Going from 1.4 million in its first airing to 1.8 million in the second episode, “True Blood” will be renewed for a second season. The new HBO TV series about vampires living with human being, will get its second season production in 2009 in Los Angeles and its air date in summer that year.
President of Programming Group and West Coast Operations, Michael Lombardo said, “We are absolutely thrilled that the critics and our viewers have embraced TRUE BLOOD.” He added a complimentary to the series’ creator, saying “Alan Ball has done it again made an addictive series that is unlike any other.”
“True Blood”, starring Anna Paquin and Stephen Moyer, is based on the book by author Charlaine Harris called “Southern Vampire Mysteries”. Lombardo continued, “I am thrilled to be able to continue to work with such a talented group of writers, cast and crew to explore the characters and world created by Charlaine Harris in her novels. It really is a joy to go to work every day and I couldn’t be happier to be back home at HBO.”
The production house announced that production will take place in Los Angeles next year with premiere target in summer.
Tara Thornton – Rutina Wesley. Though she won’t win any congeniality awards, Tara has been Sookies’s loyal best friends since childhood. She’s built up a though exterior taking care of her alcoholic mother at home, but the stress can make her quick to anger, and hard to emply. She may have found her perfect job, after talking her way into a bartending job at Merlotte’s where she can turn her temper to keep unryly customers in line. Still, she has a soft spot in her heart for Sookie and her brother Jason.
Sam Trammell as Sam Merlotte Photo Credit: HBO / John P. Johnson
Sam Merlotte, the guy with the puppydog eyes. Everyone has met someone like him, he seems too good to be true. Loyal, caring, affectionate, warm, protective, hard worker, shows up in the morning all bright eyed and bushy tailed. You’ve always thought one day you’d start dating but then a new guy shows up and woah.. the fangs come out.
Not to turn Sam’s tail tale into a shaggy dog story but well, that’s just what it is. It’s clear from the first episode that there’s some odd relationship between Sam and that cute little doggie that follows Sookie around, hiding in the bushes and licking her face eagerly after she confronts the V stealing Ratrays. Bill and Sam recognize each other from the first moment but it takes us much longer to stop barking up the wrong tree and realize that Sam sometimes IS that cute little dog.
Sadly, Sam’s story echoes that of many dogs, left behind by his people at a young age, Sam has to make his own way in the world. While we still don’t know what his full story is, it’s clear he’s made a bundle of money along the way because he owns a significant amount of real estate in Bon Temps especially the local tavern where much of the story occurs, Merlotte’s. Obviously panting after Sookie, Sam has kept his feelings mostly to himself until Sookie shows interest in another man, Vampire Bill. After repeated attempts court Sookie, Sam’s canine side comes out when he turns to Sookie’s best friend Tara for a little play time. You just know Sam’s going to end up in the doghouse for this choice.
At the end of season 1 we’re left with a lot of questions about Sam and Sam is left howling out in the cold rejected by both Tara and Sookie despite his heroic efforts to save both Sookie and Bill from the mysterious serial killer in the cemetary and threatened by the mysterious and sometimes naked MaryAnn. One of the last scenes is of Sam stuffing a valise full of cash. Will he make yet another shape shift and rabbit out of Bon Temps? Will he stop dogging Sookie about being with Bill? Is he just going to buy the biggest dog bone in the world to bring in tourist traffic to Merlotte’s? Will we ever get to see him hanging his head out the car window? Only time, and Alan Ball’s twisted mind, will tell.
Tara’s cousin and close friend of Sookie’s.Lafayette works as a short order cook at Merlottes, on the road crew with Jason and an “entrepreneur” in the world of drugs, prostitution and internet porn.He seems to enjoy flaunting his flamboyant lifestyle in the faces of those who may disapprove, and has no problem backing it up.
