When Season 5 of the hit drama series Grimm returns tonight on NBC, seductive villainess Adalind Schade will finally feel like her life is in a better place now that she’s no longer a Hexenbiest. Her portrayer Claire Coffee, however, says that Adalind still has her worries.
“[Her powers] could trickle back in at any moment and she is really scared of that happening,” Coffee says in a recent conference call with the press. “The relationship she is building with Nick– she really wants to do it right this time.”
Doing it right will be tricky and challenging, and the San Francisco-native previews that at the beginning of the season, both Nick and Adalind will be at a bit of a crossroads. “[But] the only thing that matters to them at this point is keeping this child happy and healthy, so they form a bond over that. It’s easy to let bygones be bygones when you have a baby that really does need you 24-hours a day. It gets them pretty sidetracked, at least for a while.”
With Adalind’s first child being taken away from her, Claire says that with the new threats that arrive in Portland this season, “there’s definitely fear that this [baby is also] going to get taken away from them,” and relies on Nick for protection.
After Juliette’s untimely death, some fans have speculated that an Adalind/Nick pairing would be in the series’ future. The bonding and being reliant on Nick sure does open that door, but is there a possibility that the pair would ever go there? “There’s nothing too crazy,” she says of the idea. “We’re re-writing rules all the time. Nick and Adalind have had that very aggressive and contentious chemistry from the beginning. They are inextricably linked. It’s not so far fetched, but there’s so many things complicating the situation at this point.”
In addition to the complicated relationships and getting involved with helping Team Grimm with cases, Claire wants it said that Adalind is not replacing Juliette. “It’s a pretty twisty-turny season,” she teases. “This Adalind/Nick relationship is kind of providing just one more layer for the gang because for the rest of the team, they definitely aren’t so excited to have her in the fold at first and nobody is trusting her completely.”
“The best thing I can say is that you’re going to have to wait and see,” she continues. “She’s not replacing any[one].” Hmm, Could she be hinting that Juliette is not gone for good?
On the behind-the-scenes side, Claire Coffee says that the reveal of Nick being the father of Adalind’s baby was a “shock” to her. She explains that when she told the producers and writers that she was pregnant, she was positive her character’s story wouldn’t involve another child and even offered up the idea of using body doubles to hide her baby bump. “Then halfway through the season, [the writers] said ‘actually we are going to have [Adalind] be pregnant and it’s going to be Nick’s.’ My jaw hit the floor! It ended up being an outrageously fun adventure. It still is. I’m happy that they went in that direction.”
Finally, Coffee promises that the very different, twist-filled Season 5 will be full of surprises and is not to be missed. And if her responses to reading this season’s scripts are any indication, it looks as though Grimm fans will not be disappointed.
“In this season in particular, [my reactions] were a lot of ‘Oh, my –what?! Oh, my God!'”
Grimm Season 5 premieres tonight at 9pm on NBC.
