On this week's episode of "The Vampire Diaries" (Thurs., Nov. 15, 8 p.m. ET on The CW), Katherine returns after a long hiatus, Caroline and Hayley try to work together and Elena continues to go a little mad after killing Connor, the hunter, in last week's installment.
Candice Accola, who plays Caroline on the series, took the time to talk to HuffPost TV via phone about what to expect in the Caroline-Tyler-Hayley love(ish) triangle, Caroline's feelings for Klaus and Katherine's ability to "pop up at the worst time possible." She also dished about working with Gabby Douglas and why she was particularly shocked that Joseph Gordon-Levitt wasn't named People magazine's "Sexiest Man Alive."
Going into this week's episode, will Tyler, Caroline and Hayley be working as a team now to try to pull one over on Klaus and help the hybrids break their sire bonds?
Tyler, Caroline and Hayley are all on the same team for the same cause ... [Laughs.] They ultimately have the same want, which is to get all of these hybrids un-sired so that they can move forward with their big plan.
Last week, it was great to see Caroline and Hayley interact. Will the tension build for those two, or now that Tyler said nothing happened between him and Hayley, does that dissipate? Hayley did say she "hate[s] teen drama."
There will always be tension between Caroline and Hayley. I mean, it's impossible for two young girls in that circumstance not to have tension between them, but they're at least all rooting for the same thing. Caroline just wants to support Tyler so she's not going to be playing any tricks. She's just there to support Tyler and probably [to] keep an eye on everything.
Since Tyler's pretending to give in to Klaus' attempt at blackmail, will he and Caroline be faux broken up? Is she going to be flirting with Klaus to keep him distracted?
From the very beginning of finding out that Klaus took an interest in Caroline, she's definitely been using that to manipulate him, as has the rest of the group. They've kind of thrown Caroline under the bus to try to use her to woo Klaus so they could accomplish their goals. I don't think that's necessarily going to go away. We're definitely going to see Caroline using her power to get Klaus' attention to distract him.
Do you think there's a part of her that has feelings for him?
I think that Caroline has been seeing a different side of Klaus and has a different perspective than the rest of the characters do. She still doesn't trust him. She still doesn't think highly of him whatsoever, but she does recognize that for some reason, out of anyone, he has feelings for her and he's chosen to protect her. She's constantly protected, even when he freed her from Alaric and saved her and let her go -- he's definitely got his eye on her and she feels safe around him, even though no one else does. But she doesn't really trust that, I don't think. She's not sold by any means.
Elena's in a pretty bad place after killing someone for the first time -- even though he was a hunter. She's starting to lose it. How will Caroline help her?
Caroline will be there for her as much as she'll allow her to be. I think Stefan said it very clearly when he said it's too hard to talk to Caroline because she's too good at being a vampire. She just doesn't know what it feels like to struggle with those cravings. Caroline's a perfectionist and I think that applies to her vampirism ... Elena's the type of person who keeps herself poised and she doesn't screw up a lot. She's very wise and she usually figures things out very quickly. This is the first time that she's just lost and erratic and doesn't know how to keep it together and to be the poster child that she's so used to being. But it's a great view of the character that we get to see and re-relate to. I love it. She's now seeing Caroline as the more put-together one, so she's sitting there like, "Why is it so easy for her?" When everyone else can do it, why can't she? So I don't know if she's necessarily going to come running to Caroline -- she's just trying to find that strength in herself that she's always had till that point.
I don't imagine that Damon and Stefan would tell Elena about the cure for vampirism and why the hunter needed to stay alive considering the state she's in. Will they keep it to themselves? Will Caroline and others find out?
Yes, they definitely will also figure out that there's a potential cure for vampirism.
Katherine's back this episode after a long hiatus. What can you tell us about her return?
I can say that Katherine's going to pop up at the worst time that Elena can ever imagine possible.
Caroline has really become one of the fan favorites on the show. She's really done a 180 from this shallow teenager to a multifaceted and compassionate woman. What do you love about playing her?
Honestly, what I love about playing Caroline is that she did start off as just this narcissistic, selfish, insecure, desperate young character and she's had to grow. She messes up so much and she puts her foot in her mouth all the time and I think it's just so relatable. You know, I find myself, in the past four years of playing her, growing with her and watching certain storylines relate to how I felt in high school and feeling lost, and feeling insecure, and sometimes just wanting to be loved, and going out with the wrong guy, and then having to stand up for yourself, and having to build confidence, and having the strength to do the right thing even though it's not easy. That's what I love about having the opportunity to play Caroline over the past four years -- she's just innately a flawed character and that makes her human. Even in her vampirism, she will always be human.
The next episode is the Miss Mystic Falls Pageant, which Gabby Douglas guest stars in, and you have the most scenes with her. What was it like working with her?
It was so great to have Gabby and her family on set. They were so excited, so gracious. I watched the Olympics and her smile was just so bright -- not to mention her talent. You can see how hard she works and how passionate she is and she just nailed it. It was really incredible to see someone who's dedicated so much to their young life to their passion. She's the best! It was really inspiring to meet such a beautiful, gracious young woman like that. And she was just so excited to be there. Everyone was beaming that day and her smile was just as beautiful, if not more so, in person than it was on television.
You've started this "Flat Joseph Gordon-Levitt" trend on Twitter. How'd that come about? I imagine you were bummed he's not the Sexiest Man Alive this year.
[Laughs.] Well, I had a week off of work so I've been in Los Angeles, staying with my friend Amanda. It was her birthday about a month ago, but when we were driving home from dinner the other night, I noticed an ear sticking out under my seat. I was like, "What is this?!" And it was a face cutout of Joseph Gordon-Levitt on a popsicle stick. And I was like, "Well, this is weird that you have this in your car." So basically, her coworkers printed them out -- they know that she's been a fan -- and they were just so funny and there were three of them in her car. The next day, we were on a hike and we were just laughing -- I couldn't get over the fact there are cutouts of Joseph Gordon-Levitt's face in my friend's car! -- and it reminded me of Flat Stanley so we were bored and being ridiculous and decided that he was the new Flat Stanley. We brought Flat Joseph Gordon-Levitt to coffee and to the flea market and to the grocery store and to a dinner party and, all of sudden, we started getting other pictures from people on Instagram from around the world. So after one or two or maybe three glasses of wine [laughs], we decided to create a Tumblr page and it's just been hilarious -- you can see FJGL from all around the world! I mean, it's absolutely bizarre and weird and strange, but we just thought it's the funniest thing. So if you're bored this weekend with your friends, I recommend it. It's a hoot.
"The Vampire Diaries" airs Thursdays at 8 p.m. ET on The CW.
