Life Changing Surprise In-Store For Sage In 'The Murder Of One'

Sage delivered a pair of shocks to Damon on last week's episode of The Vampire Diaries, first showing up in Mystic Falls after a century away, and then turning on him by burning down the town bridge.

But the unexpected tables will turn on this ancient blood sucker tonight, Cassidy Freeman said.

"Sage has a big surprise coming," the actress teased of events ahead on "The Murder of One." "And it's definitely life-changing."

Freeman couldn't divulge many details, of course, but she did confirm Sage will come face-to-face with Finn this week, along his disapproving siblings, including a returning Klaus.

What exactly is the problem these Originals have with the redhead?

"Imagine your brother's high school girlfriend," Freeman explained. "Except it's not high school. You're a vampire and you live forever. To Klaus and Rebekah, Sage isn't good enough to be with Finn. They're full of animosity, there's a lack of respect all around."

Look for the Originals' storyline to "come to a head" by the end of the hour, as well, Freeman previewed.

What role might Sage play in their fate? It's unknown if the character will be back when The Vampire Diaries returns on April 19, but Freeman says  she'll try to have the most fun she can in the meantime.

"She's 900 years old. She accepts that this is the way it is. She doesn't think anything is gonna change any time soon, so her M.O. is to have a really good time, to live life to the fullest."

And maybe offer Elena some advice before she departs? I asked Freeman what Sage might say to this confused teen, stuck between two attractive vampires.

"She'd tell her to get over it," the actress said. "Just get over it and get in the shower with them!"

Interview with Cassidy Freeman

What was it like playing Sage in the 1900s?

The Vampire Diaries does period in a very beautiful way. They have such attention to detail, in terms of costumes, hair and makeup. It was a joy.

Sage, in a way, is responsible for molding the Damon character into what he is now. Is she someone who helped him for the better?

I think she helped him for the better. I think Damon is who he is in a way or maybe she was the catalyst for him to become who he wanted to be. In any event, she definitely inspired his way of being a vampire, which I don’t think the story would be here without that.

What causes her to target him specifically?

 I think she saw something in him. I think she was attracted to something about him and she saw possibility in him. She saw his tendency toward being that kind of vampire that’s so free and seductive. She that seed and she wanted to help it grow.

Sage will also be seen in present day. What events transpire to make her reappear in Mystic Falls?

Yea, Mystic Falls is kind of out of the way. She comes back in search of Finn, the Original who’s her true love. That’s the real reason for her coming back but she definitely has more to do when she gets there.

What is Sage and Damon’s initial meeting in present day like?

He’s skeptical and wonders why she’s back but I think he’s happy to see her. They didn’t leave on bad terms by any means.

What can you reveal about Sage in the coming episodes?

Obviously Sage is in the books, even though she’s a man. Sage is somebody who pushes along the story of the books and really helps flush out the original storyline of The Vampire Diaries. She’s going to help that storyline along and it’s also important for fans to see where Damon started.

You played Tess on Smallville for several seasons. Could you describe the differences or similarities between Tess and Sage?

Coming back to the CW was really fun. Strangely enough, Tess and Sage do have similarities. They’re both strong women, they both know what they want and they go after it. But I think the difference between them is, where Sage is very open and emotionally free and able to express herself, Tess is more tight and buttoned-up and scared to be who she really was.

Was there a specific moment during filming that stood out for you?

There’s a scene in one of the present-day episodes where Sage really gets to show her emotional side and I don’t think I’m allowed to say for what reason but it was a really great scene to show her freedom. The boxing scenes [in “1912”], they were so fun. To be able to go through how much do you show that she’s a vampire, how much do you show that she’s a badass woman who can box.

Cassidy Freeman and Paul Wesley Tease Upcoming Episodes

The Vampire Diaries returns tonight with a flashback episode to 1912 when boxing vampire, Sage (Cassidy Freeman) teaches Damon (Ian Somerhalder) how to choose victims for maximum enjoyment - a lesson which also leads to the creation of Ripper Stefan. 

Was it a platonic mentorship then? "I wonder if Damon is Platonically involved with anyone. Thats my question Freeman laughs "I wouldn't say they have a burning love for one another but there's definately sexual tension."

It would appear to bubble over when Sage, who's heard that her one true love, Finn (Caspar Zafer) is now out of his coffin, comes to Mystic Falls on March 22nd Episode to search for him. A recent promo for the shows Spring run featured a steamy shot of Sage and Damon in his famed shower. "I can't actually tell you how many of my absolutely grown women friends  squealed like teenagers when they heard that I was gonna be in this show,” Freeman says. “So I don’t doubt that his bathroom, and more importantly his shower, is a place of interest. So I felt very fortunate.”

A promo shot for the March 22 episode shows the two of them dancing, another of viewers’ favorite activities for Damon. “We’re party animals. We’re that friend that always comes to town and you end up drinking too much, and then you don’t really remember it the next day but you know you had a good time. That’s the kind of friends that we are, I think.”

