Get Excited For Season 2, Y'all

Can you name all of the supernatural factions in New Orleans? The CW renewed The Originals for Season 2 back in February, causing the network's vampire-loving fans to jump for joy — and continue to hold out for that Klaroline crossover reunion. The Vampire Diaries spin-off starring Klaus Mikaelson had us hooked from the second we realized that we'd never have to hear the word "doppelgänger" again. (Never. Again.) And we've been anxiously awaiting its return since the chilling Season 1 finale aired back in May. Here's some good news, Klaus fans — The Originals Season 2 will premiere on Oct. 6 and we're so ready.

There are plenty of reasons why you should be marking your calendars and setting your DVRs for the return of this vampire series (if you're not an already obsessed fan like myself), the first of which is because it righted TVD's biggest wrong. The Originals steered way clear of getting overwrought with emotional drama, preferring to tailor its storylines, tone, and focus to its ruthless and emotionally inept main character, Klaus Mikaelson. (Well, except for Klaus' brother romancing his baby momma — they're working on it.)

The Originals Season 1 left off on a high note and set itself up for an even better Season 2 — so, here are all the things you should be excited for now that we've got a fall premiere date:

There Are So Many Villains

The Original Witch is back, people — with her mindless son/lackey, Finn, to boot — to eff things up in New Orleans. And if there's anyone Klaus, Elijah, and Rebekah are less excited to see than their murderous father, it's their murderous mother. (Seriously, these characters had no shot with parents like these.) But Esther's not the only bad guy in Season 2 — there's that whole new crew of recently turned Correa werewolves running around with anti-changing moonstones that are sucking the energy out of Klaus. And Kaleb, a new witch that stalking around in the woods played by Teen Wolf actor Daniel Sharman. The Originals is moving on from its stale Marcel-versus-Klaus battle and going on to bigger and more dangerous things.

That Hybrid Baby

It's not likely that anyone's recovered from the birth, kidnapping, and sending away of Klaus and Hayley's hybrid baby, Hope Mikaelson. So, The Originals set up both an intention and a goal for Season 2: Getting the baby back to New Orleans, whether or not it still stands when she returns. Introducing the baby into the series also introduced a character shift in Klaus who, up until this point only ever cared about himself.

The New Alliances

The main clash of Season 1 was Klaus trying to take his city back from his protégé Marcel, but the Season 1 finale and the introduction of these three new villains is forcing this pair to reset the game. If Klaus and the Mikaelsons and Marcel and his mini-army have any hope for survival, they have to put their baggage aside and team up. Because Francesca Correa isn't some wolfmaster from the Bayou — she knows what she's doing.

Hayley, Klaus, and Elijah's Emotional Struggles

I know, the best part of The Originals isn't its emotional drama — well, at least that was the best part of Season 1. Season 2, again, is a different ballgame. Fans will finally see an emotional shift in Klaus that we thought only Caroline could spark and there's also the complicated triangle with Klaus, Hayley, and Elijah. All three will have to deal with their emotional ties to the others and they've all been effected by having to send Hope away. Think more of a psychological character epiphany than melodramatic proclamations of undying love.

Images: The CW; originalwitch-esther/Tumblr; Giphy; vampirediaries/Wikia; Giphy