THE ORIGINALS star Daniel Gillies snarks at Oz Comic-Con Melbourne

With the announcement that THE ORIGINALS’s upcoming fifth season will be its last, now seems as good as a time as any to reminisce about star Daniel Gillies’ appearance at Oz Comic-Con Melbourne earlier this month. While we were not present during his Saturday panel, right from the start of his Sunday panel the New Zealand actor had no qualms being frank or sarcastic, much to the delight of the crowd and we hear that it was a similar feat the previous day. “Whiskey and Aderrall,” Gillies quipped when one of the first questions for the day was about the secret behind vampire eyes on the show and thus the tone was set for the rest of the panel. Other snarky remarks by Gillies during the panel included:

• “Shaquille O’Neill”, when asked who Alex’s baby daddy was on Saving Hope.
• “I don’t have a bromance with Paul Wesley. It’s purely sexual,” when asked about his bromance with The Vampire Diaries star Paul Wesley.
• “I kind of think my entire career is one blooper. It’s kind of a sh*t show,” when asked to share any funny bloopers from The Originals.
• “It’s become a meme of the show. That’s right, I said meme, I’m hip,” – in reference to the notion that Elijah is always fighting for his family and views it more as a love of Klaus than a love of family.
• “He wanted to replace me with Stephen Amell. I’ve asked for Janet Jackson so the joke’s on him,” – joking that he and Joseph Morgan don’t get along and can’t be in the same vicinity of each other.

Fun aside, there were some serious moments like when he shared that being able to write was one of the best things about being a part of The Originals, as well as the opportunities. He also declared Claudia Black, whom he previously worked with in New Zealand, as his favorite villain on the show – “She’s the best by far.” When a young girl in the audience asked for acting advice, although he didn’t feel comfortable about being an authority on acting he did provide some words of wisdom during a rare serious moment of the panel and used the analogy of the waiting place from Dr. Seuss’ Oh, the Places You’ll Go! and advised the young fan not to wait and to just go out and make stuff.

The Originals star Daniel Gillies

As mentioned earlier, Gillies was pretty frank with his opinions about The Originals and made some interesting remarks throughout the panel such as:

• “It’s the most inconvenient conundrum,” – on introducing Hope/Summer, a child on a show that is quite violent.
• “I’m so confused by the ending of the show… I’m not sure how they’re going to wrangle that amnesia,” – Gillies on the season four finale before pointing out that sure Elijah can forget about his family but will he be able to forget that he’s a vampire. How is that identity going to stay hidden to him? What happens if he runs into another vampire who recognises him. “They have a problem next season. I don’t know how they’re going to do it.”
• “I think they both [Klaus and Elijah] should die,” – on how The Originals should end. Gillies spoke about how you can’t kill one and let the other survive because then the mythology still lives on. Both need to die in order for the show to truly end.
• “They’ve got thousands of years of comedy behind them; they should be hilarious.” – Gillies is always fighting for more humor on the show and says that some of his biggest wars has been to make Elijah contemporary and funny. “He should be contemporary as he is ancient.”

Other moments:
Gillies was surprised by the amount of Aussies that always seem to ask him about his role in Bride and Prejudice alongside another New Zealand star making it in the States right now, Grey’s Anatomy star Martin Henderson. Gillies also said he would have liked to have done some singing in the movie.

THE ORIGINALS returns to The CW in 2018.

The Originals star Daniel Gillies

Related links:
OZ COMIC-CON Melbourne Panel Photos
OZ COMIC-CON Melbourne 2017: Our Top 5 Picks
iZOMBIE: 37 times Rahul Kohli & Robert Buckley cracked us up at Oz Comic-Con Melbourne (and the one time we ‘Aww’ed)
VIDEO! PRETTY LITTLE LIARS star Keegan Allen discusses A.D. and more at Oz Comic-Con Melbourne 2017
THE ORIGINALS Bite Into Paley Fest 2014