The third season of The Vampire Diaries spinoff, The Originals, was shadowed by the devastating prophecy of the death of the Mikaelson trio (“one by friend, one by foe, and one by family”) and wrought with the tragic results of trying to avoid it. The many losses and sacrifices piled up on all sides with alliances made and allegiances tested, and at the end of the season a new order had risen. Yes, the Mikaelsons all fell but not fully. Executive producer Michael Narducci put some of the dramatic events into perspective:
“We knew that the Mikaelson family was going to be decimated and that prophesy from the very beginning was meant to foreshadow epic failure and epic tragedy and epic sadness. I think Haley says it best…she says to Elijah, “Loving any of us is a death sentence.” And when you’re writing a show about immortal characters…I mean, it’s great to be immortal, right? I think you have to talk about what’s not so great about being immortal. I can imagine that if I lived for a thousand years and again and again and again the people that I loved died in front of me, I would start to lose my connection to humanity, I would start to not care anymore because caring hurts.
Cami’s death affected everybody on our show and it also affected Klaus in a very profound way. We made very certain when we wrote Cami’s death, we wanted to experience it from Cami’s point of view. So it wasn’t like she just got killed…and then Klaus found her body: we wanted her to go through the entire journey first of all being afraid and then being in denial and then looking death in the face and freaking out and thinking her entire life was a failure. And then we wanted to see Klaus who is this monster and who is incapable of compassion and empathy just hold her hand and guide her on this deathbed journey, and if Klaus can do that and he can help her in that moment then maybe there is something more to this guy.” Michael Narducci / Executive Producer
So what does that mean for season 4? First a look back at where things left off:
Where Season 3 Left Off:
- The OJ Simpson trial had nothing on the legal proceedings that Klaus Mikaelson (Joseph Morgan) found himself subject to. Fueled by his rage at the deaths of Davina, Cami, Diego, etc., Marcel (Charles Michael Davis) puts Klaus on trial for a thousand years worth of monstrous sins and being judged by his victims who managed to not be dead, well, let’s just say it could’ve gone better. But Klaus made a strategic play: with Papa Tunde’s blade buried inside him and bricked up behind a wall, he’s suffering a fate worse than death but he’s also keeping his family alive. The watchword here is ‘sacrifice’.
- Rebekah (Claire Holt), Kol (Nathaniel Buzolic), Elijah (Daniel Gillies), and Freya (Riley Voelkel) are all in a deep sleep (their souls hovering in another realm) until cures can be found for what will kill them. They’re also now magically linked to Klaus, literally, so as long as Klaus lives, so do they.
- Haley (Phoebe Tonkin) and baby Hope bounced out of New Orleans in an 18-wheeler loaded with four coffins and a Mikaelson sleeping peacefully in each one.
- Now an uber vamp more powerful than the Originals themselves, Marcel and Vincent (Yusuf Gatewood) have a tenuous alliance but aim to salvage what’s left of New Orleans.
Season 4…Five Years Later:
- That’s right: We pick up five years down the road with Haley and a walking, talking, seven year old, no-longer-a-baby Hope who has been raised solely by her hybrid mom but aware that daddy Klaus needs to be rescued.
- Never underestimate the offspring of Haley and Klaus: Hope (Summer Fontana) may just be a child, but she’s also quite powerful in her own right.
- It’s time to learn about Vincent’s past and his witchcraft wariness.
- There’s a new werewolf in town, her name is Keelin (Christina Moses), she’s a doctor and she may hold the key to curing the Mikaelson clan, which practically guarantees she’ll be n jeapardy at some point.
- Haley will need all the help she can get to break Marcel’s spell.
Cast of The Originals @ San Diego Comic Con (Photo: Trina N. Green)
Our Favorite Cast Quotes From The Pressroom:
Family First: “It’s all they have, they have to believe it’s worth it. They’ve spent a thousand years fighting for that and justifying the most terrible atrocities because of family, defense of family. That’s why Davina died…that’s why Freya who is, by all accounts a lovely character, sacrificed this teenage girl for the good of her family. She’s already thinking like a Mikaelson.” Joseph Morgan / Klaus Mikaelson
A Tempest: “Elijah’s the most interesting character to me in a lot of ways…he’s the most dishonest of them all. Elijah’s the most delusional. He’s the only one who maintains this quest for the last shard of his own humanity. There’s this perpetual discontent…he wants to be a human being again and it’s tragic because he’s Caliban and he’ll never be Prospero.” Daniel Gillies / Elijah Mikaelson (Brilliant Shakespearean analogy from Gillies; see The Tempest for further)
Me And The Mrs.: “So we’re going to have a little bit of a flashback, we’re going to learn about Vincent’s past. We got a little bit of an idea of what was going on…in season 2 when we saw Eva Sinclair kidnapping kids…I think we might see how that dark magic that she was delving into came into Vincent and Eva’s life.” Yusuf Gatewood / Vincent Griffith
Fear Factor: “If he [Marcel] can run the city, if he can be loved by people, then that’s an accomplishment. But when that didn’t give him what he needed he was humbled again. It’s either try to do away with the fear inside yourself or you try to destroy the thing that reminds you of that fear and for all the characters it’s Klaus…and it makes no sense because he’s just going to kill you.” Charles Michael Davis / Marcel Gerard
Solitary Witch: “Most of the witches in the show are connected together…it’s a community and I really don’t see her as part of that at all. She was raised alone with Dahlia, was very powerful but just dreamed of finding her family. I think she’ll always just be the Mikaelson witch and not part of the witch coven of any sort.” Riley Voelkel / Freya Mikaelson
Currently there’s no firm scheduled date for the season 4 premiere, but expect it to be sometime in 2017.