‘The Originals’ Season 2 Spoilers: Will Esther Choose Life As A Vampire Or Death In The Winter Premiere? Exec Producer Teases Witch's Fate In Episode 10

When “The Originals” went on its winter hiatus, the hit CW series left fans with a huge, daunting cliff-hanger: Would Esther (Sonja Sohn) kill herself or live as a vampire? Klaus (Joseph Morgan) left his mother with this ultimatum in the Season 2 midseason finale after Rebekah (Claire Holt) slipped her vampire-tainted blood into their mother’s glass of wine. When Esther drank the blood, she evolved from a witch into a bloodthirsty creature.

“You can either be the thing you hate the most or you can be dead,” Klaus said of his mother’s transformation. “Your choice. Which is more than you ever gave us.”

So what will Esther decide? Executive producer Julie Plec teased Esther’s fate in an interview with TVLine.

“I cannot say whether she does or does not [transition into a vampire],” Plec said. “But I can say that we learn which choice she made in the very first episode back.” “The Originals” returns Monday with episode 10, “Gonna Set Your Flag on Fire.”

But according to Plec’s other Season 2 teasers, we have a feeling Esther will choose a life of sucking blood over suicide. The EP also shared that Esther’s storyline will reveal why she and her spell-savvy sister Dahlia are so afraid of Mikael (Sebastian Roché).

Speaking of Dahlia, the evil aunt will play a large role in the remainder of Season 2, according to co-executive producer Michael Narducci. “With the long-lost sister Freya and the powerful witch Dahlia taking the first-born children of the Mikaelson bloodline, the big question is will she show up, and will she come for [Hope],” he dished to the Hollywood Reporter.

Plec also answered our burning question of Dahlia’s possible reprisal during an interview with IGN, in which she hinted at the dark sorcerer’s return. “Dahlia is still lurking out there, God knows where. Dahlia's somebody we definitely haven't heard the last of as we move closer to the end of the season,” Plec said, confirming the Season 2 debut of Esther’s sister.

Morgan then explained that although Dahlia’s appearance in Season 2 may result in a full-on family feud, there’s also a silver lining to his wicked aunt's arrival. “He's got a very polarized view of Esther being an evil, wretched woman who's ruined his life,” he told IGN. “If we start to learn that Esther had motives behind what she did and her motives were that she was doing bad things for good reasons, just like Klaus has learned to do, it's a great example of a child subconsciously learning from his parents. Maybe it will help him to understand a little bit more what Esther did, the choices she made."

“The Originals” will return Monday, Jan. 19, at 8 p.m. EST.