I’m not so sure it was ever really a question …

It was pretty much a given in my mind …

But today, THR confirmed that actor Daniel Gillies has been tapped to reprise his role as one of our favorite Original vamps — Elijah — on The Vampire Diaries’ spinoff The Originals.

Are y’all excited?

Julie Plec was recently interviewed by EW, where she discussed the anticipated Vampire Diaries‘ spinoff, The Originals.

Here’s the interview:

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The idea of doing a spinoff has been around for a while. Why was the time right to pull the trigger?
JULIE PLEC: It’s actually something that we’ve been talking about for two years, that we contemplated trying to get off its feet last year, but there was just too much work to do in too little time. So that gave us an opportunity this year to spend a lot more time putting it together — seeing if, obviously, our actors had any interest whatsoever continuing the life of these characters [Laughs] and if there was a story to tell. It all came together in a way that we finally felt would not detract from our most important baby right now, The Vampire Diaries, and would give us a chance to expand the universe with characters that we’ve had another year to get to know.

What can you tease about the April 25 episode?
The idea is that a turn of events in Mystic Falls sends Klaus to New Orleans to solve a mystery. He gets word that some people are making a move against him that might concern him. So he heads to New Orleans to try to figure who’s plotting against him and what they’re up to. And in unfolding that mystery, it takes him back to a town that several hundred years ago, he was actually one of the original settlers of and helped build. He reacquaints himself with a vampire that he actually turned back in the day, Marcel, who has created a whole set of rules and a whole society for the supernatural community that he’s in charge of — sort of tipping his hat to Klaus and saying, “You taught me everything I know.” So Klaus’ protegé is now the big king of the supernatural community in New Orleans and Klaus is stepping back into that.

Have you cast Marcel?
No, we start casting, I think, in the next week or two.

How would you describe him?
He is the life of the party. He is diabolical, and dangerous, and he is a rock star. If anything, he’s that kind of hard-partying, hard-living vampire who knows how to enjoy the most out of life in the French Quarter.

And so if it were to go to series, New Orleans would remain the setting.
Yes. When I talked about it to the network and the studio, I said, “In its own way, the French Quarter, with its less than 3,000 inhabitants, is the ultimate small town.” So it’s still a small-town story, it’s just a town that we all know pretty well. We all have our own party fantasy that we’ve either lived or wanted to live in New Orleans.

Fans have been wondering what could keep Klaus occupied, and how Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) will get involved.
That is all part of the big mystery. I will say no one should assume anything about the way this is gonna play out, because with luck, it will be a nice surprise for everybody.

Would there be a role for Elijah (Daniel Gillies) in the spinoff, because there needs to be.
Oh, in the world of Julie Plec [Laughs] and her obsession with Daniel Gillies, there is always a role for Elijah. It’s only a matter of whether in Daniel Gillies’ world there is an interest in having a job with Julie Plec. But I can hope the answer is yes.

So you have talked to him about the possibility.
Yes. Absolutely. You’d have to ask him where he stands…. By the way, make sure it’s clear that I’m being ironic when I refer to myself in the first person. [Laughs]

What about Rebekah (Claire Holt)? She’s back in the picture this Thursday, when TVD returns with new episodes, but she and Klaus aren’t exactly happy with one other.
Right now, she’s really mad at him, and their relationship has several more mountains to climb in the next, even, five episodes, much less a future series. I think she’s another character that would be a tremendous asset to both shows. So it really all comes down to Rebekah’s future, and Claire’s future with Rebekah, and all that stuff that remains undetermined.

Would you have the title of showrunner on both shows?
I think. Truthfully, we haven’t talked about that other than that I would likely share that title with Caroline Dries on The Vampire Diaries and then be the showrunner on The Originals. The great thing about The Vampire Diaries is that Caroline has really come into her own over the three-plus years she’s been on the show and is a terrific leader, and an amazing writer, and knows the show inside and out. So I would still be there every step of the way, but she would be taking on a lot more responsibility than she already has. And Mike Narducci, who’s someone else who’s been very important on The Vampire Diaries, would come over to The Originals and take up the mantle there. So with luck, two brilliant people who’ve grown up in a Vampire Diaries universe can continue to be brilliant as we split it over two shows.

(MTV)  Things are going to get a bit crazy when “The Vampire Diaries” returns for its fourth season on October 11. There’s the fact that you know who became a vampire, a certain someone has possessed another certain someone, and Elena has seemingly picked one Salvatore brother over the other.

