Yes, you know that Kristen Bauer, Carrie Preston and Joe Manganiello are on it. But, do you know who’s the latest to tweet their hearts out?

Well, it is the actor that portrays our favorite shifter… Sam. If you want to follow his tweets look for @SamTrammell.

~M.

By: Kathy Huddleston – With the True Blood premiere quickly approaching it’s time for some more Alan Ball. Below are exclusive interview extas from my recent interview with the show’s creator about True Blood’s upcoming third season, the challenges he faces, and what his long term hopes for Sookie are.

If you’re looking for some serious spoilers, check out my article in Sci Fi Wire, “9 sizzling True Blood spoilers from creator Alan Ball.” However, until you read that, perhaps this less spoilery and more behind the scenes interview will whet your True Blood thirst.

KATHIE: What’s been your biggest challenge this season?

ALAN: I think the biggest challenge is keeping each episode exciting and still remaining true and organic to the characters’ emotions, ’cause that’s where everything’s got to come from. We’re not a movie. We don’t have a week to shoot one special effect or one stunt, and I think that’s what keeps people coming back is even with all the craziness on the show I think you actually end up caring about these characters and being invested in them. I think it’s walking that line between keeping things exciting and keeping things grounded. Because these episodes are like little movies and so getting everything that we have to get in terms of footage, special effects, prosthetic effects, visuals effects… getting it all done in the amount of time we have allotted for each episode, that is definitely the biggest challenge.

I’m used to Six Feet Under, to shooting seven pages a day. But on Six Feet Under, yeah, we had some stunts and some effects every now and then.In this show we have like, oh, okay, now we’re flying, now some heads are exploding, now people are transforming into this animal and that animal, now these animals are running out in front of a train. It is insane. But I have to say it is just a testament to the amazing professionals who work on the show.

I mean I just went to a production meeting this morning, and I consider job number one for me is just to keep the scripts coming and to keep the scripts polished and in the best shape they can be in before they go in front of the cameras. But the other stuff everybody else figures out. The cinematographer, director, department heads sit down and figure out how they are going to shoot something and then I walk in to these production meetings. I walked into a production meeting today for an episode that starts shooting tomorrow and there’s a 40-page story board treatment of this big sequence at the end and I was just sort of like, ‘Wow!’ These people are really, really good at what they do. The way it is mapped out and shot, it’s very efficient in terms of time and number of setups. But at the same time it’s very visually exciting and very clear what’s going on in terms of this big battle between humans and vampires and other creatures. We’ll have to shoot it probably all in two nights, because half of it takes place outside and that’s just what we do.

KATHIE: How many days do you take to shoot an episode?

ALAN: Our starting point is 11 days, maybe 10 days with a split day with another episode. But there are episodes that certainly have taken longer. I got to say HBO has been very supportive. They know we are trying as hard as we can to get everything into the shortest amount of time. But they’re very happy with the show and they’re very happy to give us the extra resources when we need them… well, maybe not very happy, but at least they do it [laughs]. And they are happy in retrospect when they see the episodes.

KATHIE: Is this the show you envisioned when you first started seeing it in your head?

ALAN: Well, no. I don’t think anything is ever what you envision, because certainly when I was reading the books and it was around book four, I thought this is too much for a movie. This should be a TV series because there are so many great characters, so many places you can go. I love this world Charlaine’s created. I sat down and wrote the pilot once the rights were hammered out… But I would say the show definitely has a life of its own and it definitely has evolved over the seasons, and part of my job is to recognize what the show wants to be.

KATHIE: Does it seem impossible to put together such a big show sometimes?

ALAN: No, it’s not impossible. I mean sometimes it’s difficult, but it’s not impossible. You don’t have to spend 200 million dollars for everything. You really don’t.

KATHIE: Are you doing a lot of writing on this show?

ALAN: Well, I write two scripts a year. Each writer gets two scripts a year. We have six writers, five writers and one team of writers, and everybody does two episodes. But we all work together outlining and breaking stories. Like I say, for me that his job number one is to make sure that those stories make sense, they surprise us, are true to the characters, and they keep the momentum going.

