Where we left off: Sookie was shocked to hear Billâs unexpected marriage proposal and tearfully ran off to the restroom. When she returned, Bill had been kidnapped.
Where we find her: âIt may be 35 seconds later, so sheâs panicked and in a state of shock,â said Paquin. âItâs been a pretty intense half-hour of her life. She is desperately trying to figure out where he went and who has him.â Will her issues about marrying Bill carry over to Season 3? âShe has issues sheâs concerned about⊠and she quickly gets new issues,â teased Paquin.
Is there still a chance of happiness between Bill and Sookie? âBillâs been pretty consistently well-motivated in what heâs done,â Paquin said. âIt hasnât always worked out well, but he always tries to protect her. So, that would be a very positive stroke in the Bill column. But things get revealed that contest that.â
Meanwhile, executive producer Alan Ball said the truth about Sookieâs powers and her heritage will come out âbefore the end of the season.â
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Where we left off: Eric tricked Sookie into drinking his blood in Dallas and was revealed to be working the vampire blood-trade for Queen Sophie-Anne (Evan Rachel Wood).
Where we find him: Back at Fangtasia with Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten), but heâs also still intoxicated by Sookieâas well as an element of his past. âThe connection with Sookie is obviously strong and weâll definitely see more of that,â said SkarsgĂ„rd. âSomething very important happened a thousand years ago, and itâs something that Eric has carried in his heart for a thousand years. Now, suddenly, he gets an opportunity to let go of that.â
Does it have anything to do with Ericâs dead maker Godric (Allan Hyde)? âYouâre going to see Godric,â said SkarsgĂ„rd. âThey were a tag team for almost a millennia.â Can Ball tell us any more? âWe will see Godric twice,â said Ball. âFlashbacks are certainly one way we can see him but who knows what can happen.â
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Where we left off: Bill proposed to Sookie⊠before a sterling silver chain was slipped around his throat by parties unknown.
Where we find him: The
True Blood crew is keeping mum about just who grabbed Bill and why. âHe doesnât know why heâs been taken,â said Moyer. âIn his mind, heâs thinking, âIs this something to do with Eric? Is this something to do with Lorena? Is this something to do with the queen?â Heâll be playing over all of the culprits in his mind, but the truth is the audience is going to find out at exactly the same time that he does.â
âBill has to do things that he would never think of doing, but has to do in order to protect Sookie,â said Moyer about his arc this season. âUltimately, he has to let go of his humanity⊠It may mean that he may never see her again, but he will offer his life up to protect her.â
HBO/John P. Johnson
Season 3 introduces the 2,800-year-old King of Mississippi, Russell Edgington (OâHare) and his royal consort Talbot (Theo Alexander). So how does Russell stack up next to the pantheon of immortal bloodsuckers weâve seen so far? âHe is planning to take over the world,â said OâHare. âHe goes about trying to acquire the things he needs to make that plan happen. Along the way, he is surprised and painful things happen.â
âA lot of what you see is not actually Russell, itâs Talbot,â OâHare said. âRussell on his own would be more of a brutal warrior. But Talbot civilizes him. We have this running kind of joke on the show that anyone who ends up in [his] mansion ends up dressed by Talbot. As characters come in, their wardrobe changes, and itâs because Talbotâs gone, âNo, no, no, I think you need to be in blue. I see you in blue.ââ
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Where we left off: Sam was nearly killed by the vengeful maenad Maryann (Michelle Forbes), but thanks to some shifter-assisted subterfugeâand a sip of Billâs bloodâSam was able to slay the ancient creature.
Where we find him: Sam has headed off in search of his birth family, who put him up for adoption as a baby, in an effort to track down the mysterious Mickens clan. Are they a family of shape-shifters like him? And just what will Sam encounter when he meets them? âI donât know exactly what he expected,â said Ball. âI can tell you this: Theyâre not a model family. Once he meets them and finds out exactly what theyâre capable of, I think he may question his original choice. Be careful what you look for.â
HBO/John P. Johnson
Where we left off: Tara had fallen for Eggs (Mehcad Brooks) in a bad way and accepted his dark pastâand then he got shot to death by Jason Stackhouse and Tara was crying over Eggsâ body.
Where we find her: Tara will be drawn even deeper into the darkness this season and the fact that it was Sookie who told Eggs to confess to the police wonât go over well. â[Sookie] is going to have to have a really unpleasant conversation with her already fragile and distraught friend who has already been through a lot,â said Paquin. âYouâll see how well that goes.â
Still, the bond between the two best friends wonât be diminishing any time soon. âWhen you start losing people near to you like Sookie has, you really hold on to the people you do have,â said Paquin. âFor better or worse, Tara is incredibly important to her.â
HBO/John P. Johnson
Where we left off: Lafayette was terrorized by Eric into returning to his vampire blood-dealing ways⊠and then, attempting to free his cousin Tara, also fell under Maryannâs frenzy.
