‘The Vampire Diaries’: Zach Roerig Teases Donovan Family Reveals

“The Vampire Diaries” is taking a trip back in
time on Friday night and some Donovan family
reveals are on the way.

In the episode, Zach Roerig
dons knee-length breeches and a three-point hat to play Ethan Maxwell, one of
his character, Matt Donovan’s ancestors. The scenes happen after Matt
and Alaric (Matt Davis) team up some more as they continue to try and stop Cade — with the help of an important book called the Maxwell Journal.

“[Matt
and] Alaric try to decode the Maxwell Journal and try and stop Cade, and in
doing so, they basically discover that one of Matt’s ancestors – Ethan Maxwell
— actually knew how to do that,” Zach told AccessHollywood.com over the
phone on Thursday.

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“It’s this whole mission where Matt and the two of them are kind of solving the case again, but this time, it’s a lot more interesting because it’s really about his family,” Zach continued. “They’re not trying to help anyone else, do something else. … They’re trying to figure something out about [Matt’s] family.”

Those back-in-time Donovan family history lessons will also see Zach’s first one-on-one scenes with Nathalie Kelley, who plays the siren Sybil (the two actors were previously were in group scenes in the show’s mid-season finale at the Salvatore house).

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“It was really cool,” Zach said of getting to work with Nathalie. “It was a fun scene to do. I give a big shout out, thank you, to [Executive Producer] Julie [Plec] for writing that for me and for us. We’re both excited about it.”

Asked for hints about why Sybil’s in the locale during that time period, Zach said the siren is “intrigued by Mr. Maxwell,” and he also mentioned “the power of the bell.”

As “TVD” viewers recall, the Maxwell Bell unleashed Cade into Mystic Falls after a compelled Matt rang it 10 times . Zach said why a Donovan had to ring the bell in the first place will be cleared up in the episode.

There are just five episodes left of The CW series, which will wrap up at the end of its eight season in March, but filming on the show is done.

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Zach said shooting his final scene for the series finale recently was tough.

“I felt pretty emotional, had some tears,” he said. “Julie [Plec] was directing, which was really cool. She gave a speech and then she required the same of myself.”

“The Vampire Diaries” continues Friday at 8/7c on The CW

— Jolie Lash