by Ryan Downey
Tyler may still be under the spell of Original Vampire Klaus, but that doesn't mean he's forgotten how to party.
The official CW episode description for tonight's mid-season finale of "The Vampire Diaries" says that Caroline and Matt are "shocked" by Tyler's behavior throughout the night. Hollywood Crush caught up with Michael Trevino, the man behind the show's first successful vampire-werewolf hybrid who doesn't have an English accent, for a chat about "Homecoming" and beyond.
Michael dished to us about Tyler, Klaus, My Morning Jacket, Paul Wesley's wife joining the show and whether Katherine is alive or dead. But first things first. "The homecoming dance is cancelled, so Tyler takes it upon himself—with Klaus—to move the whole homecoming dance to the Lockwood mansion," Michael explained to us by phone. "He has a lot on his plate. He's kind of taking commands from Klaus throughout the episode. Some of these decisions that are being made, and Tyler's actions, are not pleasing to Caroline and Matt."
"Homecoming" sees "TVD" joining the likes of fellow CW shows like "90210" with a performance from a major band interlaced with the story, with My Morning Jacket jamming in Tyler's backyard. The group told Rolling Stone that "all of the vampires and werewolves we met on the set of 'The Vampire Diaries' were nice regular folks" and the show's resident newbie hybrid reciprocated the sentiments.
"It was cool having them on, it was nice. I overhead that it was planned for a few episodes—trying to get them on," he revealed. "We've never had any special musical guests on the show. I was speaking with one of the writers and they were saying we were only going to do it if it made sense. And it made sense to have My Morning Jacket playing in the backyard of the Lockwood mansion!"
In one of the clips that has surfaced online, Tyler tells Stefan, "It's not a party, man. It's a wake." Michael insisted he couldn't tell us anymore about that line without "spoiling a few things" but he did have plenty to say about the addition of Paul's real life wife, Torrey DeVitto, whom the Hollywood Reporter revealed will be joining "The Vampire Diaries" for at least two episodes later this season.
"I just heard about that this morning! I hear she's playing a love interest to Alaric, who is played by our wonderful Matt Davis, which will be kind of interesting," he noted, with a friendly laugh. "It's fun because we know Torrey. She's often on-set. We've known her since the pilot, actually, when we were shooting in Vancouver. It's cool to bring her officially into 'The Vampire Diaries' family.
"As far as her character being a love interest [for Matt's character], well, you'd have to ask Paul about that!" he added.
Speaking of other people's characters, the last time we saw Katherine, it appeared that Klaus' daddy was draining her of life. And while we didn't see her die necessarily, we haven't seen her at all since, either. "I do not know what's gonna happen with Katherine," Michael said.
"What I can say is: We're probably three episodes ahead right now and there's still no sign of Katherine," he added, with some speculation of his own. "I'm sure she's alive and well somewhere, but I'm not sure if we're going to be seeing her anytime soon."
Whatever happens with his cast mate's characters, Michael is more than satisfied with the amount of material the writers have given him to sink his teeth into in the coming weeks. One spoiler he did let slip is the fact that Tyler will certainly survive "Homecoming."
"It was one thing for me to become a werewolf and live out this werewolf storyline. But when our executive producer, Julie Plec, told me I was going to become a hybrid I got really excited," he said. "Because there's a lot of responsibility that comes with that, especially in our world of 'The Vampire Diaries' where Tyler is the first successful hybrid that's made. Now we have a whole different arc for Tyler. As an actor, it's given me more to play around with to tell our story. And now I'm hanging around with the big bad Klaus."
Ah, yes. What of Tyler and his complicated relationship with Klaus? "Tyler feels torn. He feels loyalty to Klaus because becoming a hybrid rid him of the werewolf curse. He's no longer bound by the moon. He doesn't have to turn unless he wants to. But Tyler starts to realize there are some consequences to [having to] obey these commands from Klaus. He wants to make sure that everybody is protected and that he's always doing the right thing. He's wondering, in 'Homecoming' and in the next few episodes as well, if what he's doing is in the best interest for him and his friends or just for Klaus. There's this internal struggle with Tyler and it will go on into the next few episodes."
As much as becoming a vampire has amplified Tyler's negative personality traits, Michael promised we'll see Tyler's more positive sides shining through as well. "You will see some of that in tomorrow's episode, [such as] his quick action to protect people, or at least make an effort to protect people. He takes initiative. Now that he's a hybrid, he's got this vampire side that makes him twice as strong."
Are you excited about tonight's mid-season finale? Have you been enjoying the Michael's hybrid storyline? Sound off in the comments and on Twitter!
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