(music playing) Alan Ball: What is it about vampires that people love so much? (growls) Vampires took over the entertainment world.

It talks about our society and our humanity by looking at monsters.

(growls, barks) It's the pathos of the human condition, which is really, ultimately everybody's search for love.

(music playing) It's so hard to talk about the show without talking about sex.

I was just in awe that I was able to get this type of opportunity.

It's been the best job I've ever had in my life.

This was a situation of extraordinary, sublime talent.

It sort of was this amazing amalgamation of creativity.

It's changed my life.

Alexander Skarsgard: It's gonna be very emotional now that we wrap up the final season.

It'll be a real good-bye.

(tires screeching) - I had a dentist appointment in the Valley.

Oh, God.

I think it was in Encino.

(laughing) For once in my life I was early and I had, like, 20 minutes to kill, so I went into a Barnes & Noble and I saw a little paperback by Charlaine Harris, and the tagline on the front was "Maybe having a vampire for a boyfriend isn't such a good idea.

" And I thought, "That's funny.

" I'd never read any vampire fiction before, but I could not put it down.

It was funny and smart and very authentically Southern.

And I'm Southern, so I responded to that.

And I thought, "You know what, this would make a really good TV show.

" Hey, y'all have Tru Blood, for real? You get vamps in here? I didn't even think we had any in Louisiana.

I think the idea of vampires having come out of the coffin and trying to assimilate into mainstream society is a pretty brilliant idea.

You two need to leave.

All right, fuck you, Billy Bob.

Fuck me? Ball: It's certainly an angle on the vampire story that, to me, when I first read it, felt incredibly fresh and it made it sort of mundane, which I think is what is so great about her books and about the show.

Deborah Ann Woll: I remember when they first called me to tell me that I was cast.

I was alone, I was staying at a friend's house, and I remember just wanting to celebrate so badly and there was no one there in this, like, empty house and just kind of doing this little dance by myself in the living room.

It was just a dream come true.

Brian Buckner: Casting's always kind of funny - 'cause you'll start to doubt the sides.

Ball: Yes.

And then somebody comes in and makes it work and then it becomes very obvious.

It's true.

Sometimes you're sitting there going, "Oh, I thought this scene worked, but it really doesn't " - Uh-huh.

" And I'm gonna have to completely rewrite this.

" And then the person comes in who makes it work.

Thank God I don't have to do anything.

Ball: Absolutely.

(all laughing) - Thank God I don't have to work any more than is absolutely necessary.

Lafayette: John, check the catfish.

Ball: I remember the casting director called me and she said, "Would you be interested in Anna Paquin?" I was like, "Isn't she too big for this? Would she do this?" I don't I'm confused.

They said, "No, she really read it, she really responded to it.

She'll come in and read for you.

" And you did and we made you jump through the hoops.

A little bit, yeah, but that's fine.

All the jobs I've ever really loved were the ones that I had to do some hoop jumping.

Otherwise, what the hell's the point? I remember being very nervous asking you, "How do you feel about dying your hair blond?" I don't know why, but I thought you would say, like, - "I'm not gonna do that.

" - That's really funny.

I know.

I know, and your answer was like, "Sure, whatever.

" (all laughing) I said I can't guarantee I'll look good as a blonde, - but I'll totally do it.

(laughing) Ball: We had a really hard time casting Bill.

We had actually taken a couple of people to the network and they had said, "That's not the right person.

" And I was thinking, "How are we gonna find this guy?" I was in London and I had just returned home ignominiously with having been fired from a pilot.

I had just decided that that was it and I had given up.

I told my manager I didn't want to read anything, and then she said, "Okay, there's one script.

Read this script and I won't make you read any others.

" And that was your script.

That morning I went in it's the first time I'd ever done the Southern accent.

I hadn't practiced it.

I just walked into the casting suite in London and put myself on tape.

The size of that file was about this big.

It was about the size of a postage stamp.

And the minute I started watching it, I kinda went, "Oh, okay, we found him.

" (indistinct chatter) Sookie: Who's that? Oh, you noticed him, did ya? No, it's not like that.

I just Everyone does.

That's Eric.

He's the oldest thing in this bar.

Man: Three, two, one, go! Ahh! Ball: I remember the first time I met you, you had really long hair.

And the second time - Not wig long, but like No, it was long.

You had long hair.

