The Originals: Julie Plec previews 'whole new dynamic' for Klaus and Caroline

The Mikaelsons are called the Originals for a reason — they’re quite literally the first vampires ever created, which means they’re more than 1,000 years old. And yet, there’s something about the show’s latest time jump that finally makes it feel like they’ve … aged.

When The Originals picks up for its fifth and final season, seven years will have passed since the Mikaelson siblings parted in the name of keeping Hope safe. When we catch up with Hope, she’s a teenager, which means her life is filled with cute boys and bad decisions. (And, of course, magic.) And as for Hope’s father, Klaus, the past seven years have been a trying time. Klaus might have walked the Earth for more than 1,000 years at this point, but he’s never really mastered the art of standing on his own two feet. Most of his life, he’s had his devoted older brother, Elijah at his side, keeping him in check. But now that Elijah has wiped his family from his memory, he’s off playing piano somewhere, leaving Klaus to his own devices.

So it’s no surprise that Rebekah decides to call in some backup in the season 5 premiere. Seeing as how she can’t go check on her brother, she asks Caroline to catch up with him. But for longtime fans of The Vampire Diaries, the interaction between Klaus and Caroline might feel a bit different than what we’ve seen in the past. Remember: They’re both parents now. They’ve come a long way from the people who hooked up in the woods outside Mystic Falls.

“It’s a shift from the instant fireworks of that kind of ‘young damsel in distress/bad boy with a buried heart’ dynamic that’s is so potent when you’re young,” showrunner Julie Plec says. “As you get older, experience tells you that that kind of stuff can be just as dangerous as any monster, and so with age and wisdom comes a settled feeling of peace and maturity. Where we’re finding Caroline, she’s there, and Klaus is constantly searching for that, so it’s a whole new dynamic for them because she can be a peer to him, she can be a support system to him and have an adult friendship and relationship with him in a way that she never could back when they were canoodling in series past.”

That’s not to say that they can’t still canoodle in their more mature present, but the jury’s still out on whether “however long it takes” will happen before the series ends.

The Originals premieres Wednesday, April 18, at 9 p.m. ET on the CW.