Congrats to Joe Manganiello who has signed on as a series regular for True Blood, Season 4 on HBO as “Alcide Herveaux.” http://thetruebloodblog.com / The True Blood Blog

Related posts:

1. True Blood Continues Season 3 Casting (12.15): Meet “Alcide” (and others!)
2. True Blood 3×02 (26) ‘Beautifully Broken Promo’ (HQ) – Season 3 – Truebies & Newbies: Sookie & Alcide (HBO) Meet Alcide (6.13)
3. NEW Video Interviews w/Sam Trammell & Joe Manganiello (7.2.10)

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HBO — Jun 13, 2010 — Season 3 Ep. 0 — Go behind the scenes with Alan Ball and his team as they talk about using real wolves in the show. For more information, log onto HBO.com.

*Alan Ball does not actually say or imply this but he does make a very large point that real wolves are really important in Season 3 of True Blood.
I love that he (correctly) refers to the (real) wolves as “actors.” It’s probably not even a thing to be noted by those in the business but it tells the audience quite a bit about 1. Alan Ball and, 2. how incredibly trained these wolves are. This is what they do.

Related posts:

1. True Blood – Alan Ball Season 3 Interview (5.27) – Generous *Spoilers*
2. True Blood – Alan Ball Reveals More Season Three Spoilers (11/3)
3. True Blood – Alan Ball: Season 3 has “a triumvirate of evil.” (01.21.10) – Alex Skarsgård Spills

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The photos may not have spoilers necessarily but my descriptions if you click through, do.
Can’t help it. I’m a spoiler hound.
Guess if I were a shifter I be a dog (or more accurately, a bitch. lol).

Photos thanks to  BuzzSugar

Photos Courtesy of HBO

Part 1 NEW TB S3 Characters

Part 2 NEW TB S2 Characters

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rosiie313 — May 24, 2010 —

SOURCE: HBO Inc.

Would it be too over-the-top to say I worship Alan Ball? I simply love the way his mind operates and how he articulates what’s on his mind. And being the spoiler hound that I am, I just want to hug him when he says …”I can’t give anything away” and then proceeds to drop juicy semi-spoilers about the upcoming Season 3 True Blood. In the case of the Q and A he did with scifiwire.com, Mr. Ball dropped nine spoiler-ettes which without further ado I shall both sum up and snip some quotes from. Enjoy!

As Alan Ball has mentioned before don’t expect our favourite Louisiana residents to have happily-ever-after storylines this season.  As he explains:

“Here’s the thing about happiness: It’s great in our lives, but it’s not really that interesting to watch on television.”

Alan Ball directing True Blood (HBO copyright)

What’s up with the (shape) shifters and the were(s)wolves In Season 3 True Blood?

As  Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) briefly explained to Sookie when he confessed his true nature to her in Season 1, weres and shifters are the same…and different. We will learnmany  more details about these supernaturals by meeting several weres with significant storylines including werewolf Alcide Herveaux (Joe Manganiello), his ex-girlfriend were Debbie Pelt (Brit Morgan), and werewolves Coot (Grant Bowler) and Gus (Don Swayze).  Meanwhile Sam Merlotte meets his biological family and gets to know his little brother Tommy Mickens (Marshall Allman) who may or may not be a shapeshifter.*

Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) & Alcide Herveaux (Joe Manganiello) Photo credit: John P. Johnson (HBO)

EDIT/ Oh wait. Sam a pure shifter being the oldest child of a pure shifter couple. His little bro cannot be a shifter then. Only first born can. My bad.

*My bet? YES.

A little place called “Hotshot”: Readers of the Sookie Stackhouse books are familiar with this town… but HBO’s True Blood can be  quite different from Charlaine Harris’s addictive series. This is what Mr. Ball says about “Hotshot” (Is that not a great name?! Love it!):

“We definitely do go to Hotshot. … We (see the town of) Hotshot, we meet the people in Hotshot, we meet Crystal (Norris) and her father, Calvin..,” Crystal (Lindsay Pulsipher) becomes a major love interest for Sookie’s brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten). As for the leader of the Hotshot group, Calvin (Gregory Sporleder), “I think our take on Calvin is a little different than the one in the book.”

Oooh! See! Tantalizing. What does he mean?

