The Originals executive producer Michael Narducci says season three will be returning to the “idea of this being a vampire show.” During the San Diego Comic Con, Narducci not only confirmed there will be multiple big bads this year, but also this upcoming third season kicking off on October 8, 2015 will focus on the original sire lines and will introduce new vampires.
“The last season we really explored the long history of Esther Mikaelson and her sister Dahlia which is rooted in the witchcraft and the spell of the first born Mikaelson,” explained Narducci during our roundtable interview. “We did a lot of stuff with the Crescent wolves and the wolf pack, and the marriage and how that changed the wolves. This is the season where we’re going to double-down on the long history of the Mikaelsons as vampires: who did they turn, what was that like? What were the circumstances of the Mikaelson family – the original vampires – turning other people into vampires for the first time in history? We know that Klaus turned Marcel, who else was turned? Who was turned first?”
Narducci says he’s anxious to explore the original sire lines. “There’s a Rebekah sire line, a Klaus sire line, and an Elijah sire line out there somewhere, what are their motives? What are their drives? What might they want with their sires today? We all know that if an original dies, their entire sire line is wiped out. If you were an ancient vampire – powerful, strong, beautiful, young forever – you probably want to make sure that there’s nothing that can kill you. And yet if you’re smart and you’ve been keeping tabs on the Mikaelsons, you know Mikael almost killed Klaus. Esther wanted to kill all of her children. Dahlia was very close to killing her nieces and nephews in the finale, so you need to make sure that you’re not going to die because the Mikaelsons get taken out. Do you ambush them? Bury them alive so they can never be killed? Do you if there is some kind of conflict between sire lines, say, ‘Hey, I could wipe out my competitors by killing Klaus or Elijah or Rebekah.'”
“Rebekah especially is in a very vulnerable place because she’s not even in her body right now, and Elijah and Klaus are in very vulnerable places because they are at each other’s throats,” said Narducci. “They are estranged. They hate each other right now. So if you were ever going to try to take down a Mikaelson and you were almost just as strong as they are, almost just as powerful as they are, wouldn’t now be the right time to do it? So that’s what we want to explore.”
Narducci went on to explain what he sees as the biggest difference between season two and the upcoming third season. “I would say the big difference between season two and season three is we’re introducing a lot of vampires. We want to make this a show about that long history of vampires across the globe.”
Cast members have labeled season three a reboot, and Narducci thinks that’s an accurate description. “It was one of the things we definitely talked about, just reimagining a brand new conflict to come into the city of New Orleans and what could possibly put our main characters in danger, given that they are so powerful and strong and ancient. I think we’ve got a great concept for what that is,” explained Narducci. “I think just as important is what I was saying earlier, the notion that they’re divided and they also have because of their associations and their family… Freya is vulnerable. Hayley is vulnerable. Baby Hope is vulnerable. Klaus is in a dangerous place because he loves people now and he, actually, by loving other people you expose yourself for a little bit. And yet at the same time if someone went after his kid or the mother of his child or Marcel or any of his friends, I think he’d go ballistic as we’ve seen him do in the past. It’s a great idea to play with with what would the family do to protect themselves, even if it means forgiving each other for all of the terrible things that happened at the end of the last season.”
As for season three’s romantic entanglements, Narducci promises love will play into the picture. “I know that we’re telling a really cool story and the cool thing about introducing these new vampires is that any one of these new vampires can be a potential love interest for any one of our characters,” offered Narducci. “It’s not like bringing back Kol, Finn, Esther and Mikael – none of those characters are potential love interests for Elijah, Klaus or Rebekah. But all of these new vampires that we’re bringing could be potential love interests. You have to wonder are they friends, are they foes, are they love interests, are they potential allies? Will those concepts shift over the course of the season? So, I’m very interested in exploring who was the first vampire that Klaus turned? Why did he turn this person? Who is the first person that Elijah turned and why did he turn this person? Who is the first vampire that Rebekah turned and why? We’re going to see those flashbacks and we’re going to see those vampires in the present.”
We’ll also see Hope age, but just slightly. “She will age like a normal human being and our season premiere picks up six months after the finale, so the reality is we have a baby actor/child who has grown not quite six months but in the ballpark. We’re going to ask our audience to say that’s approximately how old baby Hope is,” said Narducci. “And if we were to do a larger time jump in the future, we’re prepared to recast so that we can play an older version of Hope.”