I thought you looked like a Scandinavian farmer.

Okay.

(all laughing) - Thank you.

You came in to read for Bill.

Yeah, I read the first book and I was like, "I'm gonna audition for Bill? There's, like, a Viking, Swedish guy here.

" (all laughing) "But, hey, why not?" You know? That was for the pilot.

Eric doesn't show up until the fourth episode.

Right, right.

But when you walked in, I kinda went, "Oh, that's Eric.

" - My life sucks.

Tara, don't you be feelin' sorry for yourself.

That's just lazy.

Well, why can't I keep a job? Maybe because you can't keep your mouth shut.

Bitch, who asked you? I'll never forget when I came into that first scene I did with you and you just kind of opened your arms and you welcomed me.

And I cannot tell you how safe I felt to work and be okay even though I was really nervous.

(laughing) I was really nervous.

I was like, "Please don't fire me.

" - (all laughing) - "Please don't fire me.

" I still worry about that.

(laughing) Yeah.

Buckner: I remember their first day.

Yeah, it was down in - at Alex's Bar.

In Long Beach.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Parking lot in Long Beach.

You had just flown in from - The Philippines.

Literally just flown in.

Literally.

Went to a fang fitting, went to wardrobe.

They strapped me into that corset I couldn't sit down in.

Met Anna and Stephen.

Who's the doll? - Pam, this is Sookie.

Sookie, this is Pam.

Pleased to meet you.

Van Straten: And I remember being so out of it that you had a line in Swedish (speaking Swedish) and I remember saying to you, - "Is that Cambodian?" - (all laughing) - And you went, "No.

" - "Yes.

" Yeah! (Laughing) - I'm half Cambodian.

And you probably thought, "Who is this chick I'm stuck with?" And I was like, "I think he's kind of serious.

" (all laughing) I don't know if it was the first day, but one of the days on the pilot was 4:00 in the morning or something - and you and me and Anna - And Anna.

started improving.

Ooh, Sookie.

Chicka-chicka-bow-wow.

It started with this one.

He started doing it.

It was fun.

They ain't scared of you, honey child.

They scared of what's between your legs.

Lafayette! - That's nasty talk.

I won't listen to that.

(laughs) It was like we were on some kind of psychotropic drug or something.

And y'all bitches just don't know what you're missin'.

I got six gears on these hips.

Uh.

Uh.

Uh.

No, baby.

You don't know what you're missing.

You can watch it walk away.

Make you wanna slap it? Preston: And then Lynn starts slapping herself on the butt.

Yeah, six gears.

(Laughing) I was like, all right, all right, let's go.

Peaches 'n' cream.

And that's when we started doing this.

I'll give you a little cocoa.

A little cocoa.

Peaches 'n' cream and all this stuff.

Take these, baby.

Peaches 'n' cream.

I'll give you a little cocoa.

Arlene: Peaches 'n' cream.

A little cocoa.

The script supervisor turned to me and said, "They're not anywhere close to their lines.

" - And I said, "It's okay.

" - (laughing) That's totally okay.

With the nature of the show, too, because it is not necessarily that episodic classic where you sort of go back to where you start that we, as actors, have a chance to play breadth and silence and live with these moments.

It's about creating yourself.

So that's which gives you something of a journey to go towards.

You are one sad, sorry freak, bubba.

Get a grip! Jesus, tits, and God America, Jason.

What the fuck is happenin' to me? I have found the writing consistently to be so self-evident that what you need to play a scene is 99.

999% built into the scene.

And that's my justification for why I've never done any homework on the show.

(all laughing) That's hilarious.

All of these approaches are equally valid.

Yes.

Joe Manganiello: "True Blood" fans are the most passionate fans in the world, hands down.

On the streets of Paris, I'd have someone point and yell, "Le loup-garou !" Which is, you know, "The Wolf Man.

" Or be in Barcelona, Spain, and, "El hombre lobo!" Tara Buck: It's like a live audience in a way.

I've had people come up to me and tell me they cannot stand the pitch of my scream.

(screaming) And then I have people who come up dressed like Ginger, and the love and enthusiasm is overwhelming.

You do get some crazies every once in a while who don't have boundaries and are you know, asking you to lick 'em and bite 'em and do all of that crazy stuff, so but but, you know, I wouldn't have it any other way.

I have a lot of fun with it.

