'The Originals' star Colin Woodell talks dying, Jaiden | EW.com 

'The Originals' recap: 'When the Levee Breaks'

'Originals' boss on THAT death, tough finale ahead

fans were forced to say an all-too-soon goodbye to Aiden, Jackson’s righthand man and, more importantly, Josh’s love. On his way to run away with Josh, Aiden found himself face-to-face with Dahlia, the most powerful witch in New Orleans/probably the world. And to Dahlia, Aiden was nothing more than a chess piece.

By ripping out Aiden’s heart, Dahlia made her latest move against the Mikaelsons, and it’s one fans won’t soon forget. We chatted with Aiden himself, Colin Woodell, about that scene, his favorite Aiden moment and more: 

On when and how he found out: “They told me [during] Episode 18, so it was about a week before,” Woodell said. “It was a conversation that [executive producer Michael Narducci and I] had months before. He let me know that it was very, very possible that this could come on the horizon. And he explained the reasoning, [that] more than anything, it was a domino effect. Aiden’s death would create havoc and lead to some really great storytelling for the final three episodes.”

On filming that magic-filled death scene: “It was not easy, and watching it Monday night, I definitely have some things that I wish I had done,” Woodell said. “But you don’t know what is too much and what is too little when you’re getting your heart pulled out of your chest because most of us have not had that happen to us.”

But the upside was that he died in a very exciting way. “It was very theatrical and that was really cool to kind of do because a lot of television now is very subtle and quiet and this was an opportunity for me to work with [Claudia Black] and be bold and be kind of ridiculous,” Woodell said. “It was actually really fun. It was a little strenuous but it was a cool, cool experience.”

And by strenuous, he means that they spent nearly three hours working on Aiden’s farewell … and all without the use of special effects. “The makeup artists are brilliant on our show so they applied the scars about halfway through,” Woodell said. “In terms of the heart, all they did was tie a string to it and pull it out of my chest, so there was no effects. All the grunting and death sounds that I made were actually in post, so that was separate, but everything was done without any special effects or camera work.”

On having Dahlia be your murderer: “Honestly, she’s so badass that at least it was her and it wasn’t like a freak death,” he said. “She is such a sweet actress, which I always find so interesting because she plays obviously such an evil witch but I think her killing me really sets a tone for the show. To see her so easily take the life of Aiden, it’s quite remarkable because by no means was I a weak character. I think it just showed how strong and powerful she really was that she could do it with such ease. And dying that kind of death, it’s not like I just passed away in my sleep. It’s actually really exciting, so I enjoyed it.”

On his favorite Aiden moment: “I loved the Jackson stuff and mainly because Nathan Parsons and I actually got really really close as friends while doing this and he kind of became a bit of a mentor to me and guided me,” Woodell said. “I’m relatively new to the world of television and he had a lot of really good advice for me. [Aiden’s] complex of wanting to overthrow him was a secret that I had to live with while also being friendly with him. For me as an actor that was really, really fun.”

On Jaiden: “Obviously Steven [Krueger] was incredible because here are two strangers who hardly know each other—one person’s been on the show for a long time, the other’s a complete newbie—and it’s up to the two of us to act like we have fallen passionately in love with each other and that’s scary and yet also a pretty cool opportunity,” he said. “And it took a while for us to really build chemistry in a lot of ways. I really enjoyed just spending time with him and that’s a lot due to the fact that people really enjoyed watching us. That really makes a difference.”

On what he would’ve liked to have explored more: “We introduced Aiden with this relationship with his younger brother, [so] there was some family backstory to Aiden. At least, there was a family member and we never went back to it. That would’ve been really special.”

On his favorite Original: “I just clicked really well with Joseph Morgan and that has a lot to do with the way he commands and leads the whole show and me wanting to just listen at all times to hear what he has to say. But I would’ve loved some more Klaus scenes even though there were quite a few,” he said. “You gotta root for the hero. I just love when you have a show with this indestructable force and everything is getting thrown at him. And sometimes he shows a weakness but again, I also allied up with him partially, so I think I’m maybe a little biased. He’s just so badass.” 

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