have twins, does that stay with one’s body or one’s soul? Is that something Faux Jo could also do?
CAROLINE: Yeah, sure.
Is it possible that the soul inside Faux Jo could be somebody we have met before?
CAROLINE: It is possible, but I wouldn’t let that keep you up. I wouldn’t start writing fan-fiction.
Speaking about the soul inside of her. Did she just happen to get connected to a kinder soul than Oscar (Tim Kang) did?
CAROLINE: It will all be explained. Yeah. We left it with her eyes opening and no answers on purpose as a tease. But you will find out in episode 6.
Can you talk about how Valerie (Elizabeth Blackmore) and some revelations she has might get in the way of Stefan (Paul Wesley) and Caroline’s (Candice Accola) bliss?
CAROLINE: She doesn’t really have — does she have revelations? It’s more about what she explains to Stefan. She drops a huge bomb on Stefan and what we learn about Valerie’s persona is that she has this kind of dark soul — this kind of dark cloud when she enters the room. We start to understand why she’s so weighted when she drops the bomb on Stefan’s lap and it will basically shake him to his core and define the rest of the season for him. With these characters, like Stefan and Damon and Klaus and Elijah, they are just so rich because they go back so many years. But it’s interesting that even for us in Season 7, you can still kind of peal back layers of the characters. We’ve seen so many episodes of them and we feel like we know them so well. Then in Episode 5, Stefan learns this huge news and, then in Episode 6, he kind of admits how this affects him even in present day. So that’s what’s kind of fun about the storyline.
How is Stefan’s decision to lie to Caroline going to affect their relationship?
CAROLINE: I think it will start to make her feel insecure about where she stands with him. We saw in Episode 4 and she’s like, “So do you want to confront Valerie? Do you want to talk about it” She’s not an insecure character. I mean, she started Season 1 as very insecure. But she’s coming off Season 6 where she’s like, “This is what I want. This is who I am. This is how I have to deal with it.” And she comes into Season 7 with the same fire. Then these little things keep chipping away at her. I think what she will discover is a new source of confidence for her and her core will really be strengthened, sooner than later. And it’s not necessarily about her relationship with Stefan, but Stefan will just continue to struggle with how to be a good guy to validate Valerie’s relationship and their past together, and also feel like he’s not leaving Caroline in the dust.
What can you say about Caroline going forward in this relationship with Stefan and maybe how he is going to be reacting to things differently? How is that going to affect her going forward?
CAROLINE: Well, it’s a similar answer. It’s just that she’s going to find an inner strength that she didn’t know she had. I like the character most when she’s not feeling insecure, yet she’s dating somebody who is this emotionally-closeted, secretive, internalized guy. For her, she’s just all emotions all the time. She wears everything on her sleeve. So it’s her finding this middle-ground of trying to be there for somebody, but also giving him his space.
Can you talk about Tyler’s return and how are we going to fall in love with him again?
CAROLINE: The reason for putting Tyler in the flashforward was to remind the audience, “Look, Tyler’s still in this world. There’s still a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak, for these characters.” Also he’s wearing a suit and seems to be happy and he’s doing something with his life. He’s like the success story of moving on from Mystic Falls. Then we’re going to see him in future episodes – and he’ll have an arc in it – and he is kind of the voice of, “Look, I got out. I succeeded.” And it’s somebody that we’re rooting for. But he’s going to have sort of a side story, if you will, that will help us, towards the later part of the season, introduce us to this new world that will be a mythology arc in the show. I don’t know that you will necessarily fall in love with him again, but I think you’ll remember all of the reasons that you liked him in the first place.
Now that Julian (Todd Lacanse) is back, can you tell us how bad he’s going to be since everyone wants revenge against him?