But while we’re interested in the resolution of all of those plot points, we’re also curious what the status of the Original Family is now that everyone thinks Klaus is dead (like it ever would be that easy). We recently had the chance to catch up with Daniel Gillies, the actor who plays brother Elijah, and asked him what we can expect from the Original vampire siblings in the coming season. Consider this your cue to stop reading if you aren’t caught up on “The Vampire Diaries.”

Daniel revealed that he had just come back from “The Vampire Diaries” set where he filmed a flashback scene set in the 11th century. He wouldn’t dish what it was about, but he did say fans should “buckle up and get ready for wigs.”

“I’ve had so many numerous haircuts on this thing. I feel like an accessory sometimes,” he joked. “I feel like the Potato Head-vampire. I think this was my fifth hairstyle? And as we venture further through history, we’re only going to find more absurdities upon my crown. The second to last one I had I adored, because I sort of looked somewhere between a Viking and an elf. This last one I looked like a roadie for the Grateful Dead in the 11th century.”

Though Daniel is balancing his time on “The Vampire Diaries” with his other show “Saving Hope,” he doesn’t think Elijah will be going anywhere any time soon. Writer and executive producer Julie Plec has made it clear to Daniel that there’s a role for him on “The Vampire Diaries” as long as he’s around.

“Julie’s been very generous, and I’m sure, as often as they can use me, they will,” he said. “As long as there’s ‘Vampire Diaries,’ there has to be Elijah. He’s too woven into the fabric of it now. One cannot exist without the other.”

When we mentioned that other characters have seemed to have the same sort of security—like, say, Elena’s Aunt Jenna or our favorite vampire hunter Alaric—Daniel seemed to imply that he still wouldn’t get the boot any time soon. And if he does, he just won’t speak to Julie any time soon (his words, not ours).

“[Elijah is] going to be back, and what role do we expect him to play? I think Elijah brings order. Whenever he returns, s–t gets done,” Daniel explained. “He’s sort of the stabilizer. There’s always a shift in the equilibrium. I think he’s the only one who can truly sort of restrain his brother. I think he’s the only one with the dignity/lucidity to be able to strategize a way out of Mystic Falls and into some sort of sanctuary for their family. I’m not saying that’s what he’s going to do, I’m saying that’s what he’s capable of. I think if the family listened to Elijah, they’d be in an excellent place to position themselves in this very contemporary world that wants them all gone.”

Klaus has been the main villain of “The Vampire Diaries” for more than a season and a half now, and it doesn’t look like that will change any time soon. Now that he has possessed Tyler (and no one other than Bonnie knows about it), there’s a good deal more drama that needs to be sorted out before Klaus can be defeated for good (if he ever can). But does that necessarily mean that a new villain won’t step in to fill his shoes?

“A rising thing is a passing thing. So I mean, you’re always in some sort of transition,” Daniel said. “I think it would be arrogant and sort of naïve to assume that there won’t be something else that would come to sort of eclipse [the Originals] in terms of this threat, because there’s always a new menace— there has to be—to maintain an audience’s interest. But I don’t think the Originals are going to go anywhere for a little while.”

Maybe that villain could be the new vampire hunter Julie said is coming to town, but it also could be the newly minted vampire version of Elena. Daniel teased that things have changed a lot on set ever since Nina Dobrev got her fangs.

“Nina Dobrev has become vicious. She’s become a vicious, horrible diva. I can’t even describe it,” Daniel dead-panned. “She’s driven to set even when it’s indoors… Nobody’s allowed to look at her. You have to look at the ground between takes… We end up doing most of our work to a green screen or to a tennis ball held in one of the [assistant's] hands. It’s become nightmarish.”

All joking aside, Daniel admitted that there is an air of confidence on the set of “The Vampire Diaries” that hadn’t been there before.

“It’s an interesting thing, walking back on the set and watching people entering back into the fourth season of something,” he said. “I entered halfway through the second when it was still in a little bit of a capricious zone because it still could have fallen away at that point. There are no certainties in this business. But I feel like there is a degree of certainty with people coming back for a fourth season, and it’s nice to see the sort of confidence radiating from people.”

Ian Somerhalder, Matt Davis & Michel Trevino at Spain’s Bloody Night Con press conference on May 4th.