Adele “Gran” Stackhouse – (Lois Smith)Sookie and Jason’s Grandmother who raised them after their parents’ death.A proud member of The Descendants of the Glorious Dead (DGD) and fascinated with Vampires, their knowledge and historical experiences.She is brutally murdered, allegedly, because of her support of Vampires. Gran is energetic and a Bon Temps staple. Sookie and her brother Jason lived with their grandmother after their parents’ sudden death. Sookie still lives with her grandmother in her house while Jason moved out a few years ago to take over their parents’ house.
Ryan Kwanten as Jason Stackhouse. Photo Credit: HBO / John P. Johnson
Jason Stackhouse is reminiscent of two Jessicas. The newly made, out of control, ‘daughter’ of Vampire Bill and yes.. Jessica Rabbit. Jason isn’t bad, he’s just drawn written that way.
The 28 year old, buff, handsome older brother of Sookie Stackhouse became the man of the house at the tender age of 10 when both his parents died in a flood. The fact that he wasn’t old enough to baby sit his baby sister, necessitating his parents taking them to their Gran’s house and thus being on the bridge when the flood went through, has haunted him all his life. Maybe the knowledge that life can be so fleeting left it’s shoe-print on his behind, but he’s sure a ‘go for it’ kinda guy. Women, drugs, drinking … if it might feel good, Jason will try it. Twice. If there are four sane choices on what to do in any situation, and one crazy dumb-arsed embarrassing thing to do.. well Jason is consistent.
You can’t quite manage to hate him though. Sure he’s the biggest horn-dog in Bon Temps but he loves and respects his Gran. Yeah he’s constantly stepping in poop and never comes up smelling like a rose but he doesn’t let it get him down for long. True, he’s ‘dumb as a box of hair’ as his on-again off-again girlfriend Dawn tells him. And even when he finally figures out that Tara has real respect for him (because he protected her from her drunken, abusive mother at the age of 12) he can’t control himself for two hours without getting it on in an alley with slutty Randy Sue. It’s just impossible to tell which side of that thin line between courage and stupidity Jason’s going to be on at any moment. Is going to a vamp bar looking for V courageous or just stupid? Despite my gut screaming out ‘stupid!’, it works out for him and he gets a girl too.
And just when you think you could hate Jason, when you’re sick of seeing him butt nekid drifting in some hippy dippy hallucinogenic haze, when you wince when you see him opening his mouth, when you’re tired of his drug addled, testosterone driven, womanizing ways.. when he’s just done the most offensive, stupid thing yet by kidnapping the gentlest vampire ever written… you can’t, because of Eddie. Because Jason finally opens up and tells Eddie of his self-hatred and anguish. Because Jason behaves compassionately towards Eddie even while yelling at him to shut up, getting over his disgust of all things vampire and begins to truely care for Eddie. Because when Jason Stackhouse finally mans up and demands that Eddie be released his world ripped assunder again by his murderous psychopathic true love, Amy who is in turn murdered while they are together in bed doing the perpetual ‘one last hit of V’. Arrested for Amy’s murder, likely to be hunted by vengeful vampires, rebuffed by Tara and Sookie, still mourning his recently murdered Gran who was the last adult figure in his life. Really, at some point you just gotta feel this guy’s pain.
At the end of season two, True Blood left us with a lot of cliff hangers but Jason’s cliff hanger was the most terrifying since we wondered “Who shot JR?”. Was he kidnapped by Werewolves? Murdered by a giant pig? Turned into a zombie? Tortured by vampires? Did he grow hair on his tongue? Attempt suicide? Nope, none of the above. At the end of season two, Jason Stackhouse has an idea, and you just know that’s not going to go well.
Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton. Photo Credit: HBO / Jaimie Trueblood
Bill Compton is a 173 year old Vampire who originates from Bon Temp.Before he was turned at 30, he fought for the Confederate Army during the Civil War.Some 140 years later, he returns to his home town when he learns of his last remaining family members passing, to reclaim his family home and any humanity left within him.