CAROLINE: We’re leaning into that as we start Episode 6. We’re expecting “the devil has come to Mystic Falls” and then you are going to be, hopefully, pleasantly surprised when you meet him. He’s fun and full of life and charming and incredibly attractive and he just kind of wins over everyone back in his family — everyone who misses him and we realize why they loved him so much. So the fun will be trying to make him reveal his true self and we realize, “Ugh, keep that true self behind closed doors. You’re a monster.”
Can you talk about the mythology of the Phoenix Stone? Because we have seen a bunch of these x-shaped stars on people and Julian had one and once the Phoenix Stone brought him back, it disappeared. Can you tease what is next with all of that?
CAROLINE: We saw in the future that Stefan has got that scar and he is bleeding and we also saw that Beau (Jaiden Kaine) has one and it is healed. Then Julian came back, so basically to tease it would basically give it away, but it will certainly not be the last time you have seen it. Right when you think you understand how Stefan got his in the future, you will be thrown for a loop. So it will be a recurring theme through and until the end of the season.
Could you give us the best tease for the episodes everyone is about to see and on the flipside when they see the episode what they can expect moving forward?
CAROLINE: I will say the biggest tease is Stefan learns a bombshell from his past as we start to understand the depths of Valerie’s resentment — and it will cause a problem in Caroline and Stefan’s relationship. Then there is a fun bicker-fest between Bonnie and Enzo that will end in a major surprise for the audience. And for Episode 6, I would say that the boys have conflicting views on how to handle Julian and it will end in bloodshed. Meanwhile, Alaric tries to face the reality that his wife is not actually his wife. Poor guy.
Damon and Bonnie bond and go after Julian and do right by Elena. So what can we expect from that relationship going forward?
CAROLINE: Well, last season Bonnie and Damon’s friendship grew. And what we thought would happen would be Damon rubbing off on Bonnie, but that is not what is happening. Bonnie is growing into herself and Damon is a good sidekick for her actually. So she and he agreed that they want Julian and Lily (Annie Wersching) to pay the price for what they did to Bonnie’s best friend and Damon’s soulmate. So what will affect the story is that Damon has a strong point of view on how to handle Julian and Stefan has a completely different view, and the brothers will start clashing. But Bonnie will continue to be supportive of Damon.
Any more romance for Bonnie and Damon?
CAROLINE: Not really romance. They are having a friend-chemistry for the moment.
Now that Lily picked Julian over Enzo, what is Enzo’s next move?
CAROLINE: The next episode will hold a fun “welcome home” party for Julian and Enzo will be one of the guests invited, and he will show up and judge the competition so to speak. He is not out completely yet.
What can you share about Bonnie and Caroline’s friendship moving forward?
CAROLINE: It is a touchstone for the show. We saw them hanging out together, telling each other what they have on their plate for the day. It is nice to check in with them. They are the most normal dynamic and relatable people on the show, in my opinion. So they will continue to be friends as Caroline goes through her drama with Stefan — and she will have more drama is coming her way. So they continue to be friends. But Bonnie is saddled with mythology of the Phoenix Stone and how that is affecting Alaric’s life and her friends’ lives. As far as the Heretics, [Bonnie] is going to become involved in that world. It’s one of those relationships where they kind of go about their ways and then they come back and have these touchstone moments. But they’ll see each other in the future at parties and stuff, but they’re not actually paired in a major storyline.
THE ORIGINALS
How long will we have to wait to find out who is pulling the strings and who is working together on THE ORIGINALS?
MICHAEL: Not long. Episode 5 is this Thursday. By the end of the episode, you are going to have a sense of how that dynamic is shifting and maybe there are some people who we thought were at each other’s throats might have some different motives. There will kind of be a new landscape by the end of Episode 5 and that landscape will shift further in the next few episodes — and that goes to the last episode of our regular run leading up to the holiday where everything just kind of explodes and some tragic things happen because of the shifting alliances. I can’t say too much. I’d rather just let it play out.
You just used the word “tragic.”
MICHAEL: [Laughs] Yeah, I know. I meant to.
We saw Rebekah return in flashbacks. Are we going to see her return in present day at some point this season?
