'The Originals' season 4 news, spoilers: horror overtones as plot centers on Klaus; Hayley's mission leads her to Keelin

Promotional banner for "The Originals" season 4Facebook/CWOriginals

The upcoming fourth season of "The Originals" will allegedly have the tone of a horrifying novel. Meanwhile, Hayley's (Phoebe Tonkin) mission to save the Mikaelsons brings her to a new character who will play an important role in the series.

A fan asked Joseph Morgan — who plays original vampire Klaus Mikaelson — on Twitter what fans can expect from "The Originals" season 4. Morgan answered, "The best season yet. More like a horror novel so right up my street."

Executive producer Julie Plec confirmed this when she revealed that the writers of "The Originals" say that their inspiration is the best-selling horror supernatural fiction writer Stephen King.

"A lot of the writers ... are huge Stephen King fans and love the way that he can create an insidious, horrific energy without defining a singular monster at the top ... We've attacked this season from that point of view. How can we create a culture of fear within this New Orleans environment and then slowly over the course of a long run really identify the monster at large," Plec explained in an interview with Variety.

In "The Originals" season 4, Hayley has embarked on a mission to save the Mikaelsons from their cursed sleep. Her mission will require her to "locate the seven werewolf packs," Tonkin revealed in the 2016 San Diego Comic Con as reported by TV Line.

Her journey leads her to a new character named Keelin – to be played by Christina Moses – who is an ER doctor and the last of her werewolf lineage. It was revealed that Keelin has gone into hiding since her family of werewolves has been hunted down. Given that she is the last living werewolf, Hayley will be working her way to reach Keelin in order to uncover the rest of the werewolf packs.

"The Originals" season 4 is expected to premiere in January 2017.