The Originals: Joseph Morgan talks Klaus and Marcel

The Originals‘ Klaus Mikaelson is used to people being angry with him. But when Marcel walked away from the family after Davina’s death, it hit Klaus harder than usual. This time around, he can’t afford to lose anyone else.

EW spoke with Joseph Morgan about what comes next for the father-son duo and a season 4 … inspired by The Bachelor?

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Last week, we saw Klaus and Elijah try to console Marcel, but within the family, is Klaus at all angry at Elijah and Freya for making that decision?

JOSEPH MORGAN: Yeah, I think there’s a frustration certainly. I mean, look, he didn’t really care about Davina, we know that. [Laughs] It’s no secret. But I think he’s learned to be strategic over the years and I don’t know if he would’ve made the same call because Kol is family and they were trying to take out the ancestors and the ancestors had a hold over Kol. It’s easy to say, “You shouldn’t have done that,” but he wasn’t in the position where he was the one having to make that tough call. That plays out. The problem is that while he’s trying to deal with them, things escalate and the prophecy is coming to a head. It’s the last two episodes of our season, so it really moves 100 miles an hour. There’s not much time for a whiskey by the fireplace and a chat about it. [Laughs]This is such a new sensation for him not to be the one who made the deadly decision.[Laughs] Yeah, I know it’s true — he can finally throw some blame around. It’s funny because he’s always making the hard call — “Yes, I killed this person, but I did it for the good of our family” — and then someone’s done the same exact thing that he always does and he’s the first to judge.

Last week, we saw some of Cami’s effect on Klaus. Is that something that continues?I always feel like it’s better to play the residual effects of what’s happened, otherwise we become The Simpsons and every episode everything’s back to normal. And by the way, that wasn’t a dig at The Simpsons, I bloody grew up on The Simpsons — don’t get me started. [Laughs] But I do think it’s important for us as a drama to move forward and to remember what has happened, so it’s not necessarily addressed directly in every scene but as an actor tackling the role, I try to maintain an idea of the fact that this tragedy has just happened and allow that to affect him. I think it affects him often in a way where he becomes more eratic or jumps to anger quicker, if that’s possible for him. He also tries to remember the lessons that he has from her. I do believe she helped him access more of his humanity and made him a better father. So I think he tries to carry that with him as much as possible during this rollercoaster ride towards the end of the season.

I’m really enjoying his role as the Haylijah whisperer.[Laughs] I know what you mean, matchmaking a little bit. It’s quite sweet. He realized that as an immortal being you feel like you have all the time in the world and it’s just not the case in terms of love. It’s important to act on your feelings, and that’s one of the things he’ll take away from this. So yeah, season 4 is just going to be Klaus matchmaking basically. He’s going to take a step back from all the action and be trying to get people together, much in the format of The Bachelor. [Laughs] He has this love island where he invites vampires and wolves alike to find love. It’s an interesting twist, but we feel strongly that it will be successful.

I love that he’s Chris Harrison.[Laughs] He’s definitely Chris Harrison, yeah. Exactly, there you go.

In terms of Marcel, do you think Klaus trying to win him back is more strategic or genuine?I think it’s because of his genuine bond with Marcel. He wants to make it right and to lose another person. Pretty soon he’ll be on his own again if he’s not careful and Marcel has been like a son to him, and certainly that’s the way I’ve played it.

The Originals airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.