MICHAEL: Very soon.
And which body might we see her return in?
MICHAEL: Why would you want to have to choose? I mean, I love both of those amazing actors and we are fortunate enough that we have got a storyline that will have to resolve Rebekah in Maisie Richardson-Sellers’ body and pick up with what is going on with her original body as well. So in not too long we will understand how that is going to play out.
With the flashbacks and flashforwards, is there a chance for more merging between the shows — crossovers in any way?
CAROLINE: Hopefully. We have been thinking about how to make it work. We have one large kitchen between our offices. So I think we finally might be able to work something out. There’s just a lot of spinning plates. But, hopefully.
MICHAEL: What you said is interesting. Our storylines are such that they are flashing-forward and spending a little bit of time in the now and the little bit of time in the future, and we are spending a little bit of time in the now and looking at these people from the distant past — so in this immediate moment, it doesn’t necessarily lend itself to easy merger of the storyline. But I think on both shows, you are going to see those particular storylines — from what I understand, what I hear when I listen with my little glass to their writer’s room wall, and what I know about what we are doing — we might have some potential for common ground in the future.
How nutty is Aurora (Rebecca Breeds)? I was watching the episode thinking she was going to come back as the psycho ex-girlfriend, but then she seemed almost reasonable. Is she going to get a little bit crazier as things go on?
MICHAEL: Almost reasonable?! She slaughtered a monastery full of monks, dove off a cliff, poisoned the one prognosticating witch that was the key to deciphering the prophecy, and now she is showing up to get into all kinds of trouble assuming Klaus will want to see her even though they broke up a thousand years ago. She’s kind of like the ex-girlfriend from Hell.
She sounds perfect for Klaus.
MICHAEL: Yeah, I think she’s perfect for Klaus and we are going to play what nature their interaction is. We have talked about it in the room as that person who you were once with where there was insane chemistry, but it did not work out in a very major way. Like that great quote that I can’t remember and can’t attribute it to: “Relationships that do not end well, never end at all.” So when they see each other again, there’s a lot of sparks, fire and all that stuff and that is what we will begin to see more of.
Now that Elijah has kind of declared war on Klaus, is that going to be something we see for a long time this season or will they find themselves working it out?
MICHAEL: I think one of the things that our show is absolutely about is the nature of this relationship. Elijah can’t seem to abandon his monstrous brother and Klaus couldn’t live without him but is constantly doing terrible things to his brother, sometimes out of love and sometimes out of his own diabolical, paranoid, psychological delusions. And now, interestingly enough, we have found out that there is a great sin from Elijah’s past where maybe — and Klaus says it in episode we just saw — maybe Elijah has stood by Klaus’ side for all these centuries out of a sense of guilt about something he did. And now we are realizing that maybe the noble, beautiful, honorable Elijah has some flaws or chinks in his armor. It’s a little bit more complicated and maybe there is an understandable reason why these two people are the yin and yang for each other. That said, I find I really love those scenes where they are acknowledging their relationship is fraught with conflict and drama and pain, but they are still blood. They are the only people that each of them has known for a thousand years and been consistently at their side. Kol and Finn are dead, and Rebekah has been gone for quite some time, and Freya is awesome, but she doesn’t really know them, the way they know each other. So given everything that is going on, despite their conflicts and how much they currently loathe each other to the point of what we saw at the end of this episode, they kind of need to stand together because what is coming at them is far worse than each of them to one another.
How long will we have to wait to find out who is pulling the strings and who is working together on THE ORIGINALS?
MICHAEL: Not long. Episode 5 is this Thursday. By the end of the episode, you are going to have a sense of how that dynamic is shifting and maybe there are some people who we thought were at each other’s throats might have some different motives. There will kind of be a new landscape by the end of Episode 5 and that landscape will shift further in the next few episodes — and that goes to the last episode of our regular run leading up to the holiday where everything just kind of explodes and some tragic things happen because of the shifting alliances. I can’t say too much. I’d rather just let it play out.