Vampire politics will be part of the storyline this season with a closer look at the Vampire Rights Amendment to the Constitution and the challenges that it provokes. “We’re focusing more on the Vampire Rights Amendment to the Constitution and the struggle to get that passed and the heated feeling both pro and con.”

As Mr. Ball has told us previously, we’ll meet at least two very Big Bads in Season 3. One is the vampire king of Mississippi, Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare) who has series regular status.  Sharing his storyline will be his boyfriend of 700 years Talbot (Theo Alexander) who as Mr. Ball says, have a stable but not perfect relationship. Because the vamp king of Mississippi will have a front and center role so too will the setting of Mississippi.

“He’s definitely got his reasons for doing things, and I don’t think he thinks what he’s doing is wrong.” (Alan Ball in re: the vamp king of Ole Miss)

Another Big Bad in TB S3 is vampire Franklin Mott (James Frain) who wrestles control of Tara Thornton’s (Rutina Wesley) psyche in a  personal, terrifying and sexually-charged way. (Yikes!)  “I wouldn’t say it’s a happy relationship. I would say it’s definitely not a functional relationship, and I’ll leave it at that,” he said. “Franklin’s from the books. He’s played by the really good British actor, James Frain. Really, really fantastic.”

(I think Mott glamours Tara– that’s not a spoiler–just a guess. I literally cannot remember as it’s been years since I read the book and there’s no way for me to know Alan Ball’s spin on it anyway.)

As we know from prior interviews , fan fave Lafayette finds love through his storyline revolving around his mother, Ruby Jean Reynolds (Alfre Woodard).

Lafayette’s new love, Jesus (Kevin Alejandro), is “the first person who has made a serious pitch for Lafayette’s heart, which is quite a struggle, as you might imagine, ’cause Lafayette’s got a lot of walls around himself.” (Alan Ball)

What About Bill?!?

Alan Ball tells us that we find out right away who kidnapped Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), where he is being held and that he returns back to Bon Temps around the middle of the season. Also the entity(ies) that kidnapped him IS/ARE NOT the same one(s) from the book! What happens between Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) and Bill since we were left off with Sookie about to accept Bill’s marriage proposal before he was kidnapped at the end of season two?  Alan teases us by stating,

“I would say their love is very real. I can’t really say whether it is going to last forever, ’cause I don’t want to give anything away, but I do think their love is real. I think what they feel for each other is very, very profound.”

Comic-Con Super Heroes?

“I never thought the series would be as huge. I didn’t really have much experience in the genre world, you know what I mean? I came to it fresh and I thought, ‘I think this show will have an audience.’ But I’ve thought that about other things and it didn’t really work out that way. I just knew it was a show I would watch, I would be deeply entertained by. I think the amazing growth during the second season in terms of not only the number of viewers, but the passion on the part of the viewers, was really a surprise to me … a very pleasant one. When we went to Comic-Con last year, when we walked out on stage it was like we were rock stars. … Well, it was like the cast was rock stars and I was also there,” said Ball with a laugh.

There’s a “lot of life” left in True Blood beyond season three, according to Alan Ball. “I think this show could continue for years,” he said, beyond the fact that there are (about a half-dozen) more Sookie Stackhouse novels…  to plumb for source material and writer Charlaine Harris ” keeps publishing one every year.”

As for Ball himself, he can see himself working on True Blood for a long time to come.

“It continues to be fun, which for me is the most important thing. I would rather have fun on a show that nobody cares about than be miserable on a show that is the biggest hit in the world.”

SOURCE :  scifiwire.com

Note: SciFiWire seems to have gotten into the groove with True Blood these days which is perfectly awesome. They are a great site to bookmark and as you see, I’ve put them in my sidebar to remind me to visit often.

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True Blood – Minisode 1.05 – Bill

HBO — May 25, 2010 — Season 3 Ep. 0 — (Rated: TV-14) Bill negotiates a sweet deal on a ring with a lustful jewelry saleswoman in this “True Blood” minisode. For more information, log onto HBO.com.

Very cheeky, LOL.
This lady should just be wearing one of these:

or possibly this:

This scene must have occurred just prior to Bill taking Sookie out to the fancy restaurant where he had reserved the entire place so he could propose marriage to Sookie.
His timing on the proposal was so terrible, coming on the heels of the Maryann & Godric-Dallas debacles. Of course he meant well– Bill is such a romantic but with season 3 very soon upon us (June 13 HBO), what will become of Sookie and Bill?