KATHIE: What’s been your biggest surprise as you’ve developed this series?

ALAN: I never expected to walk on a stage in a room full of 7,000 people [at Comic-Con] and for them to be screaming. That was kind of crazy. That has been, I think, the biggest surprise to me. I mean certainly I feel like the show has been really, really marketed aggressively and well by HBO, and that’s no surprise to me. I don’t think anybody knows how to launch and market a show like HBO. I guess one thing also that surprised me is the fact that so many different demographic groups seem to really enjoy the show. When HBO tested the pilot they came back to me and they said the women love the relationships and the men love the sex and violence, so everybody loved it, which was kind of great. There’s a little something for everybody [laughs].

KATHIE: What do you love most about the series?

ALAN: I love the cast. I think they are really, really amazingly talented, and really the fact they really approach the show straight. Nobody is winking at the camera. Nobody is going, “Hey, look at us. We’re campy. We know it’s funny.” I think everybody plays it straight and is really invested in what’s going on for their characters and that’s always a joy to watch. I spend a lot of time in editing and it’s really fun because you just see these really great actors just giving you all this stuff to work with. I love casting. I love actors. So anytime we have a role to cast, that’s a lot of fun for me.

KATHIE: You have a huge cast.

ALAN: I know, it’s huge. We sat down for a table read and this huge conference room is filled. It is a huge show.

KATHIE: In the hands of someone else it would have been quite a different show.

ALAN: Yeah, but I am not the only person who works on the show. I work with five really, really smart, gifted writers, some really smart producers, some smart executives over at HBO. So while I certainly appreciate that, and it is very flattering, I’ve done stuff that wasn’t any good. I did a movie that everybody hated, so it is certainly not all me.

KATHIE: What is your best hope for Sookie and her story?

ALAN: You mean where is she going to end up?

KATHIE: Yes, what is your best hope for her?

ALAN: My hope, and this is probably a little crazy cause I’m speaking about a fictional character as if she’s real… she finds happiness and is able to settle down with a person or non-human person who can really, really value her and that she can have a good life with.

KATHIE: At the very end.

ALAN: Yes at the very end. I mean, in a way, it’s kind of a fairytale… kind of a sadistic, twisted fairytale… but it is a little bit of a romance novel. I would want her and those people that she loves to be in a good place and still alive [laughs].

KATHIE: I like it when writers spend time letting the characters be happy on a series. You’ve done some of that on True Blood.

ALAN: Yes. I think we have that. We definitely had that in season two and we definitely have that in season three. Maybe not for every single character, but I think [most have] moments of happiness.

KATHIE: Anything else about season 3?

ALAN: I just think I am really excited. I’ve seen the first five episodes. I feel like it’s the strongest season yet. I’m really excited and I’m in the process of breaking the last two episodes in terms of breaking story. I feel like the season really, really works as a whole. I’m really excited. I’m counting the days till the premiere just like everybody else.

USA Today: True Blood is getting new blood.

Werewolves, to be exact, will join the peculiar world of vampires, shape-shifters and mind readers who spice up the third-season HBO drama, returning June 13 (9 ET/PT).

“It’s just another element added to the supernatural craziness of it all,” says Anna Paquin, who plays the telepathic Sookie Stackhouse. “There’s no way you can ever get bored on a show like this. When you think you’ve seen it all and done it all, something weirder and wilder comes out of the woodwork.”

Weirder and wilder should provide an infusion of Oh! positive for an avid fan base that more than doubled during Blood‘s second season to 5 million viewers for each episode’s first broadcast. Adding in replay, DVR and on-demand viewing, Blood ranks second only to The Sopranos among HBO series in total viewership.

The thirst for Blood may be unquenchable. Fan site true-blood.net reports more than four times as many visitors in the past 30 days as in the corresponding period in 2009.

