from The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries is back tonight, after what seemed like a very long week without it. When last we left our favorite residents of Mystic Falls, a certain original made his triumphant return (love you, Elijah!) What does this mean for Klaus? What about the others? I recently had the chance to chat with Joseph Morgan, who plays Klaus, one of my favorite supernatural beings. We talked about what’s coming up, why people root for Klaus, and he even asked me to establish the official Caroline/Klaus ‘shipper name. From searching, the consensus seems to be Carlaus (or Caralaus), so I’m going to go with that one. Edit: The common consensus seems to be Klaroline. You win, fans, you win. Whatever the name may be, I am excited about the possibility, even if they have a somewhat crazy history.
After the last episode, I believe I might have yelled “hell yes!” at my television. I’m very excited Elijah is back. How is that going to change things?
Well, he’s going to wonder what happened, isn’t he? Since I put the dagger in him. There’s also the whole matter of my mother to deal with and the truth about what happened to her now, which has come out. I’m sure he’s going to have something to say about that. There’s a confrontation brewing, I think.
I’m looking forward to it! And a couple weeks ago, I think every Vampire Diaries fan collectively swooned over the Klaus and Caroline scene (laughs).
(laughs)
I imagine Caroline isn’t going to be easy to win over though, so what can we expect from that new found relationship?
Well, that scene was actually one of my favorite scenes that they wrote for me. It was just a really beautiful seduction scene, really, I suppose. You’re right. She’s fully aware of who Klaus is and what he’s capable of, so it’s going to be a tough sell for him, I think. But he’s persistent and I think there’s something there, certainly. I watched that scene and saw there’s a connection there between them. And she does kind of acquiesce him at the end. She does say she wants to live and she drinks from him. And that’s a very intimate moment between those two people, or creatures, however you want to put it. So yeah, I think there is something there, but like you say, it’s going to take a little bit of work on his part.
Did you anticipate the fans would latch on so much to a possible relationship between the two of them?
The fans continue to surprise me. I knew that people would be interested to see another side to my character, in a scenario that we hadn’t kind of really experienced before, with her as well, which was unexpected to everyone, including myself when I got the script. But I didn’t expect — it’s funny, I was in a hotel for the CW Bad Boys Panel TCA thing I did in LA, and I watched the episode in a hotel room and I wanted to watch that scene again, so I looked it up on YouTube to see if anyone had posted it, and I just found pages and pages of Klaus and Caroline videos that people had sort of put together with music on them. And that was the day after. So yeah, I’m continually surprised by the fans and their commitment to the show. People really seem to respond to it. I think they’re debating what the ‘shipping name should be. Klaroline or Caralaus or something.
(laughs) I saw one that said For-iginal and I was confused by that one.
For-iginal? (laughs) That’s a stretch. Because there was ‘forwood,’ which was Lockwood and Forbes together, so I guess they were trying to expand on that.
They confuse me. I try not to look at those names because I can’t put them together.
I know. It takes me a while, sometimes, like who is that supposed to be? But it’s just another thing I’m learning being a part of The Vampire Diaries.
We saw Klaus and Caroline in this unlikely friendship. Are we going to see Klaus make any more unlikely friends?
It’s interesting because every now and then they throw someone into the mix with me. Yeah, some unexpected camaraderie between certain characters. Let’s put it like that. There’s certainly some people you wouldn’t expect to see him with, yes. Someone who we haven’t met yet, that’s why I’m being cagey.
That makes sense. And we’re going to meet Klaus’ brothers soon. What is that dynamic going to be like?
Well, it’s interesting because again, the same with Elijah, except Klaus put all his family in these coffins and his two brothers — one of them I believe has been in the coffin around five hundred years — and the other one slightly less than that. But all of his family are under the assumption that his father killed his mother, so there’s going to be some answers. He’s going to have to answer some tough questions when they finally come back. So it’s going to be tough. I think he’s going to be hoping that they don’t all gang up on him, (laughs) try to bully him or something. But yeah, it’s going to be interesting. The writers have been really great with those two characters because they haven’t just made them sort of faceless bad-asses, they’ve really given them distinct personalities. So you’ll see, it’s interesting to watch the dynamic between all of the originals, just to see sort of how they function as a family. It’s very interesting, because we’ve seen a lot of Klaus, first and worst as this evil being, and then with his sister, who he obviously cared a lot about. So it’s interesting to see when those other dynamics are introduced.
Yeah, definitely. What about Klaus and Rebekah, when he eventually decides to un-dagger her? They are sort of the only two who got along…
They are, yeah. I think Rebekah is one of his siblings that he cares about the most, that he’s most attached to. And so I think he’ll be most worried about un-daggering her, hence why he put the dagger back in her in episode eleven, because he really, more than anything, fears disappointing her. And so he’s terrified she’ll abandon him and he’d rather have him in a coffin than out of the coffin, off on her own. So I think she is the confrontation that he’s most afraid of, because it’s that disappointment rather than anger from her that he’s really kind of terrified of seeing. So yeah, it’s going to be a huge deal for him. All of those guys coming out of the coffins will be a big thing for Klaus.