You just used the word “tragic.”
MICHAEL: [Laughs] Yeah, I know. I meant to.
We saw Rebekah return in flashbacks. Are we going to see her return in present day at some point this season?
MICHAEL: Very soon.
And which body might we see her return in?
MICHAEL: Why would you want to have to choose? I mean, I love both of those amazing actors and we are fortunate enough that we have got a storyline that will have to resolve Rebekah in Maisie Richardson-Sellers’ body and pick up with what is going on with her original body as well. So in not too long we will understand how that is going to play out.
With the flashbacks and flashforwards, is there a chance for more merging between the shows — crossovers in any way?
CAROLINE: Hopefully. We have been thinking about how to make it work. We have one large kitchen between our offices. So I think we finally might be able to work something out. There’s just a lot of spinning plates. But, hopefully.
MICHAEL: What you said is interesting. Our storylines are such that they are flashing-forward and spending a little bit of time in the now and the little bit of time in the future, and we are spending a little bit of time in the now and looking at these people from the distant past — so in this immediate moment, it doesn’t necessarily lend itself to easy merger of the storyline. But I think on both shows, you are going to see those particular storylines — from what I understand, what I hear when I listen with my little glass to their writer’s room wall, and what I know about what we are doing — we might have some potential for common ground in the future.
How nutty is Aurora (Rebecca Breeds)? I was watching the episode thinking she was going to come back as the psycho ex-girlfriend, but then she seemed almost reasonable. Is she going to get a little bit crazier as things go on?
MICHAEL: Almost reasonable?! She slaughtered a monastery full of monks, dove off a cliff, poisoned the one prognosticating witch that was the key to deciphering the prophecy, and now she is showing up to get into all kinds of trouble assuming Klaus will want to see her even though they broke up a thousand years ago. She’s kind of like the ex-girlfriend from Hell.
She sounds perfect for Klaus.
MICHAEL: Yeah, I think she’s perfect for Klaus and we are going to play what nature their interaction is. We have talked about it in the room as that person who you were once with where there was insane chemistry, but it did not work out in a very major way. Like that great quote that I can’t remember and can’t attribute it to: “Relationships that do not end well, never end at all.” So when they see each other again, there’s a lot of sparks, fire and all that stuff and that is what we will begin to see more of.
Now that Elijah has kind of declared war on Klaus, is that going to be something we see for a long time this season or will they find themselves working it out?
MICHAEL: I think one of the things that our show is absolutely about is the nature of this relationship. Elijah can’t seem to abandon his monstrous brother and Klaus couldn’t live without him but is constantly doing terrible things to his brother, sometimes out of love and sometimes out of his own diabolical, paranoid, psychological delusions. And now, interestingly enough, we have found out that there is a great sin from Elijah’s past where maybe — and Klaus says it in episode we just saw — maybe Elijah has stood by Klaus’ side for all these centuries out of a sense of guilt about something he did. And now we are realizing that maybe the noble, beautiful, honorable Elijah has some flaws or chinks in his armor. It’s a little bit more complicated and maybe there is an understandable reason why these two people are the yin and yang for each other. That said, I find I really love those scenes where they are acknowledging their relationship is fraught with conflict and drama and pain, but they are still blood. They are the only people that each of them has known for a thousand years and been consistently at their side. Kol and Finn are dead, and Rebekah has been gone for quite some time, and Freya is awesome, but she doesn’t really know them, the way they know each other. So given everything that is going on, despite their conflicts and how much they currently loathe each other to the point of what we saw at the end of this episode, they kind of need to stand together because what is coming at them is far worse than each of them to one another.
Can you talk about Cami (Leah Pipes) and having her be arrested? I mean, how far is that going to go?
