Warning: The lead actors on The Originals are hot, talented and endearing—and can easily straight-up glamour you into loving them and their show.
But that's OK, because it actually is one of the best new dramas this fall!
The Vampire Diaries spinoff premieres tonight, and Joseph Morgan (Klaus) admits he's a bit nervous about headlining his own show.
"We can't rely on Nina [Dobrev], Ian [Somerhalder] and Paul [Wesley] anymore," he tells me, after admitting he thought about skipping a round of press to relax and have a drink. "We've got to promote this show because if we don't then no one will! So yeah there's definitely the feeling that it's ours, but with that responsibility, it's also more satisfying. Because I jumped onto a show that was already a huge success. And I know that we're going to take some of that success...I hope. Actually we're going to take all of their success and leave them with no success!"
Morgan is also feeling playfully competitive with his new costar Charles Michael Davis, the charming newcomer who plays Klaus' protégé-turned-rival, whom Morgan believes—gasp!—could lure some fans away from Klaus.
"I think the fans [will be torn between Klaus and Marcel]," Morgan tells me. "People like to pick sides and Marcel is definitely a formidable foe."
"I don't think he's a bad guy at all," Davis says of his character Marcel." I hope the audience gets to know and understand and love him...I'm pretty confident you will love me."
"He's so charming, that's his way," Morgan says with a playful smirk. "We shouldn't have done these interviews together. We shouldn't be sitting side by side!"
And when Davis jokes he should get his own show, "a spinoff of the spinoff," Morgan immediately has a name for it, "The Marcel Diaries."
In the, um original spinoff series that premieres tonight, siblings Klaus (Morgan), Elijah (Daniel Gillies) and Rebekah (Claire Holt) head back to New Orleans, a city they helped build. Klaus immediately begins clashing with Marcel, who has become the head vamp in charge in Klaus' absence.
Now, lest you TVD fans think Klaus will be going all soft just because he's now the main protagonist of The Originals—not to mention he has a baby on the way with one-night stand Phoebe Tonkin (who is currently dating Paul Wesley in real life)—Morgan is setting the record straight.
"Klaus is an anti-hero. He's an antagonist. He's always going to have that edge. That idea that no matter how good he is, he can always just mess it up for himself."
So he won't be selling Girl Scout cookies?
"I mean, maybe poisonous Girl Scout cookies," Morgan says with a sneaky smile. "To girl scouts."
Julie Plec, take that plot idea and runnnnnn with it, girl!
Check out this intriguing cast and solid writing when The Originals premieres tonight on the CW... Then run, don't walk, to get your "Team Klaus" or "Team Marcel" baby tee printed! (Ours will have one on the front and one on the back.)