Why do fans respond so strongly? “Part of us yearns for the muck of the primal,” says series creator and executive producer Alan Ball. “We still have part of us that feels in awe of nature and all of the stuff that is bigger and scarier than us. … I think True Blood has evolved into a show that can feed that desire, that incorporates fear, terror, sex and transcendent behavior in a way that’s really entertaining and funny at the same time.”

And over-the-top bloody, of course.

The series roughly follows the popular Sookie Stackhouse novels of Charlaine Harris, which focus on the mind reader and her relationships with vampire boyfriend Bill Compton and other folks (human and otherwise) in rural Bon Temps, La.

The new season, which introduces werewolves, more shape-shifters and the byzantine world of vampire politics, corresponds to the third novel, Club Dead.

“This is classic, escapist fun,” says Stephen Moyer, who co-stars as the 173-year-old Bill. “You can read it on so many levels. It can be an hour of escapist drama. You also can watch it for comedy, suspense, as a thriller, as a horror. It’s an audacious show.”

Picking up the threads

When we left them, Bill had disappeared, apparently via kidnapping, after proposing to Sookie; shape-shifter Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell), owner of the bar where Sookie works, had embarked on a search for his real family; and Sookie’s BFF Tara (Rutina Wesley) was grieving over the death of her boyfriend.

Bill’s disappearance “is not really the way every romantic dream proposal goes. The girl bursts into tears, runs to the bathroom, comes back to say yes, and the dude is gone,” says Paquin. “That’s going to be a pretty major plotline for Sookie.”

As Season 3 begins, Sookie will go in search of Bill, aided by handsome werewolf Alcide Herveaux (Joe Manganiello), who’s assigned to the task by vampire sheriff Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard). Despite that arrangement, vampires and werewolves (who have been at each other’s throats in the Twilight and Underworld movie series) are not the best of super-friends.

“Eric hates them,” says Skarsgard, covered with white makeup and accents of blood red during a break on the show’s L.A. set. “In his opinion, werewolves are very primitive, stupid, disgusting, not sophisticated. After a while, you’ll find out there’s a deeper reason he hates them.”

At the same time, the actors were delighted with real wolves on the set. “They’re extraordinary creatures,” says Moyer, also sporting vampiric pallor. “They never stop moving. They’re enormous and powerful. That’s been the highlight so far — of the things I’m allowed to talk about.”

Another main story will be Sam’s search for his biological family. The shape-shifter may get more than he wishes for. “They’re an itinerant, very poor and sketchy family. He finds out who these people are and why they’ve given him up. … It’s sort of like a Pandora’s box, that he thinks he can go and meet them and then leave. But he can’t put the top back on the box,” says Trammell.

Tara and Sookie’s brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten), who shot Tara’s boyfriend, will each be dealing with the fallout from his death. Viewers also will meet a new royal bloodsucker, Russell Edgington (Dennis O’Hare), the vampire king of Mississippi, and learn more about a vampire hierarchy that also includes Sophie-Anne (Evan Rachel Wood), the vampire queen of Louisiana.

If there’s a Season 3 theme, it’s identity, Ball says. “Each character is coming to terms with who or what they are. We’re finding out what makes them tick and what they’re willing to do and not willing to do, and what they’re willing to fight for and not willing to fight for,” he says.

As is apparent, the True Blood world keeps growing, which Ball says partly reflects Harris’ novels.

“It’s bigger, or at least it feels that way,” says Deborah Ann Woll, who plays the coming-of-age vampire Jessica. “Half the faces around the table reads (of scripts) are new people. I don’t know what (their story lines) look like, what their sets look like or what their costumes look like. It feels like five TV shows are going on at the same time.”

Cast enjoys the ride

If Blood is fun for viewers, plots drenched with blood and sex seem to make it the same for those in the show. “The material is endlessly entertaining,” Paquin says. “It’s about as much fun as you could expect to have and still technically call it a job.”

There aren’t many places where actors can test drive their own coffins, as Kristin Bauer van Straten does while preparing for a scene. “If I’m not out in 30 minutes, start looking for a key,” says Bauer van Straten as she crawls into the sleek, white pod in the office just off of the Fangtasia bar. She doesn’t need a key; the futuristic container comes with an internal escape button. “I like the phone call that starts with: ‘We need you to come in for your coffin fitting.’ Isn’t that something?”

