Nina Dobrev from The Vampire Diaries appears on tonight’s episode of The Originals – you can read our preview piece here – and to get readers ready for that, we spoke with Executive Producer Michael Narducci at a group Q&A last week to find out what we can expect.
In the episode, Nina plays Tatia, the woman who came before that long line of lookalike doppelgangers. For a refresher, here’s how she fits in: “Tatia did have a husband prior to her relationship in the past with Elijah. He died in battle, and through that marriage with the man who died, she had a child. That child would have begat the Petrova line, and then after generations and generations, bloop, there would be another doppelgänger, and then after generations and generations, there would be Elena,” Narducci explained.
Michael Narducci described having Nina on the show as “phenomenal.” “She’s incredibly busy, as the most important character on The Vampire Diaries. She’s an incredible actress. We knew, obviously, that we couldn’t tell this story unless we had her. This was a true origin story in some ways, and if we would have told this story [with someone else], I don’t think it would have had the same impact,” he said.
Could we be seeing more references to the Original family’s time in Mystic Falls at any point in the near future? “Vague references, because the Mikaelson family, when they came to North America, what was then just the New World, in the wake of everything that happened to them… they came to the New World and they settled in what is now Mystic Falls. So if you count that as a reference to Mystic Falls, you’ll see one very, very soon. But again, I think that there are just – this is an episode where there’s not a lot of air to breathe. Everything is happening really fast. The family is under attack and being hit in their weakest, most vulnerable spots, so there’s not a lot of time to check in with Matt Donovan. And I love Matt Donovan. There’s just not [time]. I know that on Vampire [Diaries], they’re moving pretty quickly too, so I don’t know that we’re going to necessarily see any overlap. They’ve gotta resolve this family thing first,” he explained.
You can see some images from tonight’s Originals, titled “Red Door,” below. Look for it at 8PM on The CW.