Ball: The fans of this show are - Dedicated.

Yeah.

Passionate.

Nuts.

(all laughing) - Yeah.

Ball: They are a godsend - because they turn - Without them we don't have a show.

Ball: Yeah, exactly.

They turned this show into the phenomenon that it became and we love each and every one of them.

(cheering) Ball: I had never been to Comic-Con and there were literally like 6,000 people.

(cheering) Ball: And it hit me that, "Wow, there's a lot of people who really like this show.

" All: "True Blood!" Whoo! - I love me some - Together: Sookie.

You mean (imitates Bill) Sookie.

Sookie.

I'd like to hear it again one more time, please.

(lowers voice) Sookie.

(audience laughing) When you're at Comic-Con it's like you're the Beatles.

I mean, I felt like the president for half a second.

(chuckles) - Trammell: You know? It's really a blast.

It's kind of scary, though.

(chuckles) Sometimes a little bit.

Ball: I got a message on my Facebook page "I am a vampire and I am not happy with the way - we are portrayed on the show.

" - (laughing) The Kenya airport, I got recognized and I was like, "Wow, in Kenya!" And then she was like, "Yeah, I love the show.

" And I'm like, "Where are you from?" She said, "Texas.

" - I was like - (laughing) - that doesn't totally count.

So exotic.

Say, didn't somebody get a speech of yours tattooed on their ass or something? Oh yeah.

Paquin: Seriously.

You know that speech about magic? What animates you no longer animates me.

What does animate you, then? - Magic.

Oh, come on, Bill.

I may look naive, but I'm not.

It's probably that big on her back - Ball: Wow.

and it's probably 70 or 80 words.

Just because you understand the mechanics of how something works doesn't make it any less of a miracle.

Which is just another word for magic.

I love that the show speaks to them the way it does because I think the show is crazy entertaining.

It is a fun ride.

This is the kind of thing you hope for is for people to love the show as passionately and as deeply as they do.

Michael McMillian: "True Blood" broke some sexual boundaries on television.

It's certainly the first time I know that my parents have sat down and watched soft-core pornography together, so in that sense it's definitely broken some boundaries.

Um uh sorry Mom and Dad.

Janina Gavankar: The truth is out there in the world people are weird, people get freaky, it's okay.

(Laughs) Ball: "The horrors of intimacy," I have to admit, is a phrase I pulled out of my ass when somebody at HBO basically I was on the phone and they said, "In one sentence tell me what this show is about.

" And I kind of went, (stammers) "the horrors of intimacy.

" - (laughs) - And he said, "Okay.

" I would not have been able to pull that out of my ass.

No.

That's pretty good.

And ultimately, I think, that actually is what this show is about.

How could a show about the horrors of intimacy not address love and being in love and what that means? Because to me vampires are kind of a metaphor for sex.

You know, I read in "Hustler" everybody should have sex with a vampire at least once before they die.

(music playing) (moans) Every character in the show has gotten a chance to sort of fall in love, get their heart broken, pick up the pieces, and keep going.

Buckner: It's also when you take a human life and measure it against a vampire life.

Vampires can have so many loves - Mm-hmm.

over the course of their lives and humans have less time to have those loves.

So it's things like that that we're playing with.

What was so wonderful about getting this character, the beauty and the poetry in it, is that he falls in love.

For the first time in 140 years, I felt something I thought had been lost to me forever.

Moyer: There is something about this girl that is completely different from anything else and it rekindles the possibility of hope.

I love you, Sookie Stackhouse.

I love you, too.

A lot of it seems to me to be about Sookie's sexual awakening.

You know, the whole she's a fairy, - but metaphoric for her power as a woman.

Absolutely.

(music playing) Preston: She's definitely had her fair share of learning - through sex in the show.

She has.

Yes, she has.

Arlene, not so much.

Um - (Ball laughing) - You know, in an orgy with black contact lenses.

I remember that.

That was a good sex scene.

(laughing) - (music playing) - (people moaning) - Buckner: The night of the orgy.

Oh, God.

Which orgy? - (laughing) Buckner: There was just this moment where Alan and I were sitting behind the monitors and we kind of couldn't believe how fucking out of control this thing had gotten.

(moaning) I think whole relationships were had within the three days of that.

I saw a lot of things that I cannot burn from my memory.

Cannot unthink.

Yes.

