In the next episode of The CW series The Originals, “Fruit of the Poisoned Tree,” Klaus (Joseph Morgan) discovers that Hayley’s (Phoebe Tonkin) life is being threatened and goes to extreme lengths to protect her and their unborn baby.  Meanwhile, feeling as though he can trust no one, Marcel (Charles Michael Davis) visits an old friend to seek out some advice, while Davina (Danielle Campbell) takes steps to learn how to control her magic.  And all of these events will have repercussions that will ripple throughout the remainder of the season.

During this recent interview to discuss where things are headed next, executive producer/writer Julie Plec talked about the next phase of Marcel’s plan, the spark developing between Elijah (Daniel Gillies) and Hayley, Rebekah’s (Claire Holt) predicament, the upcoming The Vampire Diaries/The Originals cross-over episode, what’s next for the witches, and just how many questions will be answered, by the end of this season.  Check out what she had to say after the jump, and be aware that there are some spoilers.

Question:  What will the events of this episode mean for the next phase of Marcel’s plan?

JULIE PLEC:  Well, this is the episode where the house of cards starts crumbling around Klaus.  All the clever machinations that he’s put into motion are getting ruined all around him, as his plans and evil-doings are getting revealed.  For Marcel, it’s more like the first level of suspicion has been raised and he clearly knows that this person who’s been buddying up to him isn’t necessarily on the up-and-up.  It’s the beginning of the next stretch of Marcel trying to figure out what Klaus’ game is and where he fits into all of it.  So, we shall see what he chooses to do about that.

How far will the spark between Elijah and Hayley develop?

PLEC:  Elijah, as you know, is a good protector and tends to be drawn to people, in spite of himself.  When you have a situation like that, he cares deeply about that child that she’s carrying and maybe is starting to have his own level of concern that it’s more than just the child that he’s protecting and caring for.  It’s definitely not a good thing, but it’s fun to watch.

How will Klaus react to that bond?

PLEC:  Whether you’ve watched The Vampire Diaries or not, even within this series, it’s very clear that Klaus is very territorial and that he likes what’s his to remain his.  So, I have a feeling that will stir up a lot of conflicted emotions for him, as well.  Rational or irrational, he never felt properly parented, loved or taken care of.  When he starts to feel his family slipping away from him, or what he claims as his own finding their interests elsewhere, he tends to act out in ways that are not necessarily the most mature or appropriate.  He will definitely have an opinion.

Every time Rebekah tries to do something pro-active, she just gets pulled back in.  Will she ever be able to get what she wants, in the future?

PLEC:  Rebekah’s predicament is that she honestly believes that everything she wants is outside of the family, in terms of peace, harmony, happiness and sanctity.  As much as she loves Elijah, and as much as she hates, loathes, despises but still loves Klaus, she really believes that if she can just break free, she can have all she’s ever wanted, which is a life that she is in complete control of.  What she’s going to have to come to terms with is the fact that you can’t escape this group.  No matter what you do, the pull of family is always going to be stronger.  What she’s going to have to work through, in her own life, is to reconcile this belief that the power of this family is consuming her, in a bad way, and figure out how she can fit within this family dynamic in a way that makes her happy, or if she can. 

Do hybrid pregnancies have the same gestation period as human pregnancies?

PLEC:  This pregnancy will have a natural human arc.  We aren’t doing the wolf gestation period, although it’s been pitched, repeatedly.  Ultimately, Hayley is in her early second trimester, at this point.  Assuming she lives to tell the tale, and that baby lives to be born, it will happen later in the season. 

What can you say about the upcoming The Vampire Diaries/The Originals cross-over and how Tyler will play into things? 

PLEC:  I can say that the cross-over is happening very soon.  We will catch our first glimpse of Tyler before November is over.  It will answer a couple of questions, one of which is the first piece of the mystery of the protective wolf.  One of the big things that Hayley has been asking herself quietly, and the thing that brought her to New Orleans, in the first place, was trying to get answers about what bloodlines she came from and the mystery of what this mark on her shoulder means.  The one thing that Tyler does offer, in his presence, as he sets foot into this world, is answers and more information.  He takes her to a place out in the Bayou, where she’s gonna start to understand a little bit of where she comes from.

What’s next for the witches?

PLEC:  They have hit rock bottom.  Everything that Sophie was trying to do, and everything that the witches need to hold onto their power, got killed in the form of the only living witch able to do that spell.  They will nurse their wounds for a little bit, and then gear up.  Sophie is going to have a little bit of a spirit crisis that she’s going to have to snap herself out of.  We’ll hit that in a couple of episodes.  And the journey that Davina is going on, now that we’ve learned her origin story with Marcel, is just beginning.  Over the next run of episodes, she is about to embark on a journey that is basically going to put her both at odds with everyone, but also create some surprising new friendships and new alliances that we maybe didn’t see coming.

How soon might there be an Elijah and Sophie confrontation?

PLEC:  The witches, what they do, and what they are going to need to do, in order to try to find a solution to the issue that they have, will definitely put them back against The Originals and against the vampires, as they seek and find solutions.  So, Elijah is going to have an opinion about that, as well. 

Do you have more plans for the human Council?

PLEC:  Yes.  They’re gonna come up, in very nasty and ugly ways, against Klaus and the other vampires.  Some of them may live to tell the tale, and some of them may not.  Kieran is a really interesting character for us because we like not only what he represents for the town, which is this sense of what appears to be dignified protection of peace and the balance, and yet, for his own deeply emotional reasons, he’s willing to get his hands dirty.  So, we’ll be exploring a lot more about what his intentions are and what part he can successfully play in this city of vampires and witches and god knows what else.

If this baby goes to term, are you wondering what you’re going to do with an infant?

PLEC:  I always say, “Never give your lead character an infant.  Make them a recovering alcoholic, or the victim of a horrible violent crime because you can really never truly recover from that.”  It’s a story pitfall.  No.  I think that one of the big mysteries is what will happen.  Is there a happily ever after, at the end of Season 1, or not?  Is there a future for this family to be brought together with the birth of this baby?  Can Klaus be redeemed?  Given that it’s a series-long question, even if there is a newborn in the Mikaelson household, it won’t necessarily be all peaches and cream.  That’s one of those wait and see questions that we will be presented.

Is any part of this first season designed to be answered in the first 13 episodes, or are you setting up those resolutions for the full season?

PLEC:  Something that has serviced us really well, just from a story-breaking place, is to divide our storytelling pieces into chapters.  As we get deeper and deeper into this season, you’ll see things that you feel like are ending, as new things are beginning.  We try to make it hit when there’s gonna be a hiatus, so you can feel a good mid-season cliffhanger, but mostly we just let the story dictate the wave.  When it’s working perfectly, it hits at the cliffhanger in sweeps.  But we definitely are gonna play out these dynamics, over the course of the season, with the idea that, by the end of this season, we’ll clean off the stage and set the table for the next one. 

The idea is not to leave a bunch of open-ended questions.  I don’t like that.  People are always pitching things and they’re like, “Well, what if this?,” and I’m like, “Where does it go?”  They’re like, “We don’t know yet,” and I’m like, “Nope!  It can’t go there.”  So, anything that’s in question – the character dynamics that we see in front of us, whether the Harvest will happen, whether the baby will get born, will Elijah and Hayley act on or not act on this strange brewing tension that they have, will Klaus kill both of them for it – will be resolved, before the season is out.  We definitely want to feel like Season 1 will be one complete piece.  And then, when we start again next year, it will be the middle book of the story. 

The Originals airs on Tuesday nights on The CW.