Spoilers follow for season 7 episode 3 of True Blood, which aired last night
I read this interview yesterday before I watched the latest episode of True Blood with the shocker ending. In light of the latest plot development, Joe Manganiello’s sort-of sour grapes make more sense.
Spoiler… Alcide got shot dead by a vigilante hiding in the woods. While Sookie was crouching over his body, Jessica offered to turn Alcide for her. Sookie answered “No, I’ve been down that road before.” I assume she was referring to Tara’s death. Unlike when Tara met the true death, which wasn’t even on camera, we got to see Sookie mourning Alcide as the others looked on. He seems to be truly gone. I can’t say I’m broken up about it.
Sidenote: I was worried about Sam’s fate. He was the other dog and it looked like one of the hep-v vamps staked him before he ran away. Sam appears fine in the preview they aired for next week’s episode though. Phew.
So Alcide is off True Blood less then halfway through the last season. People’s Hottest Bachelor sounds a little sore about his character’s story arc. Manganiello called it “one dimensional” in a recent interview with Digital Spy:
“I thought it was very one dimensional,” he said. “There was a whole plotline that was cut from the show that dealt with Alcide and his father, played by Robert Patrick.”
For much of the HBO drama’s fifth and sixth seasons, Alcide spent large periods away from other main characters, as he took on responsibilities as a pack leader.
He continued: “We switched showrunners and one of the casualties was the loss of that storyline which I thought added balance, because without that storyline it came off as mindless yelling. Beating up a pack of girls? I’m a big guy, I just don’t see how beating up a pack of 100lb girls is good. I just thought it was kind of crazy.
On returning to the main plot for its final season, he said: “In my first couple of seasons on the show, I worked with the main cast.
“Then as time went on, I wound up on this satellite werewolf offshoot TV show, that was part of the show, but away from the main plot. I was happy with season seven because I got to come back to the main cast and work with those people again, and felt like I was part of the show.”
Manganiello also said that the show’s finale may be shocking to fans: “It’s gonna wrap up all the plotlines, in hopefully a satisfying way for the fans, going all the way back to season one.”
It’s true that the werewolves were rather one dimensional, but so were a lot of other plotlines and characters on that show and it wasn’t limited to last season. The maenad, the yokels in hot shot, the pro-shifter kids, they were all pretty flat. Plus, Manganiello brings no subtlety to that character. He grunts his lines and generally seems wooden. Compare him to Sam Merlotte, who seems to have some depth to him. You can even compare him to Jason, who is an idiot but manages to come across as lovable. It’s Manganiello’s acting which is one note.
I found another recent interview that Manganiello did with Vulture. He’s promoting a documentary he directed about male strippers called La Bar. Plus he’s in the Magic Mike sequel, Magic Mike XXL, which comes out next summer. Manganiello talked about how he convinced True Blood producers to change a scene, and he also discussed filming his death scene. He said it was freezing out and that the scene was tough to film because he was naked except for a sock on his man parts. He thought “If I get through this, I’ll probably, hopefully, never have to do this again.” I don’t know, it seems like he’s going to be undressed in just about every role from here on out, so he shouldn’t count on it.
Photo credit: WENN.com and HBO screenshots
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