HBO’s True Blood Creator Alan Ball and Director Michael Lehmann Discuss the Epic Episode and Season 6
After seeing the thrilling, question-raising, True Blood Season 5 finale, I knew I wasn’t the only one to be sad when Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare) met his unfortunate end at Eric Northman‘s (Alex Skarsgård) hands! True Blood creator Alan Ball gushes that writing the scene was “emotional” for himself as well:
“I get really upset when I write scenes where characters that I love die.”
Going on to express how hard it was to write, complimenting the spectacular portrayal by actor Denis O’Hare, he also adds,
“…but it is True Blood, and he’s done some pretty heinous things.”
Ball knew Eric would have to be the one to do it since Russell had “destroyed Eric’s life” by originally killing his human family. He says:
“It’s blood vengeance. It’s primal, it’s mythic, and all of those things that can do well on a show like True Blood.”
Director Michael Lehmann also notes:
“It’s really fun and interesting that Sookie’s fear is what draws Eric there. That’s kind of a great moment, and that Eric comes in and completely surprises Russell in his moment of glory.”
With Season 6 in the future, Ball hints that questions raised in Season 5 will be addressed, including more information about Warlow and how Jason will deal with it.
As for the big final moment with Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and the blood in the Season 5 finale, Ball explains it as:
“a gigantic challenge for Sookie, because for all intents and purposes, she sees him die and then be reborn as something alien and terrifying.”
Lehmann points out that “it’s pretty clear where Eric is emotionally and where he stands.” However, he wonders most about Bill, since “he went so dark at the end of this episode.
Stay tuned for True Blood Season 6 to find out!
Check out HBO’s Inside the Episode here:
Internet blog, Inside True Blood, posted some possible teasers for the Season 5 finale of the HBO series. On June 10, 2012, the day the first episode of Season 5 aired, the cast and crew of True Blood were preparing to film the season finale. Blogger Gianna Sobel posted about the work being done.
