"There's still more story to tell with Davina," Michael Narducci tells EW

The Originals type TV Show network The CW

Spoiler alert: This post contains plot points from the May 6 episode of The Originals.

On the heels of Cami’s death in last week’s episode of The Originals, this week saw Marcel and company do everything in their power to resurrect Davina — until Elijah and Freya took matters into their own hands and sacrificed Davina for the purposes of killing Lucien.

That decision then resulted in two deaths: Davina and Lucien. So we spoke with showrunner Michael Narducci about the twists and what comes next.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: We’ll start with the obvious question. In terms of story, why kill Davina?

MICHAEL NARDUCCI: We certainly didn’t want to do it. We love the character and we love Danielle [Campbell]. Freya and Elijah realize that the family may suffer more loss if they don’t hijack this power that was meant to bring Davina back and to protect her from the ancestors. It’s just this idea that the choices we make have consequences and thematically, the whole season is about the Mikaelsons will put family first, family above all, always and forever. And that’s not necessarily going to result in justice or fairness or heroic behavior. They do something in this episode that is pretty terrible in order to survive as a family and you have to weigh the consequences, and I hope that the audience asks, “Would I do that? Would I sacrifice a friend for my loved ones, for my family?” We wanted to play with all those things and once we came to that story, we just looked around at each other in the room and said, “This is the best story.”

This was the first time I wasn’t sure if I sided with the Mikaelsons on one of those big decisions.

It is very much our intention for you to have that conflict, and when the episode is over, we expect our fans to debate within themselves. Interestingly enough, Klaus kind of hates Davina. She is responsible for tearing apart the link between him and his sires and that’s going to have consequences going forward. She’s always been a little bit of a thorn in his side and yet, even he — and I think this is because of Cami’s influence — was reluctant to go that route. Freya just wants to do right by this family. She lost them 1,000 years ago and now she finally has them and she’s going to stop at nothing to make sure that she has her family, which is not to say that she won’t feel regret. But I do think it’s interesting to play with the consequences of what they’ve done — the whole issue of “family above all” being problematic.

I did love that it wasn’t Klaus’ call this time. He wanted to find another way.

Yeah, he even says at one point, “I don’t want Kol to have to suffer what I have suffered.” When we talked about Cami’s death before, I talked about how she has irrevocably altered Klaus. I’m not saying he’s ever going to be a good guy. But he is changed and maybe a little bit more thoughtful and may want to strive more towards the person that Cami imagined that he was.

With Cami and Davina, were you all hesitant to have two big deaths happen so close together?

It was absolutely something we were hesitant to go forward with. We debated it. It was just the way these two stories were intersecting and we thought this would be the best version of the story. As we have said in the past, Davina is a special entity. She is a New Orleans witch and we know that those witch souls exist beyond the realm of what we call life. There is an afterlife for witches. Yes, Davina is seemingly gone at the end of episode 20, but there’s still more story to tell with the ancestors. There’s still more story to tell with Kol and Vincent and even Marcel wanting revenge against them. I’d say there’s still more story to tell with Davina.

Last week, we spoke about the decision to have Klaus and Cami say “I love you.” In this case, I’m interested in the decision to have Marcel kind of have that great final moment with his daugter-of-sorts.

Unlike Cami, Davina thought she was coming back. Cami knew she was dying. For Davina, she expected, right up until Elijah and Freya come in, that they were going to find a way to resurrect her, and in that moment while Kol is out handling the business of procuring Van, she has a quiet moment with this guy who’s taken care of her. He’s feeling overwhelmed with guilt that he couldn’t protect her and she’s saying, “I’m not a kid. You did protect me and you can’t lock me away.” This was a very difficult moment. A few of the other writers have children and everybody in the room was talking about that special connection between a parent and child and how we’ve all had to look at our parents and say, “Hey, we’re grown-ups now. We can handle ourselves.” In releasing Marcel from any guilt, she reminds the audience of their connection. He’s overwhelmed with grief at the end of this episode. And we needed to feel that grief and understand his rage because it will have a massive impact on everything that’s to come.

Speaking to that, how will Davina’s death affect things moving forward?

There’s a tectonic shift in the alliance between Marcel and the Mikaelsons. Marcel is changed. Throughout this season, [he] has had opportunities to be loyal to the Mikaelsons and opportunities to betray the Mikaelsons — and he’s always come through. And despite that, this is how things have ended for him. He’s just realizing that it’s systemic — this betrayal, this treachery. The Mikaelsons will take care of each other no matter what and he is not someone inside that circle of protection. And just at this moment when he’s looking at them with new eyes, an opportunity has come into play that would change forever the power dynamic. That, to me, is one of the most exciting things about this entire season, the idea of a Marcel who is no longer beholden to Klaus and a second-string power level to Klaus. Marcel has a very difficult choice ahead of him.

Okay, maybe this is a dumb question, but I’m so bummed: Is Lucien really dead?!

Lucien is dead.

But he’s so good!

Lucien is incredible! Andrew Lees is incredible. I love Andrew Lees. I loved to hate Lucien. And I think he did such a great job over the course of the season; he kept you on your toes. I understand why Lucien hates Klaus — the spurned lover and just the idea of having to be immortal but always be living in the shadow of your maker. I think that’s a very fascinating motive and drive and I loved hating him. Fortunately, he will exist forever on the DVDs.

The Originals airs Fridays at 9 p.m. ET on The CW.