The Originals: Phoebe Tonkin talks the new big bad, Hayley and Elijah's future

Hayley is about to get everything she’s wanted for the past five years. After last week’s successful mission to rescue Klaus, the Mikaelsons are back together, and Hope is going to get to know her father (along with her aunts and uncles). Plus, Hayley has the man she loves back, so what could go wrong? Well, on The Originals, the answer is usually: everything.

EW caught up with Phoebe Tonkin to talk about the family reunion, her character Hayley’s future with Elijah, and the little fact that her daughter could have a mystical evil coming after her.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: After five years, the family is finally reunited. What does that mean to Hayley?
PHOEBE TONKIN: It’s relief, and a little bit of closure. All Hayley’s ever wanted was family and then she had to say goodbye to her family. All she’s done for five years is be on the run with her daughter and I think she got this massive relief because she can finally stay in one place hopefully, and she can give her daughter somewhat of a normal life hopefully. There’s a little bit of a weight off her shoulders now because that’s what she’s done for five years, but then obviously it’s not that calm for too long.

Were you curious about those five years? Did you talk to the writers about what Hayley had been up to?
I did ask them. I was like, “Maybe she went on a few dates or does she have some weird girlfriend that she made friends with?” [Laughs] She was very serious about making her focus just about the family and making sure that they were going to come back into her life and her daughter’s life. I think she spent a bit of time with grandma Mary, so I think grandma Mary was her friend over the last five years. I don’t know what else Hayley would’ve probably been doing besides looking for ways to get the Mikaelsons back and keeping a low profile.

Keeping a low profile despite driving a tractor trailer everywhere.
Exactly. [Laughs] I also want to know what they would listen to in that truck. I wonder what Hayley and Hope were jamming along to.

Right. It’s kid’s music and then Hope falls asleep and it’s…
Smashing Pumpkins. [Laughs] Or Hayley’s been learning French in the truck on like, what’s that…

Rosetta Stone?
Yeah! She’s been Rosetta Stoning. She’s been learning Spanish.

We also have this new big bad. Hayley has worked so hard to keep Hope safe. How is she going to react when her daughter is potentially part of something she can’t control?
That’s what’s so terrifying about the big bad of the season is that they don’t really know much about it: They don’t know why it’s here; they don’t know what it wants, and once it starts to feel like maybe this is something directly affecting or directly targeting Hope, that’s when everything gets serious. Once you’re talking about protecting a 7-year-old who doesn’t understand her powers yet or anything, that’s when the stakes become very high.

Are Hayley and Elijah on solid ground at this point? After five years apart, I feel like they deserve a moment of happiness.
Yeah, I think having not seeing him for five years there’s probably been five years of dreaming about the day that she would see him again, so I think the first time that they get to spend time with each other is hopefully this magical moment because it’s all she wanted. I think they love each other very much but you know as the season goes on, it becomes very clear that Hayley’s priority is being a mom and protecting her daughter.

And this week, I heard something about a disagreement with Freya. I assume that has to do with Keelin.
Yes. Hayley and Freya both have very similar back stories in that they have been without family, so when they finally did get family, they’re super protective of them. But it doesn’t necessarily mean that their ways for protecting their family are always going to align. There’s a couple of conflicting opinions between Hayley and Freya, but at the end of the day, they’re family and they have the same intention which is to protect each other and protect their family, and especially protect Hope. But they just sometimes have differing ideas of how to do that.

The Originals airs Fridays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.