Summary
True Bloodstar Joe Manganiello reflects on the impressive cast of the popular series.Manganiello played the werewolf Alcide Herveaux in the HBO seriesadapted from Charlaine Harris’The Southern Vampire Mysteriesnovels, which contained social commentary intertwined with its supernatural story. DuringTrue Blood’s numerous seasons, the star-studded cast also included Anna Paquin as telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse, Stephen Moyer as the vampire Bill Compton, and Alexander Skarsgård as the vampire Eric Northman.
While speaking on Penn Badgley’s podcastPodcrushed,Manganiello discussed how"overqualified"True Blood’s cast wasfor the often campy series. He detailed the extensive professional theater arts training and experiences that many of the cast members had, along with many of them being from countries all around the world. This created a chemistry and engagement with the material that madeTrue Blooda unique series behind the scenes. Check out Manganiello’s comments below:
What’s funny aboutTrue Bloodwas, you know, we were all really, really overqualified. Well, I should say the material was deceptively tricky because it was kind of written in like Tennessee Williams. It was very operatic at times.
But, you know, but it’s all theater kids. It’s like people with Tonys and Oscars and, you know, Mike McMillan and I were the Carnegie Mellon kids, then there was Rutina [Wesley] and Nelsan [Ellis] were the Juilliard kids, then Chris Bauer was the Yalie, then you get West End of London, then you get this international cast. You got [Alexander] Skarsgård from Sweden. You had, [Stephen] Moyer from England. And Anna [Paquin], obviously, from New Zealand by way of Canada. It was really, really intelligent, trained actors.
What Has The True Blood Cast Done Since The Series Ended?
They’ve Appeared In Projects FromMagic Mike XXLToBig Little Lies.
TheTrue Bloodcast helped the show become a phenomenon with their rich talents and continue to enhance other films and television series.
SinceTrue Bloodended in 2014, many of the cast members have gone on to appear in various film and television projects.Manganiello reprised hisMagic Mikeroleas Big Dick Richie inMagic Mike XXLand inMagic Mike’s Last Dance, along with voicing a bounty hunter in two episodes of the animated seriesStar Wars Resistance, and playing himself in episodes ofThe Big Bang TheoryandMythic Quest. He also played Slade Wilson/Deathstroke inJustice LeagueandZack Snyder’s Justice League, which teased him playing a major role before the DC Universe was revamped.
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Paquin voiced the Tyrannosaurus rex Ramsey in Pixar’s 2015 filmThe Good Dinosaur.InMartin Scorsese’s Academy Award-nominated 2019 filmThe Irishman,she played Peggy Sheeran, the daughter of Robert De Niro’s character Frank Sheeran.Paquin teamed up with her formerTrue Bloodco-star Moyerfor the recent drama filmA Bit of Light, which Moyer directed and produced, and Paquin starred in and served as a producer.
One of Moyer’s main projects sinceTrue Bloodwas as Reed Strucker in Fox’sThe Giftedseries connected toX-Men, with Reed as the father of two twins revealed to be mutants in a world where mutants are hunted and feared.As for Skarsgård, he played Perry Wright in HBO’s critically acclaimed seriesBig Little Liesand Lukas Matsson in seasons 3 and 4 ofSuccession, along with starring inGodzilla vs. KongandThe Northman.TheTrue Bloodcasthelped the show become a phenomenon with their rich talents and continue to enhance other films and television series.
true blood
Cast
True Blood is a horror/fantasy drama series created by Alan Ball and starring Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, and Alexander Skarsgård. The series follows the life of Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress with telepathic powers that lives in a fictional town in Louisiana. In this town, a new synthetic “drug” has allowed vampires to escape their coffins and roam amongst the living.