(speaking Greek) The thing about Maryann is what she was preaching was basically a life of sensual fulfillment with no guilt and no shame.

(chanting) There is actually something kind of appealing about that because, I mean, wouldn't it be great to just sort of, like, let some hot, sexy creature just devour you? - Okay, we don't want that to happen in real life.

Really? - (laughs) - Well, some of us don't.

But I think, in a way, the show lets people sort of vicariously experience that through all the crazy things that happen to all the characters.

Buckner: That's part of why the finale is daunting.

As the person tasked with bringing this thing home, I'm very conscious of bringing it back to a center.

I think we had a lot of wild sex.

We really let go of convention, but I think people will sort of feel like this was a love story at the end of the day.

What about a song and dance number? People love song and dance numbers.

They love that.

Let's chuck the finale and just do that.

That always works.

Yeah.

When in doubt - Are you game? - Bucky, you know I'm game.

Okay.

(music playing) (screaming) The villains on this show have never been "just evil.

" Everybody has something primal inside of them.

You know, how many of us would love to, like, just you know, somebody pisses us off, wouldn't it be great just to behead them? A lot of times there's good and there's bad.

And good must vanquish bad.

But our show's about all of the stuff in between.

Skarsgard: That's what I had so much fun with Eric's character.

He's presented as the "bad guy.

" People are quite lazy in a way, or they want to be fed in a way.

It's like, "Okay, easy good guy, bad guy and the girl, great.

" And you eat your popcorn.

But then when Godric appeared, you realize, "Wait a minute, he actually cares about this guy and there's warmth in there.

" Godric.

Skarsgard: I find that dramatically very interesting because then people go, like, "Wait, no, no, no.

That was I was rooting for this guy, but this was a bad guy.

" Yeah, everybody's done something horrible.

Yeah, we love our vampires, but they can be pretty fucking savage.

It's that vampire Russell what's his face?! Edgington.

Peace is for pussies.

Russell Edgington, as played by the absolutely extraordinary Denis O'Hare, is a total badass.

Put your fangs away.

He just had so much fun with that part.

Fantastic! From watching him do Russell was just an absolute joy.

Ooh, they will suffer for their sins, my beloved.

I swear - Like, he was doing Shakespeare.

Yeah.

(groans) We will eat you after we eat your children.

Now time for the weather.

Tiffany? Moyer: When that episode went out, the next day Obama came into a huge press briefing and opened with, "Did anybody see 'True Blood' last night?" - (all laughing) - Trammell: Are you kidding? - Yeah.

Wow.

(gagging) I like that scene when Sam is the fly and then he goes inside and then - Oh, yeah.

Van Straten: Yeah.

That was good.

(growling, gulps) - Buckner: That was special.

That was amazing.

Longshadow puking in your mouth.

Moyer: Oh, that was amazing.

Buckner: That was - Beautiful.

what I talked about the next day around the water cooler, for sure.

(gasps) - (screaming) - Ginger, enough.

I asked you if you wanted my eyes and mouth opened or closed.

Buckner: That's correct.

She's like, "Should I take it in the mouth?" - Van Straten: Yeah.

"Should my mouth be open?" - I'm like, "Yes!" - (laughs) Van Straten: It was a hose up the side of Longshadow.

And then if you followed the hose, there was a big orange ladder with, like, two construction workers pouring gallons of blood into this huge funnel, like shoving it in there.

It felt like it lasted like a minute or two.

(gasping) - (screaming) It's scary when you have that cannon shooting liquid - 'cause I had that recently.

Paquin: Actually, it's not.

Do you know why? 'Cause nobody had ever had it before on the show, - so I didn't actually know what was gonna happen.

(laughing) That was the first time that anyone got - That was the first fire hydrant of blood.

Yeah.

That was the day I fell for Anna.

Humans.

Honestly, Bill, I don't know what you see in them.

(Ginger screaming) - (swallows, gasping) - There's a lot of good deaths.

Skarsgard: Nora's death scene last year was interesting 'cause it was a very emotional moment.

And so we end as we begin.

Skarsgard: When I realize that she's drifting away, - I kind of pick her up - (gasping) They switched wonderful Lucy out with a bag of blood.

(chuckles) - A blood balloon.

It's like yeah.

Like this size, basically.

(crying) Please, please.

I have to play the second half of the scene holding this blood bag and then it explodes in my hands.

