'The Vampire Diaries': Matt Davis on Jenna, Klaus, and the threat of death

When Zap2it visited "The Vampire Diaries" set last month, the cast was finishing up filming on episode 220, "The Last Day." We caught up with Matt Davis just before he headed over to the Mystic Grill set to film Alaric's first face-to-face meeting with Klaus.

Now that Alaric has survived being possessed by Klaus, you'd think he'd get a chance to relax, but he's got bigger things to worry about -- in particular, Jenna's reaction to the whole vampire thing. Like many of us, Davis was relieved when Jenna finally clued in.

"It's just enough already!" he laughs. "I've been resistant to this notion that Alaric wants to keep this all tamped down. We were shooting the scene where it's all come out and Jenna confronts me, and the way it's scripted is that I'm very concerned, and I'm like, 'Please, please, I'm sorry!' But I didn't play it that way. I was getting these notes, like, 'You've got to be genuinely concerned!' But on some level, it's like, Alaric has been killed a couple of times, come back from the dead, and he's out hunting werewolves and vampires -- and Jenna's upset, and I get it, but it's like, Jenna, if you only knew!"

When it comes to actually hunting vampires, Alaric has done some of the behind-the-scenes work this season, but we haven't really seen him get his hands dirty much. Davis calls him "ineffectual," but we wouldn't say that. Now that Klaus is around - and, you know, out of Alaric's body - we're hoping to see Alaric put his skills to good use.

"I'd like to think so," Davis says. "There will be some interaction, the extent of which I'm not entirely sure of."

Now that he's surrendered his life-saving ring to John, Alaric is in danger of dying... and, of course, of being turned into a vampire, though Davis thinks that's unlikely. "I mean, I think it'd be cool!" he says. "Chances are I won't. I don't think so, but with this show you really don't know. You call, you try to find out. Should I extend my lease? Should I buy a couch?"

If he does turn, Davis says he can't see Alaric going too dark. "He'd probably stay on the Stefan side of things," he says. "Friendly neighborhood vampire, struggling with his guilt to kill people, self-loathing, why am I a monster kind of thing."

Now that Season 3 has officially been announced by The CW, you may see Davis's name in the credits next year in a whole new capacity. "I've talked to Julie Plec about maybe directing an episode at some point," he says. "Whether that happens remains to be seen, but I would like to. As an actor you have so little creative control and you're really at the mercy of so many forces."

After "The Last Day," there are two more episodes of "The Vampire Diaries" - and Alaric will have a lot to deal with. Watch the show on Thursdays at 8 p.m. EST on The CW.