And there’s that extra coffin hanging around that we just saw Damon take…
Dun, dun, dun. Yeah.
Yeah! What could Klaus possibly have hiding in there?
Well, I can tell you that whatever it is, he’s pretty terrified of it. It’s something that could potentially destroy him. So it’s a very frightening prospect that coffin being open or being out of his control somewhere. He’s desperate to get his hands back on that coffin. I think it’s going to be a big surprise for everyone and very kind of exciting moment when we finally do find out what’s in that coffin. I’ve been reading all sorts of things over Twitter. Someone even wrote “I’ve got it! It’s Klaus’ twin.” So, I don’t know, I’d have to play two roles then, like Nina does. So I can confirm it’s not Klaus’ twin in the coffin. But kudos to that person for the idea, because that was a pretty exciting idea, I thought.
That was an interesting idea. I’ve heard a ton of theories, but I’m excited to find out. And Klaus kind of made a new enemy with Damon, so I’m interested to see how that plays out.
Yeah, you know, I love those confrontations with Ian. It’s been a slow build between he and I. Well, I say slow build, but we tried to kill each other in the first five or six scenes we had. And then we got a little kind of more cordial. So it’s interesting how this relationship develops because most of them share that kind of loose cannon quality.
Definitely. And even though Klaus has his doppelganger now, he doesn’t seem to be one to let go of unpaid debts or forget things. Is he going to ever revisit his vendetta against Katherine?
Oh, I’m sure, yeah. As we move closer towards the finale of the season, I wonder whether he’s going to want to tie up those loose ends. Katherine always comes in with a little part to play which is integral to the storyline, or that’s my experience, anyway. So, I don’t know the answer to that, but I would speculate yes.
And Klaus’ plans so far have not exactly worked out the way he wanted them to. We saw Tyler try to break his sire bond, and Damon stealing the coffin. What do you think Klaus’ motivations are for settling into Mystic Falls besides the coffin obviously?
Well, yeah, obviously the coffin. I think also the fact that it is so linked to the past, to his past and his family. It’s a very kind of interesting conflict with Klaus. Because on the one hand he wants all his power and he wants to be feared by everyone and he wants that feeling that he doesn’t need anybody. But at the same time, he’s going around trying to make friends, really. Isn’t he? He wanted Stefan to be his friend, that didn’t really work out, so he got this sire bond thing going with Tyler, wanted to take him under his wing. Now he’s got this mentor-student relationship with Caroline that may turn into something else. He really is a lonely guy. And I think even though the relationships he’s established in Mystic Falls are, for the most part, bad ones, they’re still relationships. They’re still something. And if he doesn’t know any different, he’ll cling on to what he’s got.
I find myself thinking about this a lot, because I root for Klaus. Is that why you think others root for Klaus even though he’s a little bit psycho.
Well, yeah, I think all people love a bad boy, and he certainly is that. But I think again, the writers are bringing in a more and more sort of human side of a scene, or the motives behind why he is like he is, and I think people are starting to relate to him. And I noticed especially after episode eleven with that scene with Caroline, a lot of people kind of came on to the idea that I’m really starting to like him. And that’s good for me, because I feel like there’s only so much you can do if you’re going to be two-dimensional, evil all the time. So it’s wonderful to see this character developing all of these layers. I think the more you understand someone, the more you like them.
What can you tease about the next episode and beyond that? I hear there is a big costume ball coming up soon.
I can say that there’s a huge costume ball. We all had to have dance lessons. It’s a lot of fun. And there’s a scene coming up with a particularly troublesome horse. It took so long to shoot. I’m sure it looks beautiful, but this horse would not behave itself. I nearly got hit in the mouth a bunch of times. But we can look forward to the ball and we can look forward to at least one more, how shall I say it, Klaroline scene? Or Caralaus? You can look forward to more of those. I’m sure that will make everyone happy.
(laughs) Once we figure out what the real ‘shipper name is…
Yeah. You establish it in your article.
Okay, I’ll do my best.
Perfect.
Lastly, I know you are a big Walking Dead fan, so I wanted to know your thoughts on the big, crazy finale.
Yeah! It was really crazy, wasn’t it? I loved it. Especially when the little girl came out of the barn at the end and you realize she’d been there the whole time and you saw Rick didn’t want to shoot these walkers who had been coming out the whole time and then he was the one, of course, who had to walk forward at the end and kill the little girl and make that tough decision. I just think it’s so good and Jon Bernthal is getting — it’s just such an interesting character. They’re all really, really good. Lauren Cohan, who used to be on Vampire Diaries. I think she’s wonderful in it. I was so impressed with it. I’m glad you asked about that.
