The Vampire Diaries: Keeping Klaus Bad

Talked about for quite a while before we met him, Klaus has proven to be a formidable enemy on The Vampire Diaries – a nearly indestructible, 1000 year old vampire/werewolf hybrid who uses those around him as pawns, as he himself becomes increasingly more powerful.

I recently spoke to Joseph Morgan about his role as Klaus, his approach to playing Mystic Falls' most notorious villain and what's to come for his character.

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IGN: You've mentioned how you really hope your character doesn't get softened - that he pretty much stays the bad guy.

Morgan: Yeah, I think we're all on the same page, the writers and the creators of the show. We certainly want to bring in a more human side to him. I feel like the character's got to evolve, and as the show moves on we've got to see more layers to him, more levels and more of his insecurities coming out and things [like that]. But I think to have him hanging out at the Mystic Grill with Jeremy and Matt, and it's "All is forgiven!", that's a little bit of a stretch for me. [Laughs] And I think it would become less interesting. I feel like even with the idea of bringing in a romantic interest for Klaus, I feel like he's still going to be Klaus. He still has all of this angst and rage and all of these things and this dysfunction, bred from his family. I think it's more interesting if you add in the humanity on top of that, but he's still this guy, you know? It's more of a struggle. Yeah, I really hope that they don't kind of substitute one for the other, that they just keep adding these things.

IGN: What do you think about Klaus' new interest in Caroline?

Morgan: I think initially it's more of an infatuation – "Who's this opinionated, blonde, feisty vampire?" But also, one of the things I've been working with from the beginning is his loneliness. I feel like the bottom line for him is he's lonely, and he feels abandoned by his family. He feels rejected by his father. There was supposed to be unconditional love there, and there wasn't. So that's had an effect throughout his whole life. He's found it very difficult to form relationships based on trust. So bringing her into the mix now, I think he feels something, but he doesn't know how to go about it. For a guy who's been around for a thousand years to come up against something that he doesn't know how to deal with is a big thing for him, and it's also incredibly enticing. It's intoxicating for him to suddenly feel like, "Here's a challenge I haven't had for a thousand years."

IGN: But as you've also said, he can change on the flip of a dime. So it's obviously a dangerous scenario for Caroline.

Morgan: There's always that threat, yeah, and I think she realizes that. That's hopefully something where he'll make those mistakes and then be able to learn from them, you know? It's such an interesting thing because I feel like he's sort of a self-saboteur in a way. He'll do all the right things, and then he'll muck it up for himself in a minute, in a heartbeat. It'll have turned around, and he'll have ruined it for himself. He'll be back to square one and try to kind of get back to where he was before. So it's a really interesting thing. It's him trying to sort of work through his issues, in a way.

IGN: Have you been intrigued to find out exactly who is inside those coffins?

Morgan: I have, and I've been asked a bit about it as well. Yeah, absolutely. And I was so intrigued to find out who would be the other siblings, and who would we meet of my family, and what's in the fourth coffin, and all of those things. I know a little more about it now. We're on episode 16 now, I think. A lot of it has started to come to light now. I really do feel like, "Oh God, they really did have a plan from the beginning! They really knew where they were going with this." That's very pleasing for me. It's like the suitcase in Pulp Fiction that they open up, and the gold shines out of it. You're like, "What's in that suitcase!? I need to know!" But at least in our show we are going to find out what or who is in these coffins. I feel like that's a huge, intriguing part of the show. I don't want to tease too much because it's sort of like telling you what's in your Christmas presents before you open them.

IGN: Elijah and Klaus have been a really great dynamic, kind of a fun sort of mirror image for Damon and Stefan. Going forward, might we see that again? Obviously we know Elijah can come back at some point.

Morgan: He can, and I think Julie [Plec] has said it would be a crime if he didn't. For me, I remember sitting in my hotel room in Atlanta before I was a regular, before I got a place [in town], watching the entirety of Season 2 and just thinking that Daniel Gillies is one of the best things on the show. He really brings a commanding presence to it. So yeah, I hope so. He and I decided quite early on when we were working the scenes, before I even shot my first episode, that the relationship was sort of like he would be a sort of consigliere to me; he was the voice of reason to me. We did one scene in episode 19 of Season 2 where I'm sitting on a throne-like chair in the 1491 flashbacks, and he's leaning over the chair to the side, and I feel like that is sort of their dynamic. He's there to whisper in my ear and to stop me from shooting off like a loose cannon. So yeah, I really hope so. I think he's a phenomenal actor, and I also think that the dynamic is a very interesting one.