Big changes are coming to Bon Temps as Season 4 of HBO’s pulpy drama “True Blood” premieres on Sunday, and with Sookie Stackhouse newly single, she’s got some long-awaited lovin’ in store.
“There will be some Sookie on Eric action,” series creator and writer Alan Ball confirmed to Access Hollywood at Tuesday night’s premiere at the Cinerama Dome in Los Angeles, referring to Anna Paquin and Alexander Skarsgard’s characters. “That’s all I can say. Fans of the books will know what I’m talking about. We’ve been very faithful to that part of the books.”
While the series uses author Charlaine Harris’ “Sookie Stackhouse” novels as a template, under the direction of Ball, it also veers off into uncharted territory, keeping around characters who met their end in the books, introducing new ones, and crafting new storylines and the upcoming season will have a new, dark twist.
“There’s some sinister stuff, there’s some fun stuff, there’s some tragic stuff. I don’t know if it’s the darkest season… It’s definitely — it’s pretty dark, it’s a dark season, but it’s also highly entertaining,” Ball said.
Ball also said the show is reaching out to the male viewers, amping up the female quota for Season 4.
“We have a lot of hot guys on the show, we have a lot of hot women too, but this year, I think we were sort of aware, ‘Let’s give a little something to the guys too,’ so we have some very hot new women on the show,” he said.
What else is in store for the main characters? The stars spoke to Access:
Anna Paquin on Sookie beginning her life as a single woman: “I think that the more she’s been exposed to the wild world of vampires and werewolves, shifters and now witches, the more she grows and I think she’s learned a lot in a very short amount of time and she’s definitely more independent this season.”
Alexander Skarsgard on his character, vampire sheriff Eric Northman, losing his memory: “He’s suddenly very vulnerable and you haven’t seen Eric like that before… It’s just been a lot of fun playing that, because the discovery for Eric — for him to discover who he really is and what he’s done, all the horrific things he done over the last 1,000 years, for someone who’s that innocent and naïve, it’s pretty brutal.”
Stephen Moyer on Bill Compton’s life after his Sookie breakup: “He’s lost her and he’s become a completely different person. He’s had to take on something he didn’t necessarily want and he’s also trying to iron out all those errors that [Season 3 vampire king] Russell Edgington made the year before.”
Nelsan Ellis on Lafayette discovering he’s more than just a short order cook: “You’re gonna see some different things go on with Lafayette this season. It’ll be interesting to see what the fans think of it because he won’t be quite himself… He’s gonna be very serious this season. So we won’t see much of the funny Lafayette this season… I’ve got a feeling he has something going on with the central issues… and we’ll see quite what that is. I will say he puts some main people in quite a bind.”
Joe Manganiello on the troubles coming for Alcide: “He doesn’t get along with shape shifters, there’s gonna be some conflict with the shape shifters…. And you’re going to see him continue to wrestle with that beast inside of him. There were times this season where I’ve gotta say I felt like I was a different character on a different show.”
Ryan Kwanten on Jason Stackhouse’s power grab and the peril’s his character will face: “One would think that [it] would be a scary thing to give Jason Stackhouse any ounce of power, but it’s the first time where a young boy is sort of made to man up and the change comes from him, which I think is the most powerful point of change… Jason is known for being poked, prodded and punched, but this season really takes it to a new level. He, I think, more so than any other character this season, goes through, and may be lucky to even survive this season.”
“True Blood” Season 4 premieres at 9 PM this Sunday on HBO.
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