Fans may have to wait for a long while before the Mikaelson siblings return for "The Originals" season 4 in early 2017, but the waiting may not be in vain.

In an interview with TVLine, executive producer Julie Plec shared that the prolonged waiting period actually turned into an advantage for the timeline of the series.

"When they shifted the air date, it actually gave us the freedom, weirdly, to shift the timeline in our favor so that we could have more time pass in The Originals between seasons than The Vampire Diaries," the executive producer said. "So we get to add an extra couple years on to our time lapse between seasons. It's actually a good thing. It's positive to not have to worry about being side by side."

This means that the upcoming season of "The Vampire Diaries" spin-off will feature a very significant time jump. The Mikaelsons might need all the time they can get in order to regroup themselves to reverse the life-threatening positions that they were in because of Marcel's (Charles Michael Davis) wrath at the end of season 3.

The season ended when Klaus (Joseph Morgan) sacrificed himself in order to save his siblings. He let Marchel stab him using Papa Tunde's (Owiso Dera) blade and get bury him at the back of a brick wall so the rest of his family could safely escape using the magic performed by Freya (Riley Voelkel). But since most of the Mikaelsons were helpless because of Marcel's actions, fans are expecting to see Hayley (Phoebe Tonkin) rescue them and defeat those how are out to eradicate the original vampire clan.

Meanwhile, Entertainment Weekly revealed that "Containment" star Christina Moses will join "The Originals" season 4 as the smart doctor named Keelin. The character description for the last living werewolf of her family line says she is "openly bisexual, warm and unguarded by nature; but after the rest of her family was hunted to extinction, she went into hiding and since then she's deliberately avoided getting too close to anyone."

But despite all her efforts to hide her true identity, she will soon realize that she will be encountering the most notorious vampire family in New Orleans.

"The Originals" season 4 premiere is expected to be included in the midseason schedule of The CW next year.