Some small-ish spoilers:
Q: Give me a good tease about True Blood’s new season.
A: In Season 3 True Blood Zeljko Ivanek  returns as the Magister, and he’s cracking down on the illegal V trade in Louisiana. This is a problem for the Queen, since she’s tacitly allowing it, and for Eric and Pam, since they’re running it.

'Pam' - Kristen Bauer van Straten - True Blood (HBO) Season 3

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Lara Pulver has been cast in season 3 as Sookie's fairy godmother,"Claudine"

British actress Lara Pulver has joined the “True Blood” cast for Season 3  in the recurring role of Sookie’s fairy godmother, Claudine, a spokesperson for HBO confirmed.

Best known as “Isabella” in the BBC series “Robin Hood,” Pulver has also starred in several theatre productions in London’s West End.

“Claudine” is Sookie’s fairy godmother in The Southern Vampire Mysteries books, which “True Blood” is based on. If the TV series follows the books at all, we will probably learn more about the origin of Sookie’s mind reading powers and her family history as Claudine is related to Sookie.

Fairies can live to a very old age and they’re very attractive to humans and almost irresistible to vampires. Their superhuman strength, though, places them on a whole new playing field…

Credit: Zap2it.

This is so exciting! I am not a “book-ie” per se but I have read The Southern Vampire Mysteries and I loved the Sookie and Claudine dynamic. I’m really glad that Alan Ball has chosen to bring Claudine into the True Blood-verse and I’m assuming her twin brother, Claude will make an appearance, too. Claude was much more of a minor character but the potential humour to be mined if he does stop by…well, you’ll see.
Bringing “real” (as opposed to part) fairies into the True Blood world also ups the dramatic tension as vampires are hugely attracted to fairies. Fairies understandably, want nothing to do with them.
As you recall from the near-end of Season 2 (which I hope y’all are re-watching now) Sookie discovered an ability beyond simple telepathy while fending off Maryann. See pic below:

Could Sookie be a fairy in addition to being a telepath?
Would that explain the strong attraction that vampires seem to have for her?
I’m sure it is gonna be quite fun to find out what exactly was going on when Sookie touched Maryann.

Michael Steger cast as "Tony" True Blood Season 3

In other True Blood casting news, Michael Steger will guest star in season 3  as “Tony,” a prostitute who gets picked up by King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare) because of his resemblance to his current steady, Talbot (Theo Alexander).

Steger will appear in one episode of the drama’s upcoming third season and may return on a recurring basis in season 4.

Credit: EW.com

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The article excerpt below is from the lovely and talented foil to both to both Eric and Bill–so far. Lorena (Mariana Klaveno) is a True Blood character who intrigues–especially her history and now present, with Bill Compton.

Since Ms. Klaveno discusses a few juicy details I’ll include them. It’s really fun to hear her perspective.

Here she is as Lorena as she turns Bill:

Lorena and Bill 1935. : Lorena Releases Bill

Tru3Silva2 — August 03, 2009 — Very emotional scene, we see that Bill is Lorena’s weak point…as a woman who wants to keep a man who doesn’t want or love her

As his maker Lorena is the reason there is a Bill Compton so in a perverse way we should thank her for turning him.

Q: Please, please, some scoop on True Blood!
A: The HBO soap is adding yet another recurring hunk to its cast: Tony, a twentysomething male hustler whose drug addiction and resemblance to bloodsucker Talbot make him easy pickins for the vamp’s obsessed mate, Russell.

Source: Ausiello

True Blood Season 3 Casting Call: Episode 3.10 – “I Smell a Rat”

A casting call notice is out for several characters for True Blood Season 3 Episode 3.10, entitled “I Smell a Rat“, written by Kate Barnow and Elisabeth R. Finch. Filming is slated to begin May 7th. The episode 3.10 is directed by Michael Lehmann.

The requirement is for eleven characters, many with “attitudes” and some who speak fluent Spanish. Here’s the list.

(So funny that the characters have “attitudes.” I thought that was a requirement of all actors on True Blood! -Cyn)

Tony – Tall male (at least 6 feet), Caucasian and in his 20’s. Considered “tall, dark and sexy in a runaway junkie kind of way”, he’s a prostitute out for a fix. He’s picked up by Russell because he has some resemblance to Talbot. Tony has no idea what he’s in for. Role has 2 scenes, 6 lines, guest star with possibly strong recurrence in Season 4.