Moyer enjoys the writing, which keeps the characters off balance. “We’re having to react to what’s happening around us, rather than us seeking out the drama. The drama is happening to all of our characters. It feels very visceral and strong and muscular because of it.”

Ball is having a good time, too.

“It is so much fun. If you had told me I would be doing a vampire show with werewolves and would be having more fun than I’d had in my life, I would have said, ‘You’re high,’ ” says Ball, who created Six Feet Under for HBO and won a screenwriting Oscar for American Beauty.

For all the wildness, Blood wouldn’t work unless it found a way to keep the characters grounded, Ball says. “We might as well have a sign in the writers’ room that says, ‘It’s the emotions, stupid.’ We try to make sure the characters’ emotional lives are what’s driving the story. Otherwise, it’s set pieces and special effects. We have such good actors that they can play the romance, the yearning, the weaknesses, the upsets, the disappointments and the triumphs.”

Lure of immortality

As Blood blossoms as a pop-culture phenomenon, Melissa Lowery, who owns true-blood.net with Elizabeth Henderson, credits the rich combination of Ball’s take on Harris’ novels. “The show is so character-driven, it’s transcended the ‘supernatural/fantasy’ label to become a captivating experience for mainstream audiences. Whether it’s watching Sookie navigate her first real romance, Jason finding stability in chaos or discovering that vampires are humans, too, there is at least one character everyone can relate to.”

Skarsgard has his own theory on Blood‘s appeal. (The hunky Scandinavian actor is part of the fever: John Folden, who operates the true-blood.tv fan site, says one of every four messages posted there relates to Skarsgard.)

“It’s about vampires, and they represent immortality. I think people are attracted to that. Their age and knowledge and level of experience is very attractive, and you’re drawn to that,” says Skarsgard, whose Eric is 1,000 years old. “But they’re also animals, and they can turn on you like that and kill you in a second.”

Would Paquin be interested in a season for each of Harris’ 10 novels? “I’d do it until they pull the plug,” she says. “I don’t know how long everyone’s going to want to watch us running around biting each other and having all the sex and blood, but I think we’ll do this until they tell us we have to stop. It’s a dream job.”

Read the reviews from our Supernatural Book Lovers Club staff:

Tamara T.

Diana M.

Naomi M.

Rebecca R.

To read, click here.

Enjoy!

~M.

Preview to the last minisode:

And another promo:

Mind you, Ausiello wrote up his wish list for the Emmy nominations and he only listed True Blood for best drama:

“The Maryann plot meandered a bit, but the season as a whole hardly sucked.”

Would you vote for any character from True Blood for an Emmy and why?

~M.

Sam Trammell will be a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live , Friday, June 4th.  Other guests will include Kathy Griffin and the Deftones.  Be sure to check your local listings for show times.

Kelly

So, we got the following from BuzzSugar:

Thought your readers might be interested in this slideshow we posted about some of the new cast members: it neatly outlines who the new characters are and the actors behind them.

Check it out here: http://www.buzzsugar.com/True-Bloods-New-Characters-Season-Three-8563364

_________________________________

I thought it would be a nice way to match the face to the character also. Remember, June 13th is just around the corner.

Have a Happy Memorial Day everyone…

~M.

Charlaine Harris will be a guest on Author Confidential on SIRIUS XM Book Radio, SIRIUS 117 and XM 163, which will air June 7 at 7:00 pm ET . It will air again on June 9 at 9:00 pm ET, June 11 at 4:00 pm ET and June 12 at 8:00 pm ET.

