Phoebe Tonkin Downgraded to Guest Star for Final Season

Well, are we now officially taking bets on what episode is her last?


I'd rather deal with Hayley than Hope.

I love Hayley but between contracts and working around the cast... it'd have nothing to do with the Hope spinoff. Julie Plec has said she did the final season as a conclusion and while they might want the spinoff to work, there won't be things left unfinished purposefully- last season they did a decent job of that with more loose threads. Also the spinoff having a higher chance has only come in the last month post Chilling Adventures of Sabrina getting scored by Netflix combined with The Originals hitting the right ratings. I think in tone, Julie doesn't expect the spinoff to get a pickup between the lines, she's preparing and she'd enjoy it but everything being done is for the final season. It has nothing to do with Hope or a certain blonde TVD former main.

There hasn't been a focus on Hayley over the Mikaelsons- any side attention has been Rebekah or Kol when their actors haven't been available- and she had a stronger reason to be present than Caroline- who I still find painful to this day survived the entire series when she had no point except for love interest wallpaper post mid third season. Hayley's been great and if you find my old posts from the TVD boards somewhere archived, I hated her character when she was introduced. The only time she ever frustrated me was when Jackson's presence induced bad choices because like Klaus, powers of self-sabotage are exceptionally good.
Klaus always had more prominence as did Elijah, Rebekah when present, Kol, Freya, Marcel- she just wasn't window dressing which went for Davina, Vincent/Finn and Cami as well. The Originals has decent cast balance which is surprising with the uneven nature of TVD's. It's when you're not a fan of a character- they seem to be in your face at every turn- I'd cite Caroline but a better character I found grating was Luke from Gilmore Girls... there were moments I could stand him but mostly his parts detracted from time better spent on the rest of the supporting cast and more so, the Gilmores themselves. I love, love that show but the fact morality always swung around so he was right and how damaging his relationship with Lorelai was for her...but it was the show's main pairing and he got put in centre focus constantly in some parts over Lorelai. I know on a whole, it wasn't as bad as I perceive it but because I find Luke frustrating- it feels like he's being rammed down my throat.

Hayley's come a long way- and she'll have more sympathy from the shippers and so on than Cami did which speaks to how sad that deranged section of the fandom is. I like Hope and am fine with her having a main role... I'm going to cry when/if Hayley dies and stays dead but I'm a lot more okay with it than I would have been killing her off at any point prior because it's about Hope herself and her character journey than 'killed via childbirth' or without everything she ended up with at the end. A child she was giving more than what she had, the pack and her true nature, Declan, who was there for her and liked her than an imaginary version. It'll suck if someone's exploited what Hope did to see her father again and especially for Hope but Hayley would forgive Hope for anything and if it led to the family being reunited- she won't have died for a romance, she'll have died for something she would have given her life for anyway because of how much it meant for her which is a critical distinction between her death now versus her death giving birth to Hope.

Planned final seasons are brutal on main characters. All bets are off and they would have weighed the story ramifications versus every last cent they could put back into the show as well as Phoebe herself and made the decision accordingly, especially with who they need to bring in and what they need to do to bring The Originals full circle.

If she dies isn't that sad though? I get that it may make sense for the story, but I also find it troubling that Hope has to lose one of her parents and that parent is Hayley. I don't want Klaus to die, but I also don't want Hayley to die just so she can provide angst and stuff. I'm fine with her being a guest star, since I think she was filming a show in Australia during this time as well, I just don't like the idea of her dying.

What strange and sad rumors are you talking about?

Who unfriended who?

I wonder if her break-up with Paul had anything to do with it?

Well, I know they all stopped promoting the show after S3. I think JoMo tweeted specifically about the show a couple of times, during this time, but nothing major. But that was after the CW shafted them with a shorter season. I'm sure they're upset at how everything played out. And pissed that the CW didn't even bother to do any type of proper promotion after S2. But they all seemed pretty tight friends. Every group interview, every little BTS video - they seemed very friendly.

IIRC, DG and Paul are great friends. I'm not sure about JoMo and Paul. And I never heard anything about JoMo - Phoebe - Paul. JoMo seems very devoted to his wife, so I don't think there's anything there. But if PT and Paul broke up and they needed to choose sides - they may have chosen Paul's side for whatever reason.

I still honestly, truly believe it has nothing to do with BTS drama. Her downgraded status is simply because they want to focus on Hope. Something had to give. They weren't going to cut DG or JoMo's screen time. They can't cut Marcel, Freya, Vincent's time down. Keelin, Josh, Declan, Antoinette, Caroline, etc. - they don't take up too much time and they're supporting players.

I guess we'll never really know.

I highly doubt it. Paul Wesley would have nothing to do with it and I think having lost Nina Dobrev because she no longer wanted to work with Ian Somerhalder and losing who was supposed to grow into another female lead, Meredith Fell because her actress split with Paul- neither actor has any pull in a show they aren't in- especially with what happened with Torrey DeVitto. Meredith is a major character in the TVD novels, with history with Klaus and they had to scrap the entire character because he got his wife cast in the role.

Carina wasn't abrupt about it, just matter-of-fact which is all you can be without spoiling future episodes. I think the speculation is silly, it underestimates the sheer budget cuts the show has suffered, cast contracts and what a final season means. Phoebe, at least, had been released from her contract post Season Four back when she and Paul were still together because otherwise she'd still be credited as a series regular, appearances or not because they would be paying her the episode fee regardless. The only ill vibes that have ever come across with the cast have been the ones with Leah Pipes during the second half of Season Three. That was awkward, abrupt and cut-air-tension-with-knife. I think the only quiet comes from cast and crew frustrated over the CW's handling of the show and that they've had their careers in limbo for two years. Joss Whedon is well known for getting Angel cancelled and whatever kind of jerk he was for the Charisma Carpenter pregnancy firing, what he did was protect his cast by demanding they renew or cancel the show early.

www.smh.com.au/entertainment/tv-and-radio/australian-drama-is-unparalleled-why-phoebe-tonkin-came-home-for-her-latest-role-20180321-p4z5fs.html

People forget Phoebe is an Australian actress and more importantly, just like Joseph, Daniel and Claire or any of the cast- with ambitions for her acting career. The Originals is a great show but the reality is its in the final stretch and everybody on the cast and crew are looking to the future.