Grimm’s David Giuntoli Talks Season 4

Grimm doesn’t do things by half. Season 3’s finale saw Nick (David Giuntoli) effectively de-Grimmed, Monroe and Rosalie’s wedding end in chaos and Juliette reeling from a perceived betrayal involving Nick and Adalind.

With season 4 just around the corner (the show returns to NBC from Friday Oct. 24), ScreenSpy sat down with series star David Giuntoli to talk about how Nick will adjust to life without his special abilities, what Adalind’s spell means for Juliette, why Monroe and Rosalie’s Honeymoon has been postponed and how Trubel will come into her own this season.

Full highlights from our call follow brow:

What was your reaction to learning Nick would lose his Grimm powers in the season 3 finale? 

I was excited. It’s always fun to play these new situations. I knew it would shake things up as to how I would now be needing the use of young, inexperienced, kind of-off-the-cuff Grimm, Trubel. And I knew that that would create a lot of problems. But I was excited to see what would happen with Juliette and Nick’s relationship and how his new identity as just a detective — a normal guy — how that would shape his relationships.

How is Nick dealing with the loss of his abilities in Season 4? 

He’s kind of enjoying his new normalcy, I think, in a lot of ways. But he also knows that the Wesen are out there. So first and foremost he’s going to be using Trubel as his seeing eye Grimm.

He is going to be tapping Monroe — which he used to do — tapping on his shoulder quite a bit. He’s going to be using his team of Wesen and Grimms to try to do what he used to be able to do. But he doesn’t have his powers anymore, and that means that not can he not see the Wesen, but he’s just not as powerful as he was.

He has to focus on being a cop again. He used to solve crimes without having blatant tells as to who did this or that. So now, he has to remember that he was a good detective and start solving cases the old-fashioned way, through evidence.

It’s fun to just be a normal dude again. He’s still tormented by knowing that there is this other world out there though. He’s no longer really a part of it. He’s just kind of adjacent to it.

This thing I hated so much in the beginning, these Grimm powers, and then slowly came to really love and depend on, now it’s gone. So it was a painful process to go through and, you know, the bright side could be it could make things better for Juliette and me. But, yes, I am no longer the Grimm.

How will the team’s relationship with Trubel continue to evolve this season?

She becomes more ingrained in the fabric of our lives. I desperately need to teach her what it is to be a Grimm. It’s not just a free pass to go kick Wesen ass all day long. I try to show her the finer points, to tell her that I would actually try to use the law before I would just go all rogue and Grimm. She lives under the same roof with Juliette and I. So she becomes like a daughter figure to us.

Pictured: (l-r) David Giuntoli as Nick Burkardt, Jacqueline Toboni as Trubel — (Photo by: Scott Green/NBC)

On working with Jacqueline Toboni

Jacqueline Toboni was just such a breath of fresh air on our set. She’s so fresh and talented and eager. It seems as though Grimms can only be Italian Americans [laughing]. We had Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, David Giuntoli, Jacqueline Toboni. I don’t know if that’s what they’re going for, but it happened. So we love it. And, yes, she’s incredible.

Where will we see the other characters as Season 4 kicks off? 

Oh, boy. So Adalind and Nick are now connected in some magical, horrible way. I don’t know if I can say why. I certainly can’t say how this all ends. Juliette – well, let’s see. What’s going on there!

So Monroe and Rosalee, honeymoon postponed, due to the chaos that’s ensued. Wu getting very suspicious of what he’s been seeing. Me? obviously, where’d the Grimm go? I’m freaking out. Hank’s just, you know, having a good time.  Everybody is in a state of chaos. And that never really ends on our show. That’s kind of the fun.

How will Nick deal with transitioning from his ‘super hero’ status?

You know, a superhero has super powers. But heroes I think, you know, overcome. And are somehow able to lead through the peril of what life is giving them at that point. So hopefully I will remain a hero if not a super hero.

How will Adalind’s actions last season impact on Nick and Juliette going forward?

Oh, boy. So, yes, the Nick and Adalind spell links us in a very profound and mysterious way. Something goes down in order to reverse a spell that she has put on me that is just crazy. And it affects Juliette and I in a very intense way.

Can you tease any Future Wesen?

One of my favorite episodes of the season is where we deal with the Chupacabra. We have to use Juliette quite a bit. She has a mastery of the Spanish language so she needs to help Nick and Hank and Monroe out quite a bit. We learn the actual origin of what the Chupacabra is and its relation to the Wesen community. So it’s an interesting take. We just finished filming that episode.

We actually have many new wonderful Wesen. We have the Gedachtnis Esser — which is the Octopus Man. We have the Schinderdiv demon beast with like chin fangs. We have a golem, which is a Jewish piece of Jewish folklore. So we go all over the place, through all cultures.

Grimm returns to NBC from Friday October 24 at 9 pm.