Kelly

Here’s a short excerpt from the interview …

Here is the press release that was sent out on 5.26.10:

SIRIUS XM LAUNCHES “AUTHOR CONFIDENTIAL” SERIES ON SIRIUS XM BOOK RADIO CHANNEL

Charlaine Harris, #1 New York Times bestselling author of the beloved Sookie Stackhouse novels, kicks off

exclusive series on which iconic authors sit down for candid interviews and conversations with fans

For a video excerpt of “Author Confidential” with Charlaine Harris,  visit www.youtube.com/siriusxm

NEW YORK – May 26, 2010 – SIRIUS XM Radio (NASDAQ: SIRI) today announced that it will launch Author Confidential—an exclusive new interview series featuring intimate conversations with iconic authors in front of a live studio audience—on June 7 on SIRIUS XM Book Radio with inaugural guest Charlaine Harris, the #1 New York Times bestselling author whose beloved Sookie Stackhouse novels serve as the basis for HBO’s hit show True Blood.

On Author Confidential, Harris sits down with SIRIUS XM Book Radio hosts Kim Alexander and Maggie Linton for a revealing, intimate and in-depth conversation about her career, the Sookie Stackhouse novels (including her latest in the series, Dead in the Family), the True Blood phenomenon and more, bringing listeners inside the modern-day Louisiana world she’s created where vampires and humans mingle.

Author Confidential with Charlaine Harris will air June 7 at 7:00 pm ET on SIRIUS XM Book Radio, SIRIUS 117 and XM 163. It will replay June 9 at 9:00 pm ET, June 11 at 4:00 pm ET and June 12 at 8:00 pm ET. The new season of True Blood premieres June 13 on HBO.

For a video excerpt of Author Confidential with Charlaine Harris, visit www.youtube.com/siriusxm.  Select quotes from the interview:

Charlaine Harris on how the Sookie Stackhouse series began: “I was left looking at turning fifty trying to decide what to do.  It came to me that it would be fun to write a book about Louisiana, about a very down home young woman who was dating a vampire and everything kind of built from that kernel.”

Charlaine Harris on writing about vampires: “There are all different kinds of ways to interpret the vampire rules.  I’ve tried to bring something different to the genre.”

Charlaine Harris on working with True Blood creator Alan Ball: “I knew that he got me.  Not everyone gets the mixture of humor and horror and blood and death…with a wink, and I knew Alan did.”

SIRIUS XM is home to Artist Confidential, an exclusive music series that features the biggest names in music sitting down for candid interviews, intimate conversations with fans and live performances. Past guests include Paul McCartney, Santana, Coldplay, Pink, James Taylor, Sting, Mary J. Blige and over 100 others.

SIRIUS XM Book Radio connects millions of listeners all across the country with books, authors, and notable guests from all walks of the literary life with a programming lineup that includes author interviews, daily audio book broadcasts including “drive time bestsellers,” radio theater and more.  For more information about SIRIUS XM Book Radio and future Author Confidential guests visit www.sirius.com/siriusxmbookradio and www.xmradio.siriusxmbookradio.

Sci-Fi Wire: Alan Ball has a promise for True Blood viewers. The characters in his randy, violent, supernatural series aren’t going to experience long-term happiness anytime soon.

“Here’s the thing about happiness: It’s great in our lives, but it’s not really that interesting to watch on television,” said creator Ball, whose series is about to premiere its third season on HBO on June 13.

Ball feels season three is “the best season yet.” Along with the “fantastic core cast,” several new regulars will be introduced this season, as well as a number of impressive guest stars, such as Alfre Woodard, who plays Lafayette’s mother. Beyond that, “We are dealing with some new supernatural creatures. … It has just been a really fun, exciting season to put together, and I just have really, really high hopes for it. … I can’t give anything away.”

Well, actually he did give some things away … like these nine spoilers …

1. The Shifters and the Weres: This season will take us into “the shape-shifter world and the were world. They are two different kinds of creatures with a lot of similarities,” said Ball. On the were side, “There are a handful of werewolves, the main ones being Alcide Herveaux (Joe Manganiello), his ex-girlfriend Debbie Pelt (Brit Morgan), [and] a couple of werewolves named Coot and Gus, who are Grant Bowler and Don Swayze.”

On the shifter side, “Sam Merlotte [Sam Trammell] is going to meet his biological family. He is going to go on a journey to find his birth family and is going to be successful in that regard.” Joining the cast is Marshall Allman, who plays Tommy Mickens, Sam’s brother, who may or may not be a shape-shifter.