MICHAEL: That ties into what these murders are all about and what the mastermind of the murders might actually want. There’s a little bit of a misdirect about what can you get out of a murder investigation that might help the larger motive of our villains. So right away we’re going to see that the effects of Cami being arrested and her room full of dark objects being discovered by the police might actually play a larger role into what the big, mastermind villains are up to with regard to how they want to deal with the Mikaelson family. We’re not going to see Cami in a legitimate jail cell with the cup banging it on the bars. Things are going to get a lot worse a lot more quickly than that for her because of where she ends up pretty quickly. So it’s not going to be the prison story.
CAROLINE: Can we do an ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK crossover?
MICHAEL: Yeah, let’s do it. For sure!
Is Detective Kinney (Jason Dohring) everything he seems to be?
MICHAEL: Surprisingly, he seems to be a pretty straightforward and legitimate person who actually does function as a law officer wanting to get to the bottom of a series of murders. Unfortunately, he works in New Orleans and is a little bit out of his element. And pretty quickly he is going to wind up in dire straits. The episode ends and he’s arrested Cami. Very, very soon both he and Cami might find themselves together in some difficult terrain.
Does Klaus have any feelings about Cami getting arrested? Is he going to get involved in her storyline or is he too preoccupied with Aurora?
MICHAEL: I think eventually and inevitably he will be concerned very much with what has happened to Cami. As far as he knows right now, she’s with her pal Vincent investigating a crime, and he’s dealing with much larger issues, not the least of which is what’s going on with the return of my ex from a thousand years ago. And then, very rapidly, other people in Klaus’ life, who he loves and very much cares for and who has sworn a vow of always and forever to protect, are also going to be in a very large degree of jeopardy so he might be too busy with other things to even realize what’s going on with Cami until it’s too late. So that’s kind of where he’s going to be headed with regard and concern to her.
Can you talk about Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) and Elijah moving forward? Because she seems very settled right now.
MICHAEL: Hayley is married to Jackson (Nathan Parsons). What are you talking about?! Well, nothing is ever finished, and I think in the episode that you just saw we saw Hayley and Jackson making the most of their temporary reprieve from this werewolf curse and making sure that they are working on their vow with Davina (Danielle Campbell). I thought they really made a really great husband and wife team. It is very clear that he loves her and has great affection and respect for her and wants to be a good husband to her and I think she has come a long way with her feelings towards him but with all things that goes with our show there are forces that will always conspire to destroy every single character in our series and along the way alliances will be made, people will be placed in jeopardy and Hayley is going to find herself to deal with difficult decisions to choose between this man she married who is now her family and the father of her daughter, the brother of the father of her daughter of the other family who is also her family because they are the people who are connected to her daughter, so when people are making moves against one family and then making moves towards her husbands, what does she do? That is an important and impossible place to be! Meanwhile I think it is very clear that Elijah carries a major torch for Hayley and has respectfully decided to stay out of the way and he has suffered quietly. But Elijah also has a love from his past and we will be exploring that and what that means to him and how dangerous it is for these people to return. Because the sins of our past have a great toll on our characters this season and there are going to be a lot of obstacles before we see forward progress in the pairing you are asking about. I know we haven’t seen the end of that storyline and the affection between those people, so we are aware that is something we are building on and we are heading in that direction ultimately, I think.
So, theoretically, if Jackson were to die what would happen to the pack, would the magic go away?
MICHAEL: We love Jackson. The specifics of the magic spell as long as these two people entered into a union, till death do us part union and they were true to one another that the magic of that spell would carry over to the other people, now if for instance they were not true to that promise and vow a married couple should share that could considerably devastate what they were able to render in that magical ceremony so that is the rules of that.
Could you give us the best tease for the episodes everyone is about to see and on the flip side when they see the episode what they can expect moving forward?
