Things are heating up on “The Originals.”
Marcel is gearing up to take on the first family to reclaim his city, the werewolves are rising up after a series of explosions (that they don’t realize was caused by one of their own), there’s continuing conflict with various witches and the only peace Klaus and Elijah seem to be able to organize is their own.
This week’s episode – “A Closer Walk With Thee” – will see an escalation on all fronts, and Charles Michael Davis, who plays Marcel, hinted at what’s ahead, including new details on Father Kieran’s key. In a new interview with AccessHollywood.com, Charles also explained that this week, fans of The CW drama will get to know more about how the father/son bond between Marcel and Klaus was shaped. And it’s just as Klaus’ own stepfather, Mikael, mysteriously comes back into the picture.
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AccessHollywood.com: This show is getting crazier every week. Do you get the scripts and have to take a moment to process it all?
Charles Michael Davis: Yeah, I usually take a deep breath before reading each one. I like to clear my schedule. I like to sit down and prepare myself. If I’m still working on the previous script or we’re still shooting, chances are I probably won’t even skim through because it’ll probably just be so much. But, yeah, we’ve finished now, and it has been a lot. It’s pretty epic.
Access: And it seems like it’s really heating up as we head towards the season finale. Marcel told his gang he wants to take on the Originals again. How is he feeling about that? That means a lot of things.
Charles: Yeah, especially after going up against Klaus in Episode 8, and having to bow down and take the coin, I think it’s gotta be a much more committed effort, so it’s pretty unpredictable. I think it kind of made [Marcel] very much so courting death. But death is a big theme of the whole show and he’s already lost Rebecca, he’s lost Father Kieran. The relationship with Cami — it’s there, but it’s not something solid that he can stand on so… the only thing that he has left is his city. … So, he’s really kind of like going all in and really risking it all.
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Access: You mention the city and that’s an interesting story point. This is Marcel’s hometown in a way that it never was Klaus’. Do you think that’s really what’s giving him a lot of this drive? The idea of, ‘It’s not just any city, it’s my city. This is where I was born and this is where I plan to stay.’
Charles: Yeah, you make a really good point and one of the things is that the city does have its own identity, but also like its own soul and if you’ve been with the city for 200 years, it definitely means a lot to him and it is a relationship that he feels really strongly about and definitely worth fighting and dying for.
Access: Speaking of dying, how far is Marcel willing to go to reclaim the city, protect his people, protect the city and go up against the Originals? Is he willing to accept dying?
Charles: Yeah, and I think for him, looking at what his future could be, if it means living under Klaus again, I think that’s his options and that’s his choice and so it kind of pushes him against the wall and backs him into that corner where… it’s kind of, ‘Give me liberty or give me death.’
Access: Marcel had some interesting information on the attack on the wolves. Viewers know the attack came from inside their own. Is the fact that the wolves are all riled up now going to play into the next episode?
Charles: That’s going to get people fired up, and just Oliver trying to get the wolves riled up. Before he didn’t have to worry about them because they’re all out in the Bayou, and now it looks like they’re going to make some noise and make their presence known, so it’s going to affect pretty much everybody.
Access: When her uncle died, Klaus brought in Marcel to comfort Cami. Did that help out the relationship between Marcel and Klaus at all?
Charles: A little bit, but that’s the thing with them, even when Marcel comes to the door, they don’t say anything. They share a brief look, but there’s a lot that still goes unsaid. There still is no apology and these two, they need to communicate. But as you see, Klaus, he’s very sensitive when it comes to his father, so here he is, he’s a father figure for Marcel and he still has those same hang ups, which create the same sort of relationship, so they both are similar. They kind of just don’t work out their relationship, so a lot of things boil over. It’s a kind gesture, but I think both characters still need to hear it from each other.
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Access: What can you hint at about the flashbacks in this week’s episode that involve Marcel and Klaus?
Charles: It’s really good stuff. We actually shot it for Episode 9. It didn’t make the cut because of timing issues and then, one of the writers, because the writers… said, ‘You’ve gotta check this out. We have to use this.’ And so it works perfectly where this next episode, we get to do some flashbacks and learn more about the relationship and how it’s sort of a father-son relationship with Klaus and Marcel, which is perfect timing because also you have Mikael sort of coming into the picture. We touched on Marcel and his past and you get to see a lot of where he comes from and his relationships and you get to see what shapes and defines his relationship with Klaus and also why he doesn’t just kill him.
Access: Finally, the key. What can you hint at about the mysterious key?
Charles: It’s something that’s been in the family line with the O’Connells, so you heard Marcel say that he doesn’t know if Cami’s ready for it. So it’s going to be something that — a responsibility that may fall on Cami’s shoulders, whether she chooses to and also, even if she finds out about it and that it’s a part of the human faction… it’s something that even Marcel doesn’t have complete knowledge about right now. It’s just a key that leads to something, but it is something that’s really, really important that would even give the humans any kind of leverage against creatures like vampires, witches and wolves so it has to be something pretty powerful.
“The Originals” continues Tuesday at 8/7c on The CW.
— Jolie Lash
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