The Originals Reveals Cami’s Fate & Says Goodbye to

Another episode of , another major loss—but this time, it wasn’t who we thought would go.

At the end of the show’s midseason finale, Klaus (Joseph Morgan) had found Cami (Leah Pipes) bleeding out, her throat slashed. And yeah, girlfriend was dead. But she had vampire blood in her system and, after spending the entire episode waffling over whether or not she’d actually turn, she decided to start a new (after)life as a vampire.

“Cami is someone who has some dark impulses, and we’ve talked about how maybe that’s what led her to be fascinated by psychology, and to be fascinated by Klaus, and maybe those are some of the reasons why she’s stayed in New Orleans to begin with,” says showrunner Michael Narducci. “Now that that side of her is heightened by being a vampire, I think that’s something she’s going to want to explore.”

But it won’t happen immediately. “I think she’s in for a long transition into discovering who she is going to be as a vampire,” he adds.

So Cami’s not technically alive nor is she really well, but she’s sticking around for longer. The one leaving us, unfortunately, is Jackson (Nathan Parsons). Oh Jackson, you beautiful, protective, werewolf, you. “Everybody went into the episode thinking, ‘Gosh, I hope Cami’s not dead’ and not expecting that they had to worry about one of their other favorite characters not making it through the episode,” Narducci says of the unexpected loss.

He adds, “So even in the midst of life, we are in the midst of death. God giveth and God taketh away. Those are all the kinds of emotional responses we wanted to get out of this. Yes, Cami managed to find a way to survive, but we lost somebody else, and it’s gonna get worse before it gets better. That’s kind of what we’re struggling to deal with, with the return of these ancient sired vampires.”

We already know that Klaus is mad as hell, but Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) will be majorly affected by the loss of her husband.

“There’s that anger, pain, denial, acceptance grieving process that she has to go through,” Narducci says, and we’ll see that play out on screen. Not only will she forge a friendship with someone new, she’ll also turn to her old love Elijah for comfort.

“We’ll also see some really beautiful scenes between her and Elijah in the aftermath of this, him trying to comfort her, her wanting to accept that comfort but knowing it’s wrong given their past and the feelings they have for one another, and then ultimately once the dust settles and she manages to be through with her grieving, a pretty definitive and harsh response on her part to get back at those who are responsible for what you saw.”

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

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