MICHAEL: So for us I would say that it is a very complicated relationship between Elijah and Klaus that has been very one sided. Klaus owes Elijah an apology and Elijah is one that is refusing to forgive. That relationship is confusing when a woman from Klaus’s past returns and reveals some sins that the brothers committed in the very distant past. And that puts the family at odds when they should be most united. The consequences will reverberate for the rest of this chapter and in Episode 6 we see everyone we love and care about be put in extreme situations and jeopardy while we also see part 2 between Klaus and Aurora and how their relationship will evolve in the now and it ends with the single most frightening and the combination of romance and fear that we have ever put on screen. It is romantic and sexy, but also the most horrifying ending we have ever done at the end of Episode 6.
Can we expect Marcel (Charles Michael Davis) to have a bit of trouble with his vampire-spy organization?
MICHAEL: He was initiated into a secret society of vampires and they are not spies but he has agreed to go into that organization under the auspices of being a member to really finding out what their move is and what their play is and why they are in New Orleans. I think what’s interesting about Marcel is his hierarchy of loyalties. He knows he’s got to support Klaus because if Klaus dies, he dies because of the sire line. He’s friends with Hayley and to a degree Elijah and he knows an alliance with them is a smart move. He very much loves his daughter figure, Davina, and he’s still very much in love with Rebekah — even though she’s not in town. And I think most of all, he loves his city. He loves the Quarter. He loves the people he has turned. He loves the place that he made. And if he senses that the Strix are in town to do some damage then he is going to figure out a way to derail their plans. But if he senses that the Strix have come to town with a way to give him autonomy and power, I wouldn’t hold it against Marcel if he were to take that and hijack their plan and become kind of a mover and a shaker in his own right. Marcel is one of my favorite characters because I can follow very easily that hierarchy of loyalties and I believe in all of them, but I also think he’s a stronger character. You have to be pretty strong when you’re surrounded by Mikaelsons and I think he holds his own really well as Klaus’ kind of defacto son.
Do you think Davina’s learned from the mistakes other people have made in her approach?
MICHAEL: The short answer is: no. I don’t think any of us really learn from other people’s mistakes. We only learn from our own mistakes because they hurt so much. I think that she’s going to have a tough road ahead of her. There are people that want Davina very badly on their team and they might not be the best of people, and at the same time, very much in the back of her mind is this notion of, “Besides Marcel and my friend Josh and my friend Cami, the only romantic interest I’ve had, the person who I’ve trusted the most was this 1,000-year-old witch named Kol Mikaelson. He’s dead, and the whole reason I became a Regent is because I thought I could bring him back. Where is he now? What’s going on with him? When do I see him again?” Has she given up on her drive to save his life and bring him back and have a true ally who loves her when maybe nobody else has? I don’t think we should give up on that drive. I think that’s still there. So she has pretty big role to play in that storyline.
We didn’t see party-girl Freya (Riley Voelkel) in this episode. With Lucien’s (Andrew Lees) seer gone, will she get some of those visions?
MICHAEL: The reason she was able to have the visions that she had in the tomb was because she had access to Klaus’ blood, the blood of the vampire who had recently fed on the witch. But now that that witch is dead and the blood bond that Klaus shared — he’s kind of passed her blood out of his system, not to be gross — I think her big thing now is that while many people are like, “Oh, you’re the new sister,” she’s like, “This is my family. I am the matriarch of this family. I’m going to get these two boys in line and I’m going to protect my sister Rebekah.” And when some of those goals start to meet obstacles, her “inner-Klaus” is going to come out a bit. She is going to be less about having visions and more about kicking some ass, which is my favorite version of Freya.
There is an “inner-Klaus” in Freya?
MICHAEL: Oh, absolutely or maybe it’s “inner-Freya” in Klaus. I think that Freya is a tough, tough lady and we’re going to get to see some of that.
The witches’ storyline has been pretty separate this season. Will that merge with the others?
