The Originals type TV Show network The CW

The Mikaelson family is extremely complicated, and who better to untangle that drama than Julie Plec? The Originals showrunner will blog each week’s installment throughout the season exclusively for EW. From answering burning questions to giving behind-the-scenes stories and more, this is a place for fans to hear directly from Plec about the episode they just watched.

Kudos to writers Diane-Ademu John, Michael Russo and director Michael Allowitz for this week’s episode, “The Axeman’s Letter.” When we decided to set The Originals in New Orleans, we knew we had an opportunity to use every piece of NOLA folklore as potential jumping off points for story. In this particular case, The Axeman was indeed a real murderer in New Orleans in 1918–1919. On March 13, 1919, a letter purporting to be from the Axeman was published in newspapers. The letter said that he would kill again at 15 minutes past midnight on the night of March 19, but would spare the occupants of any place where a jazz band was playing. That night all of New Orleans’ dance halls were filled to capacity, and professional and amateur bands played jazz at parties at hundreds of houses around town. There were no murders that night.

Russo is a Northwestern alumni like me, so I’m not allowed to ever be mean to him. Lucky Russo. Go ‘Cats! Diane is married to the most interesting man in the world, Originals writer Declan DeBarra, and would win Most Interesting Woman in the World even if she had chosen an alternate spouse. Fun fact, they met whilst mutually fanboy/fangirl-ing over an episode of Dr. Who. The writer of that episode introduced the two of them, and the rest is joyful history.

Tidbits from set:

In the teaser, when Finn and Elijah are seen playing some inexplicable game with sticks and cones in the background — that was a game that Daniel Gillies made up on the spot and tried to teach Caspar. There are numerous takes of Klaus giving Aurora a secret smile of love … while Finn and Elijah are failing miserably at this made-up game behind them.

While Davina presides over the Fete de Kado ceremony in the City of the Dead, one of the pigs squealed so loud we had to stop several takes to quiet the animal. Finally it had to be led off in shame. The rabbit and chicken, however, performed like pros.

The prop for the love letter Klaus wrote to Aurora got mangled right before filming. So we quickly had a contest to see who on the crew had the best handwriting to rewrite the note. Diane won (with a guy from catering coming in a close second), so that’s her handwriting you see in the show.

For more Originals, watch a related video below: