'The Vampire Diaries' Joseph Morgan: Klaus and Stefan are on a 'path of corruption'

Who would've thought that Klaus's exit from Mystic Falls would be scarier than his arrival? We feared for our favorite characters when Klaus blew into town, but at least back then, we knew what to expect. This time, we're completely clueless as to where he is and what he's done with resident "good" vampire, Stefan.

Luckily, we caught up with the latest addition to "The Vampire Diaries" cast, Joseph Morgan, at San Diego Comic-Con, and he helped to shed a little light and give us a clue of what we can expect from Klaus's "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" essay.

When Season 3 opens, some time has passed -- though, as always, writers are careful not to specify exactly how much time. Morgan estimates it to be a couple of months. "Obviously Klaus has taken Stefan under his wing and whisked him away on a path of corruption," he says. "They're not in Mystic Falls at the moment, so we're going to see a little more of that. A lot can happen in a few months. We'll really see a darker side of Stefan as well, how far Klaus has corrupted him and how far he's willing to go."

We have to admit that if Klaus was looking for a partner in crime, Damon seems to be more of the criminal type, but Morgan assures us that Stefan factors into Klaus' master plan. "As the series goes on we'll learn a lot more about Klaus's motives for bringing Stefan along. He's not just done it on a whim. There's a goal; there's a plan," he says.

Executive producer Kevin Williamson elaborates on Klaus's motivations a bit. "If you remember the mythology of the first year, Elijah explained that there are 8 family members, and Klaus is kind of the bastard child," he says. "He always has been. And now he's a hybrid, and he's all alone. I would imagine that the first thing he wants to do is change that, so that sort of launches us into Klaus and his first chapter."

Julie Plec, also an E.P., says that we've got a lot to learn about Klaus's past -- and about why he was so desperate to unleash his inner hybrid in Season 2. "That's more than just 'I'm the only one of my kind and, doesn't that make me cool,'" Plec says. "He has a power complex. Having been rejected by his own family, and taking it out on them one dagger at a time, I think that we'll get a window into his desire to build a new family, so to speak, in the sense of can he create more like him. It is creepy, but where one hybrid goes, there's certainly more to follow, I hope, for Klaus's sake."

The exploration of Klaus's past will involve flashbacks, and his brother Elijah (Daniel Gillies) is set to appear in some of those, even though he is rather incapacitated in the present day.

Having finished shooting the first episode, Morgan says that he's having a blast in his first series regular role. "Oh yeah, are you kidding me?" he laughs. "I'm having the time of my life. It's always fun to play the bad guy, but to do that playful corruption thing with him, yeah, and it's great working with Paul as well. He's a great guy so we're having a lot of fun."

Looks like Stefan and Klaus are embarking on the most murderous, gruesome bromance ever. But is there romance in Klaus's future? If Morgan has anything to say about it! "Yeah! I hope so," he says. "I've been subtly trying to nudge Julie and Kevin towards that. I think it'd be interesting to see a slightly more vulnerable side to Klaus, to see how he would react to someone who he cared about, who he wasn't just trying to manipulate for his own needs. I think it'd be interesting to see what kind of person he'd choose. Would he be with a witch or a werewolf, would he fall for a human?

Morgan thinks he'll swing in the werewolf direction. "I like to think he'd be with a werewolf. I think it'd be interested if he was with some feisty animalistic werewolf and they were in this kind of crazy, rough relationship."

Sounds like a job for HBO.

Don't miss "The Vampire Diaries" Season 3 premiere on Sept. 15 at 8 p.m. In the meantime, you can check out a short clip of our chat with Morgan below -- it's hard to hear in the loud press room, but we didn't want to deny you his accent.