Her visit takes an interesting turn, though. That recent promo also shows naked Damon and Rebekah in bed, with a clothed Sage caressing Rebekah’s face. “They’re all, ‘Shower scene, ambiguous sexual orientation scene, boxing in 1912 — do you want the part?’ And I’m all, ‘That’s not a question. That’s an offer,’” Freeman jokes. “It’s definitely a manipulating time. In the present day, I’m trying to help Damon figure out what Rebekah’s up to, and let’s just say that we’ll use any tactic that we can.”

We assume there plan doesn’t go well, since we’ve seen promo shots of Rebekah torturing Damon, and Sage looking distraught in the March 29 episode. ”That shot has nothing to do with Rebekah or Damon, but I am very sad,” Freeman says. (We’re guessing it has something to do with self-loathing Finn, who, you’ll recall, is helping his mother Esther try to kill him and his Original siblings. To save Elena, the Salvatore Brothers thwarted her plan by having Damon turn Bonnie’s mother Abby into a vampire so Esther couldn’t channel the power of the Bennett bloodline. Rebekah and Klaus, however, just learned there’s apparently another white oak tree that can be used to kill Originals, so they’re still in danger.)

The introduction of Sage comes at an interesting time, of course, as Damon is trying to help Stefan through his detox. We found out in the last episode that Stefan hasn’t had a drop of human blood since the night he took Elena to the bridge where her parents died. “I think Sage’s idea is that of pleasure and that of embracing being a vampire. So anytime that Stefan comes in with his do all-good attitude, it just doesn’t click,” Freeman says. “I don’t think she’s necessarily anti-Stefan or tries to push him too hard. I think she just sees a lot of future in Damon, especially back in 1912, where he could be the kind of vampire that she is and she can be a mentor to him. So she focuses more on being able to craft the Damon that we all know out of who he was in 1912, rather than worrying about Stefan too much.”

Now we know why exec producer Julie Plec told us she wanted #TeamSalvatore to trend on Twitter (which it did). “We’ve been so contentious and hostile with one another that when we have these rare moments of friendship, I think it reminds the audience that these two guys are also an integral part of the triangle,” Wesley says. “It’s not just them both being in love with Elena. It’s that they love each other as well.”In 1912, the Salvatore brothers reunite at a family funeral after being estranged for 50 years. “In that flashback, I’m almost courting his friendship, and in the present day, he’s almost courting my friendship,” Wesley says. “Back in the day, he was resentful of me, and in the present day, I’ve become very resentful of him. The episode is nicely interwoven in that regard.”

Tonight’s episode also features a bonding moment between Elena and Matt. Should Stefan consider Matt a threat to the show’s central love triangle? “I think he absolutely should be a threat,” Wesley says. “I think there’s a level of simplicity to Matt. He’s a good, uncomplicated kind of guy. At the end of the day, Stefan and Damon both bring a huge bag of complication and things don’t go very well when Damon and Stefan are around. So I do believe that Elena should have some sort of a relationship with someone who is not supernatural. I think for sure that’s a threatening thing, to a degree.”

As for Stefan’s relationship with Elena, there are promo shots from the March 29 episode, “The Murder of One,” of them walking through the woods carrying weapons — him a stake and her a crossbow — and them deep in conversation with him appearing to gently touch her face. “The two of them are on a bit of mission, but during that mission, they sort of divert and talk about their relationship and the reality of what they’ve been through. It’s a good story-line plot point that allows the two of them to be in a close situation and allows for a little bit of intimacy,” Wesley says. Like, verbal intimacy or something more? He laughs. “Verbal. Intimacy in an emotional way,” he says.

Looking ahead to the end of the season, Wesley says he still hasn’t read the script for the finale, but that he’s been doing scuba-diving training for a planned underwater sequence in the episode. We assume that means we’re still on target to see a flashback to the car crash that killed Elena’s parents before the series began (good Samaritan Stefan was only able to save Elena). He does offer one tease: “I think audiences can look forward to Stefan and Elena getting one step closer by the end of the season to potentially reuniting,” he says. One stepcloser to potentially reuniting? That was carefully worded! “I’m very good at that sort of cagey answer,” he laughs


source

Why do Sage and Rebekah have a tense history?

When The Vampire Diaries returns on tonight, the show's newest character, Sage, won't just reunite with old friend Damon, but with past adversary Rebekah as well.   

"They have a tension and a history there," Claire Holt (Rebekah) told TVGuide.com from the show's Atlanta set. "You find out Sage is looking for Finn, Rebekah's brother, so there's definitely a bit of a hate vibe going on."

Julie Plec Previews Cassidy Freeman's Role Plus 3 Other Things To Come In Season 3

Smallville stunner Cassidy Freeman will soon make herVampire Diaries debut, but very little is known about Mystic Falls’ latest import… until now.

Executive producer Julie Plec recently revealed some key details about Freeman’s mysterious vamp Sage, whom she describes as“ballsy, and sexy, and dynamic and fun.”

