ETonline exclusively chatted with Dobrev about her one-episode adventure on The Originals, and we've got all the details!
We’re already met Elena, Katherine, and Amara — and now it's time to meet yet another doppelganger from The Vampire Diaries ' mythology: Tatia.
On this Monday's all-new episode of The Originals the chameleon queen herself, Nina Dobrev, will be leaving the outskirts of Mystic Falls behind to lend her acting skills (and familiar face!) for this fall's first TVD crossover episode.
ETonline exclusively chatted with Dobrev about her one-episode adventure on The Originals, and we've got all the details on her newest doppelganger dilemma, how Tatia compares to the look-a-likes of the past, and what it's like to be adored by all of the hottest vampire brothers on TV!
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When we first asked Dobrev if she missed playing multiple characters on The Vampire Diaries, the brunette beauty stunned us with her answer. "No way, I'm thrilled," she spilled. "I've been thrilled to have just days off, a couple of sleep-in's every week, a couple of spa appointments. It's been really nice for the work-load to lessen a little bit, but at the same time, be careful what you wish for."
Last season on TVD, Dobrev's doppelganger resume was greatly expanded with the introduction of Amara, the originator of the Petrova bloodline, and the larger presence of the vampire we loved-to-hate Katherine. "I loved having the variety and the challenge of all of the different characters and it's been really fun throughout the years," Dobrev said of her multiple on-screen counterparts.
She continued, "That part is now missing which is why when [creator] Julie [Plec] approached me for the crossover onto The Originals, with a new character after six or seven episodes on Vampire and only playing Elena, I was like, 'Yeah, let's do it! I'm ready.'"
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Up until now, Tatia has only been mentioned in The Vampire Diaries' mythology as the girl whom both Elijah (Daniel Gillies) and Niklaus (Joseph Morgan) loved long ago. "What can I say? I'm a lucky girl!" Dobrev said with a laugh when we expressed our jealousy of her consistent hot brother love triangles. But the actress revealed this romantic entanglement is not the only similarity that Tatia and Elena share.
"I feel like because she was the original doppelganger she's a little bit softer and unaffected and she's not jaded like Katherine was," the star explained. "She didn’t live as long as the other dopplegangers so she didn’t have multiple lifespans to harden who she is. She's more pure, she's almost like Elena in a way."
Unlike the other Petrova duplicates, Tatia's look is very distinctive, a difference that The Originals' executive producer Michael Narducci was very insistent on.
"We've seen so many different versions of Nina in the different
doppelgangers that she's played, we wanted this one to be unique,"
Narducci said to a small group of reporters. "I think [our hair
department] hit it out of the park. She looks beautiful and different
than Katherine or anyone else — it was really well done."
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Narducci also gushed that Dobrev's performance is "spectacular" in Monday's episode."Nina, to her credit managed to balance double duty and she did an incredible job and everybody said she was so much fun to work with and she really wanted to honor who this character was."
Dobrev explained that it was fun to experience the excitement and energy of The Originals' set during her crossover. "Vampire is a very well-oiled machine. We're six seasons in and everything's kind of like dialed in," she spilled. "But they're in their second season and it's a different vibe, but also very similar."
In addition, Dobrev said she was thrilled to re-connect with Morgan, Gillies and the rest of her former Vampire Diaries' family. "I reunited with a lot of people that I haven't got to see in a while and people what I hadn't worked with in awhile and it was really fun. I had a really great time," she said.
Catch Nina Dobrev on The Originals tonight at 8 p.m. on The CW.