‘The Vampire Diaries’: Michael Malarkey On Enzo Tackling Rayna’s List, Trying To Help Bonnie

“The Vampire Diaries'” Enzo is in a tough spot. 

In order to keep his girlfriend, Bonnie Bennett, safe from the Armory, he gave her pills that helped cloak her. The problem was, those pills were secretly harmful and Bonnie has started to develop the scabs that are a sign she is very, very sick. 

“He feels terrible, I mean, that’s even selling it short,” Michael Malarkey, who plays Enzo on the long-running series, told Access Hollywood on Thursday afternoon. “He feels worse than terrible, but when the s*** hits the fan and when huge tragedies happen in your life, you don’t sit there and cry about it, you buckle down and say, ‘I’m going to do whatever I can to help out the people I care about and I’m not going to let them know that it’s freaking me out as much as it really is.’ And I think, especially when you’re in a relationship with somebody, if they think that you’re freaking out, they’re going to freak out even more.”

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‘The Vampire Diaries’: Michael Malarkey On Enzo Tackling Rayna’s List, Trying To Help Bonnie (The CW)

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Rayna Cruz is believed to hold a solution to the problem, but she’s tasked Damon and the gang with taking out the vampires that were once in the Phoenix stone. Unfortunately for the gang, in last week’s episode, after the gang tackled Rayna’s first list, she had her “A Beautiful Mind”-style moment and came up with many, many more names. 

A sneak peek at Friday’s episode revealed Enzo and Damon are hitting the road to go vampire hunting (while Stefan gets paired up with Matt).

WATCH: ‘The Vampire Diaries’: Damon & Stefan Work On Rayna’s Hit List (Exclusive)

“Basically, right now Enzo feels like this is the only chance he has because he knows how quickly this… [disease] spreads and kills so he’s like, ‘Well, look, if this is the chance we’ve got, I’m going to get on the road with Damon and we’re just going to plow through them and hopefully we can do this in time to get back and save [Bonnie’s] life.’ And at the moment, that’s the last straw he’s clutching at so he’s hoping that that’s going to be the case,” Michael said. 

Last week’s episode had some action-packed slaying scenes, and while they’re fun to watch, they can be tough to shoot from a technical standpoint. 

“When you have a fight scene, you have to shoot it from a variety of angles — close ups, pulling hearts out, cleaning up blood, putting blood back on — because you don’t shoot it all consecutively. So it’s very bit-y and so you’re kind of doing one little bit and then you stop, you’ve got to reset, do another bit and sometimes it kind of takes a little bit of the steam out of it,” Michael explained about how it works behind-the-scenes. “So it’s our challenge as an actor to be able to kind of maintain that intensity throughout those fight scenes. But, the more you do it, and I’ve been on this show now for three years, it becomes second nature, but they’re not as fun as they look.” 

Access also asked the actor how they get the fake blood off at the end of the day. 

PHOTOS: ‘The Vampire Diaries’: Stefan Salvatore Scenes From Season 7

“Shaving cream, believe it or not,” he revealed, sharing a trick of the trade.

Before shooting the scenes, the actors put on a barrier cream, and turn to the foamy stuff post-shoot.

“When it’s done, you kind of use wet wipes to get it off and when you get back to the makeup trailer, you lather yourself in shaving cream, and somehow that – something to do with science – it pulls it all off, so,” he said. “But you still will find it in your fingernails. That’s like the worst. You’re walking around looking like you’ve been eating beetroots.”

Friday night’s episode won’t just have slaying. It will also start to get into the Armory storyline that involves a Bennett witch and a locked vault.

“We’re going to delve into that a little further,” Michael said.

This season of “TVD” has featured a host of surprising twists, including seeing Enzo and Bonnie become an item, heretic deaths, Mama Salvatore’s death, Phoenix stone hauntings and more. Asked if he also gets surprised, like fans, by some of the jaw-dropping plot twists — despite working for so long on the show, Michael said he does.

“I’m constantly surprised and to be honest, I take my hat off to the them because I’m starting to work on little projects myself, things just for fun, and starting to write things and how long it takes me to come up with scenarios is just like — it’s like stirring chili,” he said. 

“But I’m excited about it every time, every script I get, I’m excited to see what Enzo’s going to get up to next,” he said.

This summer, what Michael is up to next is hitting the road. He’s got a tour booked in Europe in support of his “Knots” EP, and has two stateside dates scheduled, including May 26 at Atlanta’s Eddie’s Attic and June 30 at Los Angeles’ Hotel Café. 

Michael is currently gearing up for the trek by planning with his touring mates over Skype.

“I’ve got everybody in London so I’m kind of doing it over Skype interviews and telephone calls and talking them through how I want the songs to sound. I think I’m going to do some stuff with the band and some acoustic stuff just with me so I’ll kind of throw both things into the mix,” he said.

“The Vampire Diaries” airs Friday at 8/7c on The CW.

Jolie Lash

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