“Cassidy’s character is a vampire we’ll meet in our 16th episode, titled ’1912′,” Plec teases. “It’s timed about 100 years ago, when Damon was still… the Damon that walked out the door in a huff of disappointment and piousness when his brother [Stefan] was out of control in 1864.”

Adds the EP, “Somewhere between 1864 and [The Vampire Diaries] pilot, Damon became the Damon that we know and love, and this episode gives us a little glimpse into that — and what Cassidy’s Sage had to do with it.”

And not unlike those beloved Originals, Sage will be featured in both present day and flashback scenes.

Three more scooplets from the remainder of Season 3:

• Plec says that unlike most Vampire guest stars (who have an end date from the get-go), Torrey DeVitto’s Meredith is sticking around for the foreseeable future.“With Meredith, [the story] has been ever-evolving,” she muses. “It’s possible [the character could become a permanent fixture] — or she could die a horrific, violent and tragic death.”

• Alaric’s life-saving “eternity ring can’t be relied upon much longer,” Plec shares. “There’s definitely a sense of the clock ticking on the effectiveness of the ring, and that’s going to be a big concern for [Elena] who really only has two very important people left in her life: Alaric and Jeremy.”

• How long until the identity of the at-large Mystic Falls Murderer is unveiled — that is if it’s not Meredith, as the end of tonight’s episode seemed to imply? “The next wave of story we have to get through is seeing the outcome of the Original mother’s plan to kill her babies,” Plec offers, “but as we move forward into that we are also going to dovetail very nicely about who is behind the murders.”

First Look At Cassidy Freeman As Sage

Proving that you can't keep a good bad girl down, Smallville's Cassidy Freeman returns to The CW to bedevil another crazy-hot cast. "I guess they're trying to tell me something," says the former Tess Mercer with a laugh. "When I was cast on Smallville, I was like, 'Really? Evil angry girl?' Because I can't stop laughing in real life."

In the March 15 Vampire Diaries episode — a flashback to 1912 — Freeman plays Sage, a bloodsucker with ties to the Originals, as well as Ian Somerhalder's Damon. "She is really aware of what being a vampire is and owns it," says Freeman, who says it "has been a dream to play a vampire" and that she was "jumping for joy" when she got the part. Sage will also resurface in modern-day Mystic Falls with a murky agenda. "She comes back for good reasons, but she is out for herself."

Julie Plec Teases Cassidy Freemans Role and 1912

“I haven’t seen it. I’ve only heard that she’s awesome,” Julie says about Cassidy’s TVD premiere. “Cassidy Freeman’s character is a vampire that we’ll meet in our 16th episode, which is the first episode in March. The episode is called ’1912,’ and it is a time about a hundred years ago that I like to call as when Damon was still the Damon that walked out the door in a huff of disappointment and piousness, when his brother was out of control in 1864, and somewhere between 1864 and the pilot episode, Damon became the Damon that we know and love, and this episode kind of gives us a little glimpse into that, and what this character Sage, played by Cassidy, had to do with it, she teases.

“She’s ballsy, and sexy, and dynamic. It’s a fun character,” Julie adds. When asked if Sage will be showing up in the present day, she wasn’t able to hide her answer, saying “yes” to everyone in attendance.

Julie also told us more about the episode Cassidy premieres in, which, as mentioned above, is called “1912.” First, she was asked if the episode will explore some history between Damon and Original family member Kol as hinted in “Dangerous Liaisons.”

“When we did this episode, that was our intention, to have them cross in a very sort of fun ‘wait, who was that guy?’ kind of moment, but the story went in a different direction,” Julie says. “But yeah. We had a whole great Damon-Kol bar night out, brawl kind of drunk, don’t remember any of you, but in our drunk night brotherhood, we had a moment, but we didn’t end up going down that road.” When asked if the recent popular PBS series Downton Abbey was an inspiration, Julie confirmed that she had been watching. “You know, it’s funny. When we were trying to pick the era for when we wanted this flashback, I had just been watching Downton Abbey Seasons 1 and 2 in this obsessive marathon, and I thought ‘well, everybody looked so good in 1912. Dresses are so pretty! Men are so handsome’!”

Vampire Diaries Casting News - Cassidy Freeman to Guest Star

Cassidy Freeman (aka Smallville's Tess Mercer) is set to appear in TVD in a mysterious and delicious-sounding new role.

However, Freeman won’t be playing your typical temptress. While she will be drawing people to her, she won’t be doing it in the present day. She’ll appear in flashbacks to 1912, where she will be having herself some fun with Damon and Stefan as well as the Original family. What her goal is is unknown. All we know at this point is her name is Sage and she is “sexy and fearless, with a devilish smile.” So she’s hot, not afraid of vampires and is probably evil incarnate. Well that could apply to just about anyone, so what will make her special?

You can expect to see her in 3x16 (apparently named 1911) with the potential to become a recurring character. If she does end up recurring, maybe we’ll see her in the present day.