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It’s come down to this.
The Originals closes out its freshman season with two big questions: What will become of Hayley and Klaus’ baby? Will Klaus and Elijah’s villainous father Mikael come back from the dead? In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Gillies previews the season finale (“We’re going out in a frenzy”), explains Hayley and Elijah’s “doomed” romance and why he sides with Davina on the Mikael situation.
The season has been building to the finale, with several balls in the air. There’s Hayley’s impending birth of the baby and the threat of Mikael possibly resurrected. How would you describe this final hour?
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It’s the perfect storm, isn’t it. I never really considered it like that, that they’ve positioned every potential danger and pointed them directly at us. Certainly on [The] Vampire Diaries, I always thought the penultimate was the darker, harder episode. Not in this case. We’re going out in a frenzy.
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The fates of several characters rests on how this finale plays out. Without revealing too much, what does the world look like post-finale?
There are a lot of changes. (Laughs.) You can’t take a sledgehammer to a mirror and expect that to be one piece, I’ll just say that. It’s a very prety mirror but it’s also a gorgeous sledgehammer, and it’s a collision we’re all eager to watch. We’re watching the kingdom torn asunder.
What can we expect with Hayley and the baby, with the former currently under duress?
The baby is in the most important thing in their lives and there’s the fact that Hayley’s under direct threat is its own tragedy. It’s a frightening time and we’ve never seen the brothers so disempowered. Here’s hoping they can do something.
What are your hopes for Hayley and Elijah in the future?
They have a magnetism to each other that you don’t find commonly. It’s that undeniable gravitational pull, but I feel for them both that it exists. It couldn’t be in a more inappropriate place, which is why I think the fans have a problem with it – because it’s not tidy and it’s not clean and it’s not here comes the perfect girl for Elijah. I know [creator] Julie [Plec] has received a lot of criticism for this relationship, and I’d like to step up and defend her and say I like the mess.
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The fact that he fell immediately in love with his brother’s pregnant girlfriend, who’s a werewolf is awesome. That is as messy as you can get. That’s bad decision Elijah. For as wise and as in command of every faculty he has, this was an ill-advised path to walk down but he didn’t have a choice and he was already on it. I think he recognizes that it’s terrifying and the more he tries to suppress, it, the deeper and richer their relationship becomes. [Carl] Jung says, “What the mind resists, persists.” Their restraint has only created a diamond in the rough. It’s almost the hotbed for their burgeoning love. They’re doomed, and I mean that in a beautiful way.
Davina is actively trying to resurrect Mikael, in part to save Josh. Should that actually happen, how much trouble will that cause for Elijah?
I imagine it’ll be hell on roller-skates. She has her own motive and I’m amazed that that girl isn’t more malevolent. She’s really endured some punishment. When I watch the show, I’m always like “Yes, of course, she’s leaning in this direction of pulling this guy out from beyond the grave” and “Of course, she’s having vindictive, vengeful strategies arise in her minds.” She’s been beat to shit! (Laughs.) This poor girl.
What are your hopes for season two?
I want him to get a dog. And I think it should look remarkably like my own dogs. Wouldn’t that be fun to see Elijah with a dog?
The Originals season finale airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. on The CW.
Email: Philiana.Ng@THR.com
Twitter: @insidethetube
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