For Marcel Gerard, it’s good to be king (again) on “The Originals.”
Last season on The CW drama, Marcel drank a mystical liquid that not only made him stronger than one of the Mikaelsons, but it gave him a bite that could kill one of the Originals family members. It also restored him to power in New Orleans, a greater power than what was taken away from him when the Originals came to town back in Season 1.
“I enjoy it,” Charles Michael Davis, who plays the vampire, told AccessHollywood.com. “In my mind, I was never not the king.
“But actually there were times when I had to remind myself like, ‘[You’ve] got the bite and you can kill everyone and you don’t have to bow down, and when you do fight scenes, it doesn’t take much effort. Oh yeah. That’s right. Well, why is that? ‘Cause I’m the king again,'” Charles continued with a laugh, recounting how he approached playing Marcel in Season 4.
In last Friday’s season opener, despite being inside a spelled circle, Klaus Mikaelson (Joseph Morgan) was able to use chains to take down an old frenemy – Alistair. But did Klaus’ show of strength make Marcel feel a sense of uneasiness around the ancient vampire who has served as a father figure?
“No. I mean, he had that whole plan,” Charles said. “It was all part of this plan. That’s one of the things to expect with Klaus. You’re never really going to control him or really hold him down, and he’s such a smart character. But again, the one thing they do have is that bond. So, there’s much to fear and respect, but there’s still a little bit of comfort there. But I think [Marcel] was certainly thrown for a loop when he took his advice about how at first to handle Alistair and then it backfired. And that’s when Marcel kind of realized, ‘Oh yeah, you’re still getting pranked by Klaus.'”
In Friday’s new episode, now that Rebekah Mikaelson is no longer in a sleep state, she and Marcel will come face-to-face. But, despite her play in the Season 3 finale, where she turned on Klaus during the trial conducted by Marcel, as a means to keep her brother alive (and so the Mikaelsons could be tethered to him), Charles’ character probably won’t be holding a huge grudge.
“The Mikaelsons and their family, they have their motives and they’re very clear and they always stated that – ‘always and forever’ – so, it’s not hard to figure out the pathology of why she does what she does, so it makes it easy to understand them, and they have history,” Charles said of Marcel and Rebekah’s romantic past.
Reuniting with Elijah Mikaelson (Daniel Gillies) might not go as well. He’s the one who ripped Marcel’s heart out in the penultimate episode of Season 3, showing Marcel where his loyalties were.
Asked about shooting the scene set to air in Friday’s episode, where they’ll see each other again, Charles said it was a fun one to shoot.
“Yeah, it was a big tension build up that was carried over from the [third] season, so it was nice to get that sort of emotional catharsis out of the way and have words and you know, kind of clear the air between these two, and like guys do, just to like, fight it out,” he said.
“The Originals” airs Friday at 8/7c on The CW.
— Jolie Lash