Alexander Skarsgard as Eric Northman Photo Credit: HBO / Prashant Gupta
Eric Northman is a character from the The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series by author Charlaine Harris. In True Blood, an HBO series based on the books, this character is played by Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård.
The Southern Vampire Mysteries’ main character, telepath waitress Sookie Stackhouse, meets Eric in Dead Until Dark the first novel in the series. He appears in all the subsequent novels and saves Sookie’s life on more than one occasion. He also has a brief romance with her in Dead to the World, the fourth book.
Little is known about Eric, except that he is the oldest and most powerful vampire in Area 5, the territory that includes the small town in Northern Louisiana where Sookie lives. The novels hint that he was probably a Viking in his human life. Eric owns a vampire bar called Fangtasia that serves as his headquarters. He runs the bar with the help of his vampire offspring Pam and a few others.
Eric uses the pseudonym “Leif” in various instances throughout the novels.
Eric is also the Sheriff of Area 5 and the boss of Bill Compton, Sookie’s vampire boyfriend from the first novel. Eric is not sure for his feeling for Sookie.
Sookie and Eric have a blood bond, a bond formed when a human and vampire share blood at least three times (the human has the vampire’s blood as well as the vampire having the human’s). It allows both to know what the other is feeling, and to inadvertently feel calmer, safer, and more relaxed when together.
Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse. (Photo Credit: HBO / John P. Johnson)
Sookie Stackhouse was the youngest of two children. Sookie’s mind-reading ability was apparent from birth, though most people refused to acknowledge that she was able to literally read minds. Her psychic powers manifested as a child, and it is indicated in the books that her parents thought she may have been subject to a mental illness, and was treated as such. However, Sookie does tell of one point when her father asked her to “listen” in on a business meeting to discern the true intentions of another person. She told her father the man was intending to take his money and run. Her parents died when she was 7 years old, leaving her and her older brother Jason to be raised by her grandmother.
Jason has no problems getting a date, despite his personality flaws. He was intentionally bitten by a werepanther for the purpose to turning him into one so that a he would not be preferred over his captor. He has since married a werepanther named Crystal from a community called “Hotshot”. They are currently expecting a baby.
She was also sexually molested as a child by her great uncle. Her parents never believed her accusations against him, but, after their death, Sookie’s grandmother realized his threat to Sookie and prevented further contact between him and Sookie. It is implied that he molested her cousin Hadley more extensively than her.
Sookie had not received secondary education after high school, since she knew that college would have been a drain for her, both physically and financially. To support herself, Sookie is employed at Merlottes, owned by local shifter, Sam Merlotte. Sam had been her a longtime friend of Sookies and a romantic interest, which Sookie feared to pursue since she believed that would lead to problems between them.
One night, when vampire Bill Compton walked into the bar, her life had been changed forever. She was launched into a world which was both thrilling and terrifying, given that her mind reading ability was seen as something desirable by the vampire community. She had frequently been employed my numerous vampires, including Eric Northman, sheriff of Vampire area 5. Eric is an ancient vampire who was a Viking when he was living, hence the name Northman.
Sookie has a number of faithful friends, including but not limited to a witch roommate, Amelia, her transformed into a cat lover named Bob, Sam her boss, Pam the vampire and a number of other people. She has come to have most of these friends only since meeting Bill, which is the origination of the series.
The books give the impression that her early years were generally miserable as she coped with her developing powers, her parents deaths and her uncle’s abuse
True Blood season 1 episode previews and recaps 1 through 12 have been posted. Check out the other Video cateories for Behind the Scenes, Fan Video Creations, The Blood Copy Report, Video Interviews, Show Clips and Trailers and Ads.
Jace Everett’s song Bad Things is featured on HBO Series True Blood Season 1. This theme goes really well with the series and has been because very popular on myspace pages and True Blood fan sites since the series premiered Septemeber 7, 2008.
