Steven R. McQueen Talks Ghosts + Michael Trevino On Tyler’s New Attitude
SPOILER ALERT: Fans hoping tonight to see more of Katherine and Jeremy together in Charlotte where they found Mikael, the vampire who hunts vampires (namely Klaus), won’t get their wish. “It’s the first day back at school, and I’m back. I think Katherine’s still in that cave,” Steven R. McQueen says. The good news: We’ll finally start getting some answers as to why he — and now Matt, apparently — can see ghosts and what ghost Vicki is after. “Jeremy’s got ties to reality, Bonnie and his family, and now he’s got ties to people in his past, and they start to clash and wear on each other. It’s kind of ghost world versus reality, and Jeremy’s stuck making choices,” he says. “This episode, you kind of figure out why this connection to the spiritual world is getting stronger. That is all revealed. Things are just gonna get more and more heated in these next couple of episodes.” Translation: There’ll still be plenty for us to learn next week.
With that being all he could tease about the show’s plot, we were stuck asking two very important questions. Does he already have a Halloween costume picked out? “I don’t. Everyone’s been hounding me to kind of get on that,” he laughs. “They’re doing EyeCon [a Vampire Diaries fan convention from Oct. 28 - Oct. 30] up here. That will take up most of my days, and then I’m sure I’ll try to find a Halloween party or two.” Will we be seeing Jeremy working out after hours in the school gym like we now know Matt does? “Hey, let’s hope so,” he says. “We’ve got great writers, and they write good story lines for us. If they ask me to do a couple push-ups here and there, then I guess I’ll just have to do that.”
'Vampire Diaries' star Michael Trevino on Tyler's hybrid status: 'We should definitely be worried'
Our favorite werewolf has just vamped out, "Vampire Diaries" fans, and things are about to get messy. Last week's episode was full of surprises -- between Matt committing quasi-suicide and Stefan being compelled by Klaus -- but no one was changed more irrevocably than Tyler, who became Klaus's first successful werewolf/vampire hybrid.
We jumped on the phone with Michael Trevino to get the scoop on Tyler's latest transformation, and what it means for his relationship with Caroline (Candice Accola).
First of all, Trevino admits that he was just as surprised as we were when Tyler "turned"... again. "I wasn't told prior to getting the script, by Kevin or Julie," he tells us. "In the episode you saw last week, I read 'Klaus snaps Tyler's neck' and I was like, 'What?' Usually you get a phone call, you know, four episodes in advance, that you're about to die! I didn't know if I did something wrong, or what. Julie would never do that to me. And then, of course, in the previous episodes, Klaus's hybrids all died, so I'm flipping through the pages, going, 'This works, right? This is a success, right?'"
Last season, Tyler's werewolf transformation was a pivotal theme throughout the year, and Trevino is once again looking forward to a whole new side of Tyler. "I'm very excited about being the first hybrid," he says. "And with that comes a lot of responsibility. I'm glad they chose me."
In tonight's episode, Tyler starts to adjust to life as a hybrid... and he's kind of enjoying it. Fans of the L.J. Smith novel series that the show is based on will remember that Tyler and Klaus were, in a manner of speaking, allies in the books. Should we be worried about our Tyler going over to the dark side?
"We should definitely be worried about it," Trevino teases. "Tyler's excited right now. He's feeling powerful; he's kind of got this new side to his personality."
Tyler is also going to look at his new hybrid status as a bit of a blessing, because as we know from Klaus's wolf-out in the Season 2 finale, hybrids aren't bound by the full moon. "He doesn't have the curse of the moon anymore. He can turn at will, or he doesn't have to turn at all, which he's very happy about," Trevino says. "Plus, being a vampire, he's got a whole new weapon. He's got new toys that he can play with. He's going to have fun with it, and he's going to indulge in this right away."
Though we've grown to love Tyler over the last year or so, when we first met him in Season 1, there was a marked arrogance about his character. When a person turns into a vampire, their innate personality traits are amplified."We're going to see that slightly cocky side of Tyler come back a bit," Trevino says. "It's a different confidence, it's a different cockiness. Caroline's not going to be happy about any of it."
Another thing Caroline isn't happy about? Rebekah (Claire Holt) hasn't left town with Klaus. Our newest hot blonde vampire is invading Caroline's kingdom at Mystic Falls High, and, to make matters worse, she's been asked to keep an eye on Tyler for Klaus.
"It's not a love triangle," Trevino laughs. "We have enough of those on this show. I will say that she's there to stir the pot, and she loves to pick at Caroline. You've got two sexy blonde vampires, and Rebekah's the new girl in town. She wants to make her presence known in Mystic Falls, and she loves to get under Caroline's skin."
Things definitely get complicated for Tyler and Caroline as he settles into his new life as a hybrid. We can expect Tyler to behave in very unpredictable ways that test their still-new relationship. "I like them together, too," Trevino assures us. "What I can say is that, though I would be worried a little, Tyler does listen to her. In Season 1, Tyler didn't care what anyone said, but now he listens and he realizes when he's wrong. He owns up to it."
Don't get too comfortable, though, Tyler fans. "The Vampire Diaries" isn't afraid of killing off our faves -- and we're getting a little bit anxious that Tyler's dog-years are numbered... and we're not the only ones. "Right now, at this moment in time, I am a little bit nervous," Trevino admits. "When I first read the script I was so excited to be playing the hybrid side, but we're shooting episode 9 now, and we're kind of hitting the second chapter of our season. Now I'm very curious, and wondering what the storyline's going to be with the next scripts."
No one is ever safe on this show!