From Sam’s Past
Jon – A cocky and sneering, slick con man in his 20’s to 30’s. Seen in a flashback to 2003 from Sam’s past. Guest star role.

Charlene – Dressed in business attire, this hot 20-something female is someone from Sam’s past. Guest star role.

“Vampire Haters”

Jade - A female in her 30’s with big hair. Wanting all “fangers” to pay, she and husband, Vern, go to Bill’s house to commit a hate crime. But Jessica quickly has Jade at her mercy. Guest star role.

Vern - Male, 30’s, angry and ignorant goon. He and wife, Jade, go to Bill’s house to teach them “fangers” a lesson or two. Very quickly Vern discovers he’s in over his head. Guest star role.

“Media”
TV Anchor – Male news anchor reports that hate crimes against vampires are expected to rise. Role has 1 scene, 1 speech.

TV Newscaster – Reports on TV that Russell is still missing and information on his whereabouts is forthcoming. Role has 1 scene, 1 speech.

“The Law”
Vampire Lawyer – Hired to prepare a last will and testament for Eric. Role has 1 scene, 2 speeches, 2 lines.

Female Cop - As she approaches Russell, she shines a flashlight on him and tells him to turn around. Role has 1 scene, 2 lines.

“Spanish Speaking”
Mexican Husband and Wife – Young couple in their 20’s appear in a flashback to the 1930’s. Both actors must be fluent in Spanish and deliver a small chant in Spanish.

Mexican Woman – Aged between 65 and 70 and appears in a flashback to the 1930’s. Must be fluent in Spanish and deliver a chant in Spanish.

Season 3 of True Blood premieres on HBO June 13th.

SOURCE:  IMDb.com

Via: The True Blood Weekly Newsletter

Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) is missing… and  though it  has not yet been revealed which silver chain-wielding entity took Bill it wouldn’t be unfair to suspect that Bill’s maker, the pathologically smitten Lorena,  may have had a hand in his disappearance if not the hand.

As has been the case since HBO’s “True Blood” debuted, there is uncertainty about how the story will progress because it happened a particular way in Charlaine Harris’ “Sookie Stackhouse” novels.

Though clearly a suspect in the eyes of “Sookie Stackhouse” novel-readers as well as other True Blood fans, Mariana Klaveno is keeping mum about that particular plot point, saying only that the bad-to-the bone Lorena is indeed returning for the third season of “True Blood,” set to premiere June 13.

Even though Mariana wouldn’t say whether or not Lorena is involved in the kidnapping of Vampire Bill, she did confess that she’ll have plenty of screen time with Stephen Moyer this season.

“Yes, we do spend a good deal of time together in season three,” she told us. “I’m hoping that the fans will be a little bit surprised by it, because there will be some new dynamics in our relationship that are new and [have to deal] with that cliffhanger.”

But that doesn’t necessarily mean she’ll be responsible for Bill’s abduction, as Mariana informed us: “I think you’ll see some sides of Lorena that will surprise you. She’ll be in certain situations where you think she’ll do something, and she will not [do what you expect].”

Additionally, Mariana teased that there are some flashback sequences in store for the third season. Although she couldn’t get into the specifics of these scenes, she did elaborate on why flashbacks work so well within the framework of “True Blood” and for her character in particular.

“I love the flashbacks, because you get to step into that time period and play around a bit — I think the flashbacks help build that into the character.” …adding layers to the character… I don’t actually know what her history was in every single decade… so I’ve kind of had to do my own loose sketch of how I thought she spent some centuries.”

Whether Lorena and Bill come together through flashbacks or a present day conflict, Mariana promised one thing — there will be plenty of heat between them.

“I think you can definitely expect much more turbulence between them,” she said….I don’t know if they’ll ever be at peace with each other, but there might be some real heartfelt connection.”

Also in re: Season 3, Mariana said,

“I think we can expect more succubus costumes,” she laughed. “I cannot emphasize that enough.”

Read more at Hollywood Crush.

Below: Example of a “succubus” (in costume)

A succubus (in costume)

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Q: Do you have any more scoop on the upcoming season of True Blood? June 13 still seems so far away!
A: The Bon Temps rumor mill is rife with speculation that Lafayette’s love story will have a supernatural tinge to it. Translation: Boyfriend’s not just a nurse.

