(TV Guide)

~M.

(E!) Kelly in New Madrid, Mo.: I can’t wait for more True Blood! What can we expect from season three this summer?
Oh, where to begin? Let’s start with the gorgeous Ryan Kwanten, who has some major storylines this season. First, Ryan says, “Jason finally falls in what he thinks is love. It’s a pretty rare, unknown concept for him.” Awww…Plus, Ryan tells us of Jason’s future, “The fact that my character is dealing with the fact that he really has killed someone now is pretty crazy, and there’s a whole host of new characters. There’s the addition of werewolves coming in. We’re using real wolves. It’s crazy. I’ve yet to work with them. I’ll work with them later on in the season, but I’m looking forward to it.”

Alicia in La Cañada Flintridge, Calif.: I need True Blood scoop!
True Blood’s Rutina Wesley tells us of Tara in season three, “She’s going to have to grieve a lot to get over [Eggs]. And then it’s going to be crazy madness.” As for Tara’s ex-lovah Sam, Nelsan Ellis teases, “Sam moves away from Sookie and Bon Temps, and he clings to the family that he’s now starting to get to know. He finds his mother, father and brother.” Come back home, Sam!

Azul in Orlando: Gimme some Eric Northman scoop! I miss my favorite Scandanavian True Blood vampire.
Did you see Nelsan’s dish that he’s going to be “Eric’s henchman” this year? Nelsan also reassures us that we’ll be getting a lot of Eric and Pam tag-team action this year as well: “Eric will definitely be in every episode, and Pam is definitely in the first four.”

and

From the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly via Lori W.

Yes, I know a lot of you miss Michelle and a lot of you are looking forward to Joe Manganiello’s portrayal of Alcide Herveaux. So, I want to thank Lori for sending these to us. Btw, doesn’t Joe look good with long hair.

From Allison C…. who loves Brits!

My husband said, “WOW,” when I showed him Rutina’s picture from January’s Allure. The pictures were supplied by the Fans of the Rutina Wesley page on FB.

Nighty night my lovelies….

~M.

P.S. Did you read the whole Alan Ball article???? They are signed through season 4. We may actually see Quinn and all the drama that weretiger brings.

and the best for last…

Yes, I know… all you Alex fans out there are jumping for joy.

Have a great day!

~M.

(TVGuide, 12.10.09) The cast of HBO’s vampiric sensation True Blood has only been back to work on their third season for a few days, but Rutina Wesley and Alexander Skarsgard say they’re already sinking their teeth into some bloody interesting storylines.

“There’s more of people with different agendas,” Skarsgard – who had a breakout season as his not-always-bad boy vampire Eric emerged as a contender for Sookie Stackhouse’s heart and soul – told TVGuideMagazine.com. “Sam’s got his stuff to deal with, his background and who he is, trying to figure that out. There might be some more tension between the vampire kingdoms and queendoms and they might introduce other creatures than just vampires.”

“There’s a lot of new characters that will be introduced,” confirms Wesley. “We’ve got some werewolves that are coming in. Everyone is back now, so it’ll be interesting to see how Tara deals with everything that happens with the last season. She’s got a lot grieving she has to do, but I have a feeling that someone’s going to come in and sweep her off of her feet. Then we’ve got Sookie there to help her out as well. They’re making a lot of people the focus. That’s the one thing that I love about being on the show – that it’s truly an ensemble. All of us have really good and meaty stuff to work on.”

Skarsgard said that Eric’s ancient history is going to be further explored during the season as well. “In Season 2 there was a flashback. We see when Eric was a Viking, and there will be another flashback. We’ll see Eric and someone else as a tag team – I don’t want to reveal from what era, but it’s a couple of really fun scenes.”

“It’s amazing because he’s been around for a thousand years and lived all over the world, so you can put him in any situation in any country,” said Skarsgard. “I want more of the stuff from his earlier days when he was in Scandinavia, during the Viking days. I’d love that because you don’t see much of that in movies or on television from that era – and obviously because I’m from Sweden I’m quite fascinated by it. It’s my heritage, that culture with the Vikings, and so hopefully we’ll get to see a little more of that.”

There are also some guest stars waiting in the wings: Wesley said she’s heard that actor Don Swayze, brother of the late Patrick Swayze, will appear on the show, and Skarsgard says there’s a well-known name who just might be making a visit to Bon Temps. “There’s one that I’m hoping we can get towards the end of Season 3,” he revealed. “It’s not official yet and something I’m pretty excited about – someone that I’d very, very much enjoy working with.