MICHAEL: Yes, but probably not in the way that we suspect. We have done a lot of French Quarter witch stuff, and we’re still going see the politics of the witch Regent and the role of Vincent (Yusuf Gatewood), who is a lapsed witch and who refuses to participate in that political world or in using magic. But, at the same time, there’s also the threat posed by this vampire secret society, that we’ve mentioned. I remember Grams always saying, “Witches should stay out of vampire business.” But there are maybe witches in the world who go the other direction. And if there were, maybe the powerful witches of this would be in league with the powerful vampires of this world. And if so, who is going to get sucked into that world and who’s going to be run over by a Mac truck? That’s headed down on our show.
It would be interesting to know what the witches think of the Heretics.
MICHAEL: Yeah, there is the crossover that nobody demanded: the Strix and the Heretics!
CAROLINE: The Heretics are like their own walking crossover!
We just learned that Tristan (Oliver Ackland) and Lucien might be working together, but what goal are they working towards if they are from different sire lines?
MICHAEL: I think it goes back to the question about the investigation and what’s going on. Very soon you’re going to find out. These vampires understand that a prophecy has been delivered that the Mikaelsons are going to die, and it’s going to happen very soon. And “if they die, then we die to. So even though we have strife between us and we’re competitors, the danger is that we’ll just be wiped out when our sires are wiped out. So let’s put aside our differences and find a way to hijack this prophecy and take control of it — control the narrative and make it work out in our best interest.” If they don’t want Elijah and Klaus and Rebekah to die, because that would be bad for them, what is the alternative? The Mikaelsons need to be taken off the chessboard in a way that will render their own lives safe and that might require that the Mikaelsons be disposed of in some way where they cannot die, but they’ll never come back and either threaten anyone else or be threatened themselves.
How do you keep that threat real, knowing that if someone from the Mikaelson family were to die it would essentially wipe out THE VAMPIRE DIARIES?
CAROLINE: Hey!
MICHAEL: That is not that specific question, obviously, because so far we haven’t had those vampires on our show to voice that concern. But that concern will be voiced by Marcel, it will be voiced by Tristan, who’s Elijah’s sire, it will be voiced by Aurora, who as we just learned is from Rebekah’s sire line.
CAROLINE: [Laughs] Or our guys could be drinking at Skull Bar and just die one day.
MICHAEL: There is a world where last season we saw Davina wanting to kill Klaus and not being able to. She brought Mikael back from the dead and she wants to kill Klaus and Mikael’s (Sebastian Roche) got the white oak stake, so she should just order him to go kill his son. But she can’t do that, because then “I lose my friend Josh and then I lose my friend Marcel.” She was putting together a spell that she had learned from her access to Esther’s grimoire, which what was the spell that made the Mikaelsons. So how can that spell be manipulated and jury-rigged and remade into something new that can be done and they can be unlinked from their sire line? You might not recall this because it’s so small a detail, but Kol took a look at that spell and he said, “God, she’s close. The only thing she’s missing is this one detail.” All of those ideas are going to start to float around, including Kol’s participation and Davina’s expertise and Esther’s grimoire. Clearly, we want to make it so there are real consequences to the events of our show that will not destroy Stefan Salvatore while they’re just hanging out.
So fans should be worried?
MICHAEL: Yeah.
And with one word, fans on both shows should now be shaking in their boots. That bulls-eye is not moving. Someone near and dear is not going to be long on this Earth. Shudder to imagine just who is the dead-man or dead-woman walking. Yikes!
So be sure to keep tuning in for all new episodes of THE VAMPIRE DIARIES and THE ORIGINALS on Thursday nights at 8:00 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. on the CW. And be sure to say a prayer for all your favorite characters as things are only going to get more dark, bloody and tragic – and soon!
SENIOR ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER | Tiffany covers events such as San Diego Comic-Con, WonderCon and press junkets, as well as covering events at the Paley Center in Beverly Hills. She has a great love for television and believes that entertainment is a world of wondrous adventures that deserves to be shared and explored. Tiffany is one of the newest members to the prestigious Television Critics Association and is happy to be able to share her passion for television shows with an even wider audience of fans and her fellow critics..