Source: Ausiello

I called it! Seriously. Have a gander at Lafayette’s Season 3 love interest “Jesus,”  Kevin Alejandro.

True Blood Season 3 'Jesus'

Is he not a gorgeous man? (That is rhetorical!)

But Kevin has an ethereal quality to his appearance, does he not?

The story thus far is that Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) was to meet this new love interest “Jesus,” a Latino orderly who is taking care of  Lafayette’s mother, Ruby Jean Reynolds (the fab Alfre Woodard) at her care facility. Alejandro is expected to appear in almost every episode of the HBO series’ upcoming third season.

Without going too far out on a limb I’m going to guess again that this not-entirely-human bf works the night shift.
Any ideas? Drop a comment below!

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Alexander Skarsgård

On April 25, 2010 – Alexander Skarsgård promoting the animated film “Metropia,” at the Tribeca Film Festival 2010 in New York. (Photos by Larry Busacca/Getty Images for Tribeca Film Festival)

This photo is very flattering of Alex–so cute. It is in candid shots like this that you see how truly gorgeous Alexander Skarsgård is. Not at all hard to believe that he won “most sexy looking man” in Sweden 5 years running.

True Blood's poster boys (minus Sam Trammell (!) in Details

Eventually, after his aborted attempt at acting school, he began finding his way into Swedish films and the occasional Hollywood movie, such as Zoolander, in which he had a small role as one of Ben Stiller’s male-model roommates. But Skarsgård’s real break came with the acclaimed 2008 HBO miniseries Generation Kill, in which he played Sergeant Brad “Iceman” Colbert. Just before leaving for Africa to shoot that project, he heard the network was developing True Blood.

“I thought, ‘Oh, vampires—I don’t know,’” he admits. “But then they said Alan Ball was behind it, and I was a huge fan of Six Feet Under and American Beauty. I auditioned on tape from my hotel room in Mozambique.”

The audition was actually for the part of Bill Compton, which went to Stephen Moyer. “Alex wasn’t quite right for Bill,” recalls Ball, “but I remember that he was giant and also beautiful. So when it came time to cast Eric, I thought of him. He’s got the most amazing eyes. Because of their color—they’re an amazing greenish blue—he’s able to do this thing with them where he loses focus but remains totally focused.”

It’s a technique Skarsgård picked up from assiduously studying Bela Lugosi’s Dracula,…Nosferatu and even The Lost Boys. But that look…he gives Eric—is also something he learned from hours spent watching nature documentaries.

“It’s, like, you see this big male lion, and he’s chilling in the sun, and he sits up and he looks at something, and you don’t know if he’s going to pounce or if he’s just going to go back to sleep,” Skarsgård says, his steely gaze unwavering, looking like he could easily break into a yawn. “You never know if he’s bored or he’s frustrated or what.”

Read more at: Details

‘Access Hollywood’ – Behind the scenes with Details photoshoot

Photo shoot Videos:

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Woot! Another Charliane Harris character creation will become a part–perhaps a relatively big part of the True Blood universe!

The part of Holly, which if you’ve kept up with Ms. Harris’s  Sookie Stackhouse series, could be a rather important one. We can’t be sure that Alan Ball will have his Holly play exactly as the book  Holly but he’s got a good jumping off point in that the Holly charcter gets nicely fleshed out in the book(s).

My only request is that actress Lauren Bowles not be a bottle-blond like Sookie. She should go any other colour. If the story plays out as in the books it will become apparent why.

Lauren Bowles (11/09) "Holly" in True Blood Season 3 Photo credit: IMDb

Photo credit: IMDb

Lauren Bowles has landed a key new role on HBO’s “True Blood.”

Bowles will recur in five episodes of the vampire drama’s upcoming third season, with an option to continue as a regular on Season 4.

She will play Holly, a thirtysomething mother of two who applies for a job at Merlotte’s and creeps out Arlene (Carrie Preston) with her oddly prescient observations.

Holly is a major character in the Southern Vampire Mysteries books “True Blood” is based on, in which Holly is a practicing Wiccan and also hooks up with Hoyt, a character played on the show by Jim Parrack.

Bowles, whose recent TV gigs include guest spots on ABC’s “Private Practice” and CBS’ Cold Case,” is repped by Main Title and Progressive Artists.

Source: Hollywood Reporter

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