Where we find him: Lafayette is slated to get a love interest this season (Kevin Alejandroâs Jesus Velasquez) and weâll be meeting his mother Ruby Jean (Alfre Woodard), who might just be
True Bloodâs best cautionary tale.
Plus, Eric might change his approach with Lafayette, who just so happens to be his very best V dealer. âEricâs job that he was given by his queen is basically to push the V,â said SkarsgĂ„rd. âLafayette is perfect for that. He knows that Lafayette wonât try to f--- with him and he has great connections.â So why might Eric change his tune with Lafayette now? âEric is a smart guy,â teased SkarsgĂ„rd. âHeâs both the stick and the carrot.â
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Where we left off: Post-Fellowship of the Sun, Jason formed an odd couple partnership with boozy local cop Andy Bellefleur (Chris Bauer) and inadvertently killed Eggs when he thought he was going to hurt Andy.
Where we find him: Directionless once again, Jason is going to ponder his future and, like it or not, his actions at the end of Season 2 bind him together with Andy in a conspiracy of silence. Eggsâ murder will have some pretty serious repercussions for everyone.
âItâs definitely going to affect all those people pretty deeply and itâs certainly not something that we just sweep under the carpet,â said Ball. âI think Tara is pretty devastated. I think Andy and Jason have to deal with the fact that they tampered with evidence and they covered up a crime.â
Meanwhile, whoâs that mysterious woman lurking about?
HBO/John P. Johnson
Where we left off: Baby vamp Jessica discovered that she would eternally be a virgin as she was turned into a vampire before she had sex as a mortal. Despite the support of boyfriend Hoyt (Jim Parrack), Jessica turned to a stranger⊠for dinner.
Where we find her: Paying the price for her inescapable hunger⊠and forging a friendship with an older and wiser vampire. Still, one canât help but hope for any chance that Bon Tempsâ resident Romeo and Juliet couple can heal their fractured relationship.
âThe last time we saw Jessica she was savagely attacking a guy,â said Ball. âJessica really has only been a vampire for about a month and I think sheâs still coming to terms with what that means and what sheâs capable of⊠She probably is going to question whether she is worthy of Hoyt. Itâs not an easy road for them this season.â
HBO/John P. Johnson
Season 3 introduces a whole other creature to
True Bloodâs mythology with the arrival of the werewolves and a potential new love interest for Sookie in the form of Alcide (Joe Manganiello) and his psychotic ex-girlfriend Debbie Pelt (Brit Morgan). âWe have two different packs in the show,â said Ball. âOne is more of a crazy biker, substance-abusing group and the other one is more likely to play by the rules and pass as normal.â
Thereâs also bad blood between the wolves and Eric. âThereâs a deep hatred there,â said SkarsgĂ„rd. âYouâll find out after a while in Season 3. At the beginning you just think he finds them disgusting but itâs deeper than that.â
Meanwhile, Ball says that the wolves arenât the only weres appearing this season.
âThere are other were-creatures besides wolves and we will meet them this year,â said Ball cryptically. âOne of our main characters will become romantically involved with one, unbeknownst to him or her.â
HBO/John P. Johnson
Where we left off: Amid frequent costume changes, the stylish Pam was Ericâs right-hand woman at Fangtasia, even though they argued like cats and dogs.
Where we find her: Still working for her maker at Fangtasia, but now Kristin Bauer van Straten has been promoted to series regular. â[Pam] was such an important part of the world and it is definitely due to the work that Kristin was doing,â said Ball. âIt seemed like a really organic thing.â
âThe Eric and Pam relationship grows this season and you get to know them better as a couple,â said SkarsgĂ„rd. âItâs been great to take that to a different level. Heâs always kind of stern and hard and like, 'Get out of my way, Pam.â But youâll see a different side this season as well. Thereâs a very, very strong connection between the two of them, with a strong loyalty and lots of affection.â
HBO/John P. Johnson
Where we left off: Sophie-Anne was supplying the vampire blood that Eric is forcing Lafayette to sell. She ordered that Billâthe only one aware of the connectionâbe taken by force. But was she behind his disappearance?
Where we find her: The audience will learn why sheâs behind the V-trade. âSheâs very unreliable, unpredictable, and a little crazy,â said SkarsgĂ„rd of the Queen of Louisiana. âEric wants to be a loyal subject and do his duty. But itâs complicated when your boss is losing it.â
So just how does Queen Sophie-Anne fit into the vampire hierarchy? Is she operating at cross-purposes to the neighboring king? âSophie-Anne has her agenda and I have mine,â said Denis OâHare. âThere are alliances to be made, but there are times those alliances will no longer be fruitful and so theyâre put to an end.â
âWe will discover a deeper level of the vampire bureaucracy/power structure,â teased Ball.
