Originals boss explains Klaus' decision, talks Claire Holt's return

Last night, The Originals‘ Klaus Mikaelson made the ultimate move against Dahlia … and along the way, he ruined some relationships. Not only did he burn Gia alive in front of Elijah, but he also forced Rebekah’s hand in killing herself in order to get back to her Original body.

We talked with executive producer Michael Narducci about Klaus’ decisions, the aftermath, and what’s coming in next week’s finale:

Believe it or not, Klaus had his reasons. When talking about Klaus’ decisions last night, Narducci said, “We will absolutely see long-term repercussions, particularly in terms of the relationship between Klaus and Elijah and between Klaus and Marcel.” However, Narducci gave three reasons for the murder of Gia:

1) “[Klaus] really needed to make his betrayal of his family seem absolutely convincing to Dahlia. Dahlia had to feel that there was no way that Klaus could go back. And that’s why, at the end of the episode, she’s willing to make this new deal with him.”

2) “Klaus knew that a strong enough witch can kill an Original. And if Dahlia is the strongest witch we’ve seen, and if Klaus thinks that there’s a chance Dahlia can actually kill Elijah, Klaus, who we know is a control freak, needed to be the one to put Elijah down in a non-fatal way. So he killed Gia in order to goad Elijah into attacking him blindly so that he can quickly take him down before Dahlia got involved. Because who knows what happens if Dahlia gets involved?”

3) “I think Klaus wanted to hurt his brother because his brother was complicit in allowing Hayley to leave, and because his brother put that dagger in his heart,” Narducci said. “Because of who Klaus is, I think everything kind of added up to do this terrible thing, which was awful and it was something that we debated in the writers’ room quite a bit. And it was painful to write, and it was painful to see shot, and it was painful to watch last night on TV. But I think it absolutely was true to who Klaus was.”

There’s hope for Maisie Richardson-Sellers. Rebekah 2.0, played by Maisie Richardson-Sellers, might’ve killed herself last night—but that doesn’t mean it’s the last time we’ll see her. “The question is, will we ever see that body rise up,” Narducci said. “There’s a lot of interesting ways stories twist and turn, so I just look forward to everybody seeing the finale.”

Claire Holt is back (and in danger of being daggered)! With Claire Holt’s return, we also get the return of Rebekah, the Original vampire, which will change things. “If Rebekah is in her original bod, she’s a little bit more durable and a little bit less likely to be easily killed in battle,” Narducci said. “So maybe Klaus wanted her back in that original body to protect her, and to make sure that nothing happened to her. Maybe he did what he did because he wanted to delay her and keep her out of the fight as long as possible. I think it very much, as Rebekah pointed out in last night’s episode, was also a punishment.

“And then finally, I think—it’s very interesting of Klaus. This is something he has done throughout all the time that we’ve known him—he daggers his siblings and he stores them away as punishment until such time as he wants to bring them back. And he can’t dagger Rebekah in Eva Sinclair’s body. But if she’s in Rebekah’s body—in Claire Holt’s body—he can dagger her. So it’s all kind of playing into who Klaus is and why he does certain things.”

Davina’s role is only growing. With Davina’s newfound power as regent, her first focus will be to resurrect Kol. “She’ll have the power to bring back Kol who is yet another ally that we can use in our battle,” Narducci said. “He’s a smart guy and he’s a witch, and if he’s resurrected, he can help us. But also, she could convince the nine covens, as their leader, that Dahlia coming to town is a bad thing even just for the witches of New Orleans.”

Cami might’ve saved Klaus’ plan. Believe it or not, Cami showing up last night was just the thing that Klaus’ plan needed. “There’s a world where, if Cami hadn’t shown up last night, Klaus would have just enacted his plan and you will see how that plan will pay off at the beginning of the next episode,” Narducci said.

Instead, Klaus made sure Cami—and therefore Elijah–had the information necessary to kill Dahlia. However, he still bit Cami, and that’s something she’s going to have to deal with. “The first thing that she will have to do next episode is react to his willingness to hurt her, to hurt Elijah, to do all these terrible things in order to create this rouse. So, that will be the first step.”

The finale will give you answers (and wolves!). “[The finale] is going to tie up a lot of loose ends,” Narducci said. “It’s going to resolve the big question of Davina’s desire to bring back Kol. It’s going to resolve the question of, what is Freya’s play in this family? Can she be trusted? It’s going to deal with first, what Klaus’s plan was. And second, can his siblings ever find a way to look him in the eyes again, let alone trust him to help carry out a plan to help their child? And even though we may think that we have seen the last of Hayley and the Crescents for a while, there’s a little surprise there as well.”

The Originals finale airs Monday at 8 p.m. on The CW.