When we last saw our gang on The Originals Season 2 Episode 10, the vampires and werewolves were confined in one place - and the hunger was getting the best of the former group.

As star Charles Michael Davis told me last week about The Originals Season 2 Episode 11, tonight's installment will focus heavily on his character of Marcel, as we'll enjoy some flashbacks that will fill in a war-torn backstory for Marcel.

How does the action in the flashback impact or reflect the present day in New Orleans? Are we going to see Marcel and Cami back together or is there a new love interest coming for Marcel? And what other CW shows would Davis like to see The Originals cross over with?

(Hint: it’s not what you might expect...)

TV Fanatic: This week’s episode looks like a really good one for Marcel and for the viewers that have wanted to see more of his backstory a little bit.

Charles Michael Davis: There are some flashbacks in it which everyone loves.

TVF: How do the flashbacks link back to the present day, where there’s so much going on?

CMD: Everyone is trapped in the compound because the spell and they’re fighting off hunger. And they did a great job of crafting the story from World War I, which we always just kind of wanted to do [and] I was always wondering how they were going to put it together. And so we get to see the flashback when Marcel is fighting off hunger, it will take him back to World War I, and we’ll get to see how he was becoming a leader and sort of fighting off internal and external forces back then.

TVF: How would you say the Marcel we see in the flashbacks is different from the Marcel we’ve gotten to know in the present day?

CMD: I think his hair’s longer. [laughs] When I played it I wanted him to be a little bit more emotional, a little bit more raw, a little bit more to himself, I’m not quite concerned with what’s going on with everybody else...it’s like his growing teenage years.

You know, leaving home and branching out and finding who he is, as opposed to Marcel in present day in more of a mentor to the vampires, like Gia and Josh [and] pretty much the father figure to Davina so he already has responsibilities outside of himself, but in World War I he’s just dealing with himself. He has a different energy about him [and] a different way he kind of carries himself.

TVF: I feel that we’ve known he was in the war but will we see the decision making in that? I’m assuming it’s something he chose to do.

CMD: Yeah. And that’s something that we’ll find out and you’ll get to see in [The Originals Season 2 Episode 11]. Marcel deciding to go off to war and what it means with breaking the news to The Original family. But yeah, that was one of his decisions and I know we saw the return from war in Season 1. When he returns he has a warm welcoming, but anytime a parent has a kid that wants to go off to war, it’s sort of like, “Okay, well I respect your decision. Don’t take drugs. We’ll see you when you come back in the one or two years.”

TVF: Exactly. Don’t get killed, that sort of thing. How was it to shoot some of the World War I scenes with the combat?

CMD: Everyone was really excited about it. When we finally got on location, we had trenches built into the ground that were 6 or 7 deep down and we had mortars. It was kind of like in Tropic Thunder where you just want to blow things up and 15 mortars going off and we’re just walking through all these explosions. [The special effects advisor] gives a big speech beforehand for the safety meeting where he tells everybody, ‘whatever you do, don’t look at the explosions, you will go blind.’

TVF: Is it safe to say there was some serious choreography working around all those explosives?

CMD: We walk the path so that we wouldn’t get blown up. There was this great focus on set from everybody so things didn’t need to be said more than once or twice. We didn’t have to do any extra takes. We treated it like we were shooting a film. So everyone was really, really, really focused and came with like, defensive purpose. Even when we had to get our wardrobe dirty rather than have them dust us down, everyone was like, “No, it’s cool, I’ll roll around in the ground.” Like, ‘I’ll do what I need to do. We’ll make it real.’

TVF: Back to the present day, we saw Marcel getting a little bit busy with Cami in the beginning of the season but not much has happened since. Is there any romance heating up for him?

CMD: I think he’s taking a liking to Gia, so I don’t know if anything is quite romantic just yet but I think that he liked Gia from the start with how she was a warrior. And then as far as Cami goes, I think they’re obviously both a little preoccupied. You can’t even get out of the compound. There’s no making whoopee there. So there’ll be romance in the future maybe but not in the near future.

TVF: From what we saw last week, the vampires and werewolves are really starting to go at it with each other. Will that continue this week?

CMD: Yeah, for sure. Being trapped in there with time running down and also the hunger increasing, you build a lot of tension and so you’ll see that. So the whole episode will be filled with this sort of rising tension of everyone losing it on the inside and just wanting to eat Kol or Kaleb. Then you got the werewolves in there.

TVF: How did you feel challenged differently in this episode and moving forward?

CMD: This upcoming episode was a big turning point for me creatively about some things that I’ve kind of been sitting and wanting to do and so they became real and everything else has just been icing on the cake. It opens up more possibilities now, especially now, not dealing with the Rebekah storyline as much and also losing New Orleans to Klaus. It’s a rebuilding period. We have a third season so I’m pretty excited about that.

TVF: Looking ahead to later this season or even season three, what would be your hope for Marcel?

CMD: I’d like to see him build up to his inner circle again, to see him really become even more of a leader and see him patch up his relationship with Davina. I’d like to see him really go make a play again for New Orleans, like 100 percent, fully in. And then maybe if he got some super powers, I’m always game for that.

TVF: What super power would you like?

CMD: I don’t know, I mean, they already have mind control. I guess he doesn’t need claws like Wolverine. If he could shoot laser beams out of his eyes that would probably be helpful. But other than that, I don’t know. I guess he already is kind of a super hero.

TVF: I’m thinking like maybe we need to get you a guest spot on The Flash and get the laser beams shooting out of your eyes.

CMD: I guess that’s my new mission is to get a crossover on The Flash. I talked to Justin Baldoni about a crossover with Jane The Virgin. Use some of the guys that were in his proposal video, show up at the hotel, Marcel and Klaus are checking in, just randomly checking in and then that’s it, that’s the only scene.

The Originals Season 2 airs Mondays at 8/7c on The CW.