Image Credit: Quantrell Colbert/The CW
Fans were rendered speechless in the final moment’s of last week’s installment of The Vampire Diaries, when Original Mama Esther cast a spell that bound all of her children together, with the ultimate intention of killing them. To be fair, her drastic actions were not completely unwarranted — her children are a scheming, murdering group of ancient vampires who treat human beings like their silly little playthings. The lone, sensitive standout, and the only offspring to give Esther a bit of pause, was Elijah (Daniel Gillies).
Unfortunately for Elijah, last night was a full moon — the celestial event Mama Esther needed to cast her wicked spell. EW caught up with Gillies after last night’s do-or-die episode, “All My Children,” to discuss last night’s action and speculate on what’s next. SPOILERS AHEAD!
Gillies’ fans can rest easy. Elijah escaped certain death by using — shocker — Elena, as bait. He hid Elena with his nasty sister Rebecca, promising the Salvatore brothers that the vengeful vamp would tear her throat out if they didn’t stop Esther’s spell. “If there’s one thing that truly motivates the Salvatores, it’s Elena,” Gillies laughs. Damon Salvatore saved the day (well, Elena’s day) when he stopped the spell last minute by turning witch Abby Bennett into a vampire, but Gillies told EW that he was never truly worried. “I was pretty confident,” he says. “[The producers] dubbed this ‘The Season of the Originals,’ so I feel like if there was one fell swoop for all of the brothers and sisters, there would be an extraordinary movement of outrage in the TVD fandom community.”
Still, Gillies made it clear that the threat from Esther is far from over, and we won’t have to wait too long to find out what obstacles await her. “It’s going to be interesting, because now [the Originals] are all so dispersed. It’s like, ‘Well, if you’ve all gone, does that mean you’re bonded together in this death-pact, or has it been eradicated because [Abby Bennett] is gone?’”
Elijah himself decided to skip town after escaping certain death, and Gillies played coy when asked when he would return. “[Elijah will return] in your dreams,” he quips. “In your beautiful, poetic, slightly violent, manic, strange maelstrom dreams. It’s like I’ve entered your heads.”
Your heads — and Elena’s. Many fans were delighted to witness the burgeoning relationship between Elijah and Mystic Falls’ No. 1 vampire magnet, but last night’s betrayal could put a huge dent in any hope for a future romance. Still, Gillies believes that Elijah’s actions were justified. “I think that neither of them is an innocent in this,” he says. “Elena can’t exactly hold [her kidnapping] over him. She basically lied to his face, and bound him in this death ritual with his brothers and sister. I don’t think that either of them can be lofty over the other. It was a mutual betrayal, and for all of the right reasons.”
Besides, Gillies feels that it’s unlikely that the attraction will ever be taken to the next level. “[Elijah is] not pretty or attractive like the other boys,” Gillies says. “He’s on his own island of strangeness. There’s a line five miles deep at the moment, lobbying for [Elena’s] affections, but I don’t think that that’s Elijah. It’s almost more of an admiration thing than anything. I do think there is a degree of sexual tension, but I play it that she elicits from him the kind of feelings that he thought were long-dead. There’s no way he would make any advance, unless he absolutely felt that it was entirely mutual.”
So Elena is currently out of the picture, but maybe Elijah will finally see some action — on an Original vampire spinoff. No plans have been made, but Gillies says that he’s more than open to the idea. “My ideal ending [for Elijah] would be a new beginning,” he says. “With his family, and with a new series. I’ve been talking endlessly about the potential of a new show. It would be a whole new set of challenges.”
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