Skarsgard: You're like, "I'm on the set of 'True Blood' with a blood bag.

" - Like this balloon, basically.

"Don't leave me.

" "No, don't leave me! Don't leave me.

" (laughing) When Jessica and Hoyt first met in my bar (chatter) - Hi.

Hi.

the tension between them was just wonderful.

How do you know I'm a nice girl? 'Cause of your smile.

That just has always stuck in my mind as one of the most beautiful, well-acted scenes in the show.

Lauren Bowles: One of my favorite episodes was where I got to birth the fairy babies.

(screaming) - (baby crying) - Another girl.

Bowles: Birthing those babies was great fun.

And my favorite line I've ever gotten to say was in that episode as well, where I just got to look at Andy and say You're a dick.

(laughs) The drug trip that Lafayette and Jesus got to go on.

Your teeth is wobbling.

(laughing) We actually got to control the camera.

(both shouting, laughing) We were attached together and it was on a pole facing towards us.

And so we were spinning with it and moving around.

Once you see it edited, it looks so trippy.

That was probably one of my favorite experiences.

Jason.

Thank you so much for invitin' me into your home.

My favorite scene was where Steve came out of the closet to Jason.

You know, there's something that I've been gathering up the courage to tell you ever since the moment I found out you were sleeping with my wife.

What hurt me was that she got to sleep with you.

McMillian: That was, really, for the first time, Steve Newlin revealed who he was and what his truth was and what his real feelings were.

I'm a gay vampire American.

(sighs) And I love you, Jason Stackhouse.

It's insanity! - Our existence is insanity.

Skarsgard: We had about 15 minutes to shoot Godric's death scene 'cause it was as the sun was coming up.

Skarsgard: We rehearsed it for three hours.

We blocked it and then waited till the right time.

When we knew that it was six minutes before you would see the sun on the horizon.

Let me go.

(crying) Skarsgard: That was the only moment, so far on the show, where we knew we had three takes and that was it.

The difficult thing about really coming to terms with the fact that this show is ending is that it's ending.

(laughs) And, um, it's not another script or plot point or story line.

It's actually ending.

Buckner: I hope that it is thought of as more than just another supernatural show.

Mm-hmm.

Like, I hope that people go, "It said something.

" I would love for it to be remembered as the show that brought about world peace.

(all laughing) To me, it's been the most fun thing I ever worked on.

That's not to say all the other things weren't fun, but, this one is the most fun, yeah.

Moyer: I completely concur.

Obviously, I met Anna that first day and you don't expect to meet the person that you're gonna get married to on the job that you're doing and have as much fun on the job as well.

The first season I was like, "This set everyone's so great.

Everyone's so nice and welcoming.

" You were like, "This doesn't happen all the time.

" - (all laughing) - You were like, "This is special.

This is rare.

" And I've just treasured that the whole seven years.

It's been I think, being on the show has meant everything to me.

I felt like I was nostalgic in the second season.

You know, it's - (all laughing) I was already dreading the end then.

It's gonna be very emotional, I'm sure, now towards the end of this final season.

Ellis: Yeah, it's gonna be hard walking away from Lafayette's shoes.

I'm gonna miss - I'm sure they'll give you the shoes.

(all laugh) Ellis: I'm gonna miss the makeup.

I loved, loved, loved, loved, loved playing Lafayette.

My friends, sometimes, would be like, "Dude, you walkin' like Lafayette, stop.

" (all laughing) Or out of all of a sudden I'll be like, "Well, you know what we gon' do?" And I go, "Oh, that's a that's a Lafayette thing.

" (all laughing) Woll: It'll be really hard to say good-bye.

Even when a character dies or leaves the show, you know, a little piece of you goes, "Oh, God, I'll never see that character again.

" And a piece of that will also be sad for me.

Van Straten: It's actually hard to encapsulate what being part of a show like this means to me.

(voice breaking) I'll cry.

My husband was saying, "That's longer than high school and junior high.

" You know, except we don't have any of those bad people.

Manganiello: It was a childhood dream for me as a kid who grew up watching horror movies to get to play a monster.

McMillian: I will remember and miss the people that I worked with on the show until my final days.

Bowles: This little moment in time has been an absolute dream dream, dream come true.

Paquin: This show has changed my life.

I will miss it terribly.

(kisses) (music playing)