~M.

by Amy Wilkinson- hollywoodcrush.mtv.com

When we heard last month that “True Blood” hottie Mehcad Brooks had been cast as a lawyer on ABC’s midseason replacement “The Deep End,” we wondered whether his character Eggs would be scrambled by Maryann. Well, we were partially right. The 28-year-old fell victim to a bullet in the season finale, though it was at the hands of well-meaning Jason Stackhouse.

As sad as we are to see Mehcad (and his abs) depart “True Blood,” we’re sure gal pal Tara Thornton is even more torn up. MTV News caught up with the actress who portrays prickly Tara (Rutina Wesley) at the premiere of Jude Law’s “Hamlet” (read our rundown of hot Hamlets here), and she talked about what’s next for Tara.

“I’m sure she’s going to have some grieving to do, losing Maryann and Eggs—the love of her life, I think,” Rutina theorized. “I don’t know how Tara is really going to react to that. I see some grief. I see some more darkness.”

As evil as maenad Maryann was, it’s easy to forget that Tara relied on her as a mother figure in place of her own often-drunk mom, making her death nearly as devastating as Eggs’. Though Rutina said that Tara will likely find solace in recently returned BFF Sookie (Anna Paquin), we’re hoping there’s a juicier resolution—namely Tara turning to one-time crush Jason (Ryan Kwanten). Wouldn’t that be ironic?

What do you think will happen to Tara in the third season of “True Blood”?

(US Weekly)

Remember to right-click on the pictures and click on view images.

~M

I found this at the Los Angeles Times website.

–Debbie

Said Wesley, “I’m living a dream. I’m so crazy about this show and everything about it. I get so overwhelmed sometimes I cry.”

In the series, Tara is a strong and uncompromising woman battling not only the supernatural, but also her own demons that resulted from her growing up with an alcoholic mother. Though she frequently lashes out at those around her, her more vulnerable side often pierces her fiery nature.

“When I auditioned for Tara, I immediately saw past her anger,” Wesley said. “You can scream all day long. That would be the easy way to play her. I see Tara more as a flower, a broken woman. People want her to do well, and she doesn’t know how. I try to make her softer. She is tortured, incredibly hard to play.”

Even more important for the young actress, she has unwittingly become something of a cultural pioneer. With her prominent multifaceted character on “True Blood,” Wesley has become one of the rare accomplished African American actresses to escape being trapped in the role of the “BBF” or Black Best Friend that has become the trend for most black actresses working in television and film in recent years.

Series featuring BBFs include CBS’ “The New Adventures of Old Christine” (Wanda Sykes) and TBS’ “My Boys” (Kellee Stewart) while films include “Sex and the City: The Movie” (Jennifer Hudson), “Nights in Rodanthe” (Viola Davis) and “The Nanny Diaries” (Alicia Keys).

“It’s really maddening out there for dark-skinned actresses in terms of the opportunities we get,” Wesley said. “There’s just so much talent that is being overlooked. Viola Davis should be a household name. So should Angela Bassett.”

She hopes that “True Blood” will not only serve as a stepping stone for her, but also for other black actresses struggling to get multidimensional leading roles. ”It feels good to be a young woman of color leading the way,” she said. “I really do think it’s possible, and it’s what we need to see with this young generation.”

In the “Sookie Stackhouse” novels by Charlaine Harris that make up the foundation for “True Blood,” Tara is white. But the show’s creator, Alan Ball, wanted to have more diversity in his cast, particularly since the series is set in post-Katrina Louisiana.

Ball said, “Rutina just nailed the part from the beginning. She traded the toughness for vulnerability. She was really strong, present and funny in her audition. I didn’t see the actress, I saw Tara.”

He added, “I like to work with actors who have been taught. They can come in and know instantly how to play a scene. Rutina trusts the material.”

In addition to attending Juilliard, Wesley, who was born in Las Vegas, also attended the Las Vegas Academy of the Performing Arts, and spent a summer at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London studying Shakespeare.

Some viewers may remember her as the lead from the 2008 dance movie, “How She Move,” in which she demonstrated her aggressive dance ability. (”My knees still hurt from working on that.”) But she hopes to continue working in projects as fully developed as “True Blood.”

“I would love to do something like ‘Notting Hill,’ ” she said. “That’s my favorite movie. I want to do parts that are outside of the box.”