Natalie Dreyfuss made quite the entrance to The Originals during its season 1 finale; she crawled out of a tomb. But that’s not the craziest part of her character. Dreyfuss is returning to The Originals on October 6 as Cassie, a young witch who was brought back to life but is possessed by Esther. For those who aren’t familiar with the show, Esther is a witch and the mother of vampires, literally. Her sons were the first vampires, which she changed them into by using her magic. Though Dreyfuss loves what supernatural shows have to offer, she’s a big fan of comedies and recently filmed some scenes for 2 Broke Girls. As an actor, there is no guarantee about what’s next, so Dreyfuss said she’s just going to soak everything up, take it all in, and take each day as it comes.
Cliché: You entered the last season of The Originals with a bang, being possessed by Esther, and creating a possible conflict for Klaus. What can folks expect in the second season?
Natalie Dreyfuss: Anyone who is a fan of The Vampire Diaries and The Originals knows that Esther causes some major problems when she shows up. It’s been a really fun character to play and the storyline is really exciting, so I think the audience is in for a good ride with her.
Though you were a fairy in TrueBlood, which ended in August, this is a different supernatural character. How was it tackling this sort of role?
It’s really fun. Most of the time, I play a teenager. In TrueBlood, I was playing a teenager. Here, I’m playing Cassie, who is a teenager, but she’s possessed by a 2,000-year-old woman. That’s amazing, because I’m playing this matriarchal, mother figure. It’s really cool as an actor to get to use those parts of you and be this all-powerful, all-knowing mother to all of these really, great, talented, and handsome men. It’s really fun. It’s different than anything I’ve ever done. That’s what’s cool about doing supernatural stuff; it’s as far as your imagination can go.
How was it starting with the cast?
The boys are incredibly nice. They are talented and charming and from all different parts of the world. We shoot in Atlanta, so you get close quickly because you want to go out together and experience the town. There’s the other guest cast that’s with me playing my other two sons. They’re really great. It’s just a boy fest, and it’s really fun. [laughs]
Any particular moment that stuck out to you on set?
It’s really awesome to be in the graveyard set. They built this giant graveyard in the middle of Atlanta, and it’s so pretty. My first night when I was shooting the very last episode of season 1, I’m Cassie crawling out of her grave. They pumped it full of this smoke from the smoke machine. It was in the middle of the night, and there was like a thousand candles lit, and it was a magical, crazy looking scene. You felt transported into this weird world, and then I was doing this zombie walk out of the tomb and someone started playing “Thriller” over the loudspeaker. I started doing the dance. You just immediately know that it’s a fun place to work.
What are some of your favorite things to do when not filming?
I really love working with kids. I’m a big baby fanatic and want to be a mom someday, so whenever I get a chance to work with kids or help out or babysit, I love being around kids. I also really love other art forms: photography and spoken word poetry. I’ve gotten a little bit obsessed with it on YouTube. I’ve been watching hours of spoken word poetry. It’s really amazing. It was one Upworthy video from Facebook, and I was on a 48-hour-journey on YouTube. I started writing all these poems and trying to figure out a place I can start performing them.
Natalie Dreyfuss Interview: Photographed by Quavondo
