Joseph Morgan takes us inside the mind of Klaus on ‘The Originals’

If you’ve really been missing your favorite New Orleans dwelling supernatural creatures, fear not: “The Originals” finally returns tonight after being gone for a long hiatus. And just in time, we talked to Joseph Morgan to get into the psyche of the man at the center of all the power-grabbing, murderous shenanigans on the show: Klaus Mikaelson, the perpetually sulky werewolf/vampire hybrid.

Do you ever get frustrated with how stubborn Klaus can be?

Yeah, sometimes. I think like, “God, if he’d just be a bit more accommodating, this would all work out fine. But also, I enjoy playing that stubbornness. It’s not what I would do in those situations, but that’s what’s about playing it, you know? It’s kind of interesting to have the opportunity to be someone who is not accommodating in the slightest to anyone else.

He’s lived a pretty long time now, but will he ever grow out of that?

No, I think , if anything it’ll go the other way. He’s convinced he’s right, whatever he’s doing, he’s convinced that that’s the way it should be done, and he’s going to do anything and mow down anyone who disagrees with him and manipulate and fight and find a way to have his way. Now that he has a cause, now that he has a daughter, it’s like now he’s got something to actually justify doing that.

Well, that’s kind of sweet that he’s doing it all to protect his child.

I know. Now I feel like people can get behind him a little more. He’s doing terrible things for a good reason, so I like it. I like the idea of like, this is his daughter, and woe betide anyone who gets in the way and threatens her safety.

This show and “The Vampire Diaries” both have such complicated mythology. Do you ever have trouble keeping track of it all?

No, I welcome it. I thrive on it. The more complex, the better. There’s a really dense mythology to both shows, but I made it my mission when I joined “The Vampire Diaries” to know it inside out, and I read all the books, and I watched all the episodes, and I feel like I have a really good grasp of the mythology of the shows. So I feel like all of that stuff with Klaus, you know, his real father and his werewolf side and his vampire side and his lineage and all that stuff are just useful tools for me to make him more complex and interesting.