Bob Mahoney/The CWTalk about a family reunion!
After months of guessing which Mikaelson brother returned from the dead with Esther in the season one finale last spring, The Originals fans were in for a huge surprise when, in the final moments of the season two premiere, it was revealed that both Finn and Kol are back to make Klaus and Elijah's lives a living hell.
Inhabiting new, witch bodies (including the one of Teen Wolf star Daniel Sharman), the brothers are working with their mother to get their ultimate revenge on Klaus...with extremely different means of getting there.
We picked our jaws up off the floor after screening the episode early to get all the details from The Originals executive producer Michael Narducci about what Finn and Kol's return means for the rest of the Mikaelson clan (spoiler alert: a lot of drama), and so much more!
As for deciding which brothers to bring back from the dead, it was an easy answer for the writers.
"We knew that Esther would want to bring her sons back who were supernatural," Narducci said. "Poor Henrik was never supernatural so ostensibly he never went to the Other Side. But Kol and Finn did, and she would bring them back. She wouldn't put them in vampire bodies because she hates vampires. She would put them into witch bodies."
Narducci is excited to tell different stories with each of the brothers.
"Finn hates vampires," Narducci said. "He was kept in a box for 900 years by Klaus. He doesn't get along with his siblings. He's absolutely loyal to his mother. We describe him like Norman Bates, this obsessive need to appease his mother, and we're going to explain where that comes from and why he is so adamantly on Esther's side. And with Kol, in the room we always talked about Kol as being the Loki of our story, mischievous, you never know where you're going to stand with this guy, what's he going to be up to? I absolutely believe that Esther brings him back to be on her side and a force that she can use to ultimately do what she wants to do which is eliminate vampires. But where does he fall in terms of his loyalties and alliances is one of the great stories that we're going to play over the course of the season."
While we're loving the twist that came along with having Kol and Finn (and even Esther) inhabiting a new body, what does that mean for the actors who originally played the roles on The Vampire Diaries?
"There is going to be even more flashbacks this season," Narducci promised. "We will get to see those characters as they were originally portrayed and at different ages. We'll see them throughout, with younger actors playing Finn, Nathaniel Buzolic playing Kol, and we're really excited to get into where this family comes from, why they are the way they are, what were their relationships like not only with their parents but with one another even back in the day and how has that led them to be divided as they are? There's a lot of really cool stuff there. I absolutely hope we see those actors in flashbacks and I know we're definitely going to see Nathaniel in the next episode."
We're also going to learn more about the family from before their lives were turned upside down by supernatural forces.
"Before she turned them, did Rebekah or did Kol have a certain proclivity for mama's teachings?" Narducci asked. "Were some of the family more inclined to go hunting with dad, were some of the family when they were young more inclined to be studying the dark arts? Right off the bat with episodes two and three you're going to get some flashback stories. You're going to get to see a little bit more of how the Originals wound up leaving Europe and coming to America, what that looked like, and there's definitely a reference to some things we mentioned on The Vampire Diaries especially in the teaser for next week."
He continued, "Also when we first met the Original family in season three episode 13, Kol Mikaelson is undaggered and walking around and he's dressed in garb that looks like it's from the earlier 20th century and he's ostensibly been daggered since that time, so what was the story of that and what did that look like? Klaus daggered his siblings for a reason and what was that reason? We'll also be flashing back, interestingly enough, to the earlier days when they were just normal people and if we're going to bring back Mikael and Esther, what's their story? Where did they come from? In episode 16 last season, Klaus says, ‘Something made my father the way he was.' We want to tell that story because it's an interesting part of why this guy goes around hunting his children and calling himself the destroyer and hating what he is which is a vampire."
Even though he's following his mother's orders, Kol as Kaleb seemed to take a special interest in the newly independent and powerful Davina.
"In the second episode of the season we explore what he's doing and what his interests are and it takes off from there," Narducci said. "There is this notion that Davina, as a former Harvest girl, is one of the most powerful witches in New Orleans. She's completely independent of Cassie and Esther and whatever it is that Esther's planning. Esther did a locator spell in this episode and was not able to break past it and that gives you a sense of Esther's frustration that there's somebody else out there that's a wild card in Esther's plan, whatever her agenda is for her children."
And though it may seem like Davina and Esther have the same goal in mind (to take down Klaus), their agendas are actually different.
