The following contains spoilers from last night’s midseason finale of The Originals…
In 2014, The Originals has become one of the best shows not just on The CW but network TV. The back half of the show’s first season (specifically its tense, bloody penultimate episode and finale) and the first nine episodes of Season 2 have taken The Originals‘ enormous potential and transformed it into a show that is more thrilling, emotional, and downright better (at least right currently) than the series it spun-off from, The Vampire Diaries. In fact, I’ve been enjoying The Originals so much that it just barely missed out on a spot on my top ten list of the Best Shows of 2014.
Part of the reason for The Originals‘ boost in quality has to do with how the series has taken its focus on family and emphasized its importance even more with the re-introductions of Finn, Kol, Esther, and Mikael. Although some fans have complained about the use of different actors for these roles, such as Yusuf Gatewood as Finn and Daniel Sharman as Kol, it hasn’t bothered me at all because of how much fun it’s been having the entire family back together, not to mention just how good Gatewood and Sharman have been in the roles.
However, in last night’s midseason finale, The Originals pulled off a body-swapping twist I wasn’t a huge fan of as Rebekah was transferred from her original body and into another one (played by CW newcomer Maisie Richardson-Sellers), a young woman who could be a human, or maybe a witch, but is definitely trapped. In a way, it’s completely understandable why the show’s writers wanted to do this; by having Rebekah played by another actress, at least for the time being, The Originals can still use the character in storylines without having to worry about Claire Holt’s availability (Holt, who left the series after its first 16 episodes last year in order to spend more time with her family and pursue other opportunities, has appeared as a guest star in Season 1 and Season 2 and will be a series regular on the new NBC drama Aquarius). Yet replacing Holt isn’t as easy as making the switch between Caspar Zafer (the original actor who played Finn) and Gatewood or Nathaniel Buzolic (Kol’s original portrayer) and Sharman, and there’s a reason why.
Unlike Kol, Finn, and Esther, who have appeared pretty sporadically throughout The Vampire Diaries, mostly during its third season, Rebekah, Elijah, and Klaus were each staples on the show for over two entire seasons. Holt, along with the Daniel Gillies and Joseph Morgan, were the regular faces that we got to see almost every week on the show, and it’s because of how these actors crafted these characters on screen, through their expressions, movements, and delivering of dialogue, that they become so beloved.
Put simply: Julie Plec and The Vampire Diaries writers established the foundation for who Rebekah, Elijah, and Klaus were, but it was Holt, Gillies, and Morgan that made the characters their own. All three actors are indispensable to the success of both The Vampire Diaries and The Originals, and to replace any of them, even for a time being, seems unfair in a way to the shows’ fans (remember when Klaus was in Tyler’s body? There’s a reason why that storyline didn’t last long). I want the real Rebekah, Elijah, and Klaus, played by these three performers, to be on my screen, or I’d rather the characters not be there at all.
My concerns here are not meant to be a knock to Zafer or Buzolic (both perfectly fine actors who helped complete the Mikaelson family in its original form on The Vampire Diaries), and I’m not try to prejudge Richardson-Sellers, who I’m sure is quite the capable actress. I just think that The Originals producers are not aware of how important Holt’s performance is to the popularity and success of the character of Rebekah. Fans, like myself, like Rebekah because of her sassy and snarky attitude, her dedication to her family, and her desire to retain her humanity throughout her thousand-year lifetime, but we love her because of just how well Holt portrays all of that on screen.
It remains to be seen if another actress can compete with the type of performance that Holt given has as Rebekah, and I’m hopeful that Richardson-Sellers is up to the challenge. But until The Originals returns on Jan. 19 and I see something that assuages my fears, I’ll stand by my opinion that it would be better for Rebekah’s character (and for the show as a whole) to have her remain in that coffin until Holt is ready to return.
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I take your point about Holt being the only actress who should play Rebekah, but it looks like she won’t return to The Originals for more than a few appearances per season, under any circumstances. She has auditioned for the role of Supergirl in a new CBS show, which demonstrates that she wants to be on another series full time, at least one that films in or close to LA.
Holt stated that she wanted to go back to LA to be closer to friends and family, but it looks like the real reason was to shack up with her bf, who lives in LA and apparently can’t relocate to Atlanta, where The Originals is filmed. She gets at least three months off per year, which is plenty of time to visit friends and family, but she had to be with the bf all the time, even at the risk of putting her career in jeopardy.
The Originals is a better show with Holt in it, but it looks like the producers know that Holt won’t return as a regular, and have decided that they need the character of Rebekah in the show on a weekly basis. I’m with you though, they should bring Rebekah back only when Holt feels like returning for guest spots.
I agree with this post. Seeing as Holt is who made Rebekah people will be a little wary at first. I was a little ticked off when Daniel Sharman came in to replace Kol because I really liked Nathaniel as him from VD with his sarcastic wit, but Sharman pulled it off well. (I think it’s for my love of Issac he plays as on Teen Wolf) Finn, eh, he hardly said or did anything in VD and this new actor is actually giving Finn a personality which I like. But I will give this new girl the benefit of the doubt and she how she acts. I will also be looking at those intersections with Klaus too because Holt and Morgan really do have great chemistry together.