The entire album or song can be downloaded at Amazon or iTunes.
TV Guide had the chance to interview Stephen Moyer who plays the sexy vampire Bill Compton on HBO’s new hit show “True Blood”. Stephen takes the time to discusses his previous works before “True Blood” and his experiences growing up in England. Stephen reveals the wonderful opportunity he has been given to play this role and the fantastic dynamics that occur with everyone on the set. He does divulge some personal information about himself that allows his fans to get some insight on the man. To read the full interview follow the link.
Presenting their latest novel adaptation for television series, HBO rolled down a blood red carpet in front of The Cinerama Dome in Hollywood to celebrate the L.A. premiere of “True Blood”. The special first screening event was held on Wednesday, September 4, three days before the series will be aired for the first time on September 7.
The evening celebration saw mostly the stars of the series that include Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgard, Ryan Kwanten, Jim Parrack, Sam Trammell and Rutina Wesley. Aside from the stars, series creator Alan Ball and Southern Vampire Mysteries books author Charlaine Harris were also in attendance.
Produced by HBO in association with Your Face Goes Here Entertainment, “True Blood” tells the story where humans and vampires live a co-existing life in a small Louisiana town after Japanese-made synthetic blood, “TruBlood”, are available for purchase. The series centers its plot on a telepathic waitress named Sookie Stackhouse who falls in love with one of the vampires.
Born August 25, 1976, in Stockholm, Swedan, Alexander joins the cast of True Blood as Eric Northman, the owner of the vampire bar in Shreveport called Fangtasia. He is the son of Swedish actor Stellan Skarsgård, who’s long list of film credits include Mamma Mia, Demons and Angels, and Pirates of the Caribbean.
Skarsgård has acted in several Swedish TV series and movies. He has recently garnered glowing reviews for his role as Sgt. Brad ‘Iceman’ Colbert in HBO’s mini-series Generation Kill.
Ryan Kwanten as Jason Stackhouse. Photo Credit: HBO / John P. Johnson
Ryan Kwanten as Sookie’s brother Jason Stackhouse. Ryan Kwanten (born 28 November 1976) is an Australian actor.
Nurturing an impressive body of work that encompasses film and television, Ryan Kwanten has positioned himself as one of Hollywood’s most promising talents as his career continues to evolve with exciting and challenging projects.
This fall, Ryan can be seen starring alongside Academy Award winner Anna Paquin in the highly anticipated new HBO series “True Blood,” from creator Alan Ball (Six Feet Under). Based on the book series “Southern Vampire” by Charlaine Harris, the show follows the world of vampires, who are able to co-exist with humans by drinking a Japanese-manufactured synthetic blood. Ryan’s additional television credits include the role of Jay Robertson in the critically acclaimed Warner Bros. series “Summerland,” which ran for two seasons. He was also a lead in the ESPN original movie “The Junction Boys.”
Segueing effortlessly between the big and small screen, Ryan recently finished working on the Luke Kasdan feature film “Don’t Fade Away” opposite Mischa Barton. His other feature film credits include “Flicka”, a Twentieth Century Fox film in which he starred opposite Tim McGraw, Maria Bello and Alison Lohman, the title role in “American Brown,” which received the Audience Award for Best Film at the Montreal Film Festival, “Liquid Bridge,” nominated for Best Picture at the Australian Film Festival and the newly released “Dead Silence” directed by James Wan (writer/director of Saw).
A native of Australia, Ryan began his acting career while attending Sydney University, where he earned a degree in business. He starred in numerous feature films and television shows and gained international notoriety when he joined the cast of the long-running popular Australian series “Home and Away.” A published writer, Ryan is currently working on a new book.
An accomplished athlete, Ryan qualified for the world Biathlon in Sweden in 2006 and Italy 2007 after winning the LA Biathlon series two years running. He is a qualified yoga instructor and spends his free time bike riding, surfing and has a passion for completing triathlons.