"You and I know that Davina has her own feelings for the Original family and her own desires to deal with Klaus but they might not match up exactly with what Esther's been planning," Narducci teased. "She wants to be in complete control. And Esther and Mikael do not know that the other is back and that's something that we're also going to have fun with and play with but for right now, the rumor of this powerful witch Davina is definitely on Esther's radar. Cassie knows in this episode that Davina left the coven and she's doing her own thing, but I want to know what she's up to since she's a potential asset in this war. Kaleb, since he just happened to be placed in the body of an extremely handsome and charming young British witch, might be the best guy to go and find out what's going on with Davina."
As if Klaus didn't have enough to worry about with the impending Mikaelson family reunion, he's also got a new hybrid to help through her transition: Hayley. What does Klaus's bond with Hayley mean for Hayley and Elijah's romance?
"Elijah sees how broken and devastated Hayley is, not just by the loss of having to give up her child but the loss of her pureblooded werewolf aspect," Narducci said. "On top of that, you've got your werewolf wild impulses and your instinctive desire to hunt and kill and that's accentuated by the fact that she's a vampire so she's a mess. And Elijah sees that and at the same time he recognizes that he can only help her so much because he's not what she is. The person who is what she is and understands what she's going through is his brother. Right away next week you're going to get to see how that plays out."
But don't worry, this doesn't mean the brothers are about to engage in a love triangle with Hayley à la The Vampire Diaries.
"I would caution against anyone using the idea that this is going to be some kind of love triangle," Narducci said. "I think it's more nuanced and interesting from my perspective than that. When you're dealing with someone like Klaus, you have to wonder if that great big speech he gave at the end of the episode, was that infused with some desire to connect with this person romantically? Was that a sincere desire to reach out to someone who has fallen and he just wants to mentor? Or was that a less-than-sincere desire from someone who wants power to manipulate someone else into a place where they can help him get what he wants? Klaus is a multi-dimensional, complex character and I wouldn't think that he's necessarily 100 percent motivated by anything as pure as romantic love."
Two people who were 100 percent motivated by romantic love? Cami and Marcel, who were revealed to have been hooking up for months! Of course, Cami tried to end things with Marcel on more than one occasion in the premiere, but we'll see how long that lasts. (Have you seen the guy's face? Or his abs?)
"Coming out of this episode it kind of seems like she's made a decision to protect herself and to get out of this crazy occult world to avoid becoming slaughtered by vampires and werewolves," Narducci said. "She's breaking up from this friends with benefits, no strings attached relationship she's got with Marcel and we feel like we may not see her for a while but she is connected by her friendships to Marcel, to Josh and to Davina who she served as a big sister to last season. When any of these characters get into trouble you can image she would be pulled back into the fray."
Plus, Cami blames herself for what she thinks happened to baby Hope.
"She still believes that the baby died," Narducci said. "She believes that part of the reason why that baby was put at risk and part of the reason that the baby died is she didn't act fast enough and embrace the inheritance that Kieran left for her. So now she's thinking, 'If I don't get involved, maybe Davina will get hurt. If I don't get involved, maybe Klaus is going to spiral out of control. If I am trained as a psychologist and I have intimate knowledge of what it means to suffer from darkness and evil invading into your family life as it did with her brother and uncle Kieran, I might have a perspective that can help Klaus and some of the other characters as the ultimate family therapist.' She's going to feel a responsibility to get involved and we'll see that soon."
And as for Esther and Finn's agenda for Cami now that we know Finn is pretending to be her new grad school advisor?
"They have one of the coolest reasons possible for wanting to get to know Cami," Narducci teased. "At first you're going to think that it's one thing and then when you find out what it really is, you will be impressed. I was impressed. It was a pitch that came up in the room and I just sat there thinking, ‘Wow, that's freaky.'"
Everyone's favorite gay club kid turned vampire, Josh, will also have a bigger story this season, and we caught the beginning of his arc in the premiere.
"Without putting the cart before the horse it's very interesting to see why Josh is sticking around New Orleans," Narducci said. "He's Marcel's last guy from that old regime and community and he's trying to figure out, ‘What am I fighting for and what is this all about?' Very quickly we're going to realize what do we fight for if not a home, if not our friends, if not the people that we love both platonically and romantically? Coming down the line we are going to tell some really great romantic stories and Josh has a really great story coming up. That's all I'll say."
The Originals airs Mondays at 8 p.m. on the CW.