2. The Town of Hotshot: You’re likely familiar with Sookie’s hometown of Bon Temps. Well, get ready for Hotshot. “We definitely do go to Hotshot. … We meet Hotshot, we meet the people in Hotshot, we meet Crystal and her father, Calvin,” Ball said. Crystal (Lindsay Pulsipher) becomes a major love interest for Sookie’s brother Jason (Ryan Kwanten). As for the leader of the Hotshot group, Calvin (Gregory Sporleder), “I think our take on Calvin is a little different than the one in the book.”

3. Vampire Rights and Wrongs: When it comes to vampire politics, “we’re going to definitely see more of that this year,” he said. “We’re focusing more on the Vampire Rights Amendment to the Constitution and the struggle to get that passed and the heated feeling both pro and con.”

4. The Vampire King of Mississippi: There will be more than one Big Bad this year, but one of the baddest will be new regular Denis O’Hare, who plays Russell Edgington, the Vampire King of Mississippi. The King and his boyfriend of 700 years, Talbot, will be major players this season. “Their relationship has moments of stability. I wouldn’t say it’s a model relationship, but then again I wouldn’t point to any relationship in the show and say that’s a model relationship,” said Ball with a laugh.

The show’s action will expand to Mississippi, as the characters head there to face Russell on his home turf. “He’s definitely got his reasons for doing things, and I don’t think he thinks what he’s doing is wrong.”

5. Tara’s Scary Vamp Boyfriend: Big Bad #2 is vampire Franklin Mott, and he’s going to dig into Tara’s [Rutina Wesley] psyche in the most personal, terrifying and hot ways. “I wouldn’t say it’s a happy relationship. I would say it’s definitely not a functional relationship, and I’ll leave it at that,” he said. “Franklin’s from the books. He’s played by the really good British actor James Frain. Really, really fantastic.”

6. Lafayette’s Heart: Get ready for some serious Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) action. Not only will we meet his mother, Ruby Jean Reynolds (Alfre Woodard), but we’ll acquire a new sizzling-hot boyfriend in Jesus (Kevin Alejandro), who is “the first person who has made a serious pitch for Lafayette’s heart, which is quite a struggle, as you might imagine, ’cause Lafayette’s got a lot of walls around himself.”

7. The Missing Bill: “We find out very quickly who took Bill and where they took him. He won’t get back to Bon Temps until around the middle of the season,” said Ball. As for what that means for Sookie [Anna Paquin] and Bill’s [Stephen Moyer] relationship, especially considering she was about to say yes to his marriage proposal before he got kidnapped at the end of season two … “I would say their love is very real. I can’t really say whether it is going to last forever, ’cause I don’t want to give anything away, but I do think their love is real. I think what they feel for each other is very, very profound.”

8. Alan Ball Is Having Fun: Ball believes there’s a “lot of life” left in True Blood beyond season three. “I think this show could continue for years,” he said, beyond the fact that there are several more novels from writer Charlaine Harris to mine for material. “She keeps publishing one every year.”

As for Ball himself, he can see himself working on True Blood for a long time to come. “It continues to be fun, which for me is the most important thing. I would rather have fun on a show that nobody cares about than be miserable on a show that is the biggest hit in the world.” Luckily for Ball, he can be happy on a show a LOT of people care about.

9. Comic-Con Rock Stars: “I never thought the series would be as huge. I didn’t really have much experience in the genre world, you know what I mean? I came to it fresh and I thought, ‘I think this show will have an audience.’ But I’ve thought that about other things and it didn’t really work out that way. I just knew it was a show I would watch, I would be deeply entertained by. I think the amazing growth during the second season in terms of not only the number of viewers, but the passion on the part of the viewers, was really a surprise to me … a very pleasant one. When we went to Comic-Con last year, when we walked out on stage it was like we were rock stars. … Well, it was like the cast was rock stars and I was also there,” said Ball with a laugh.

What do you guys think?

~M.