'True Blood' Season 2 Preview From Alan Ball

Dying to see the second season of HBO's vampire romance 'True Blood'? Then take a peek at these sound bites (swear, that's the last pun) from executive producer/writer Alan Ball on what we can look forward to when the show returns Sun., June 14 at 9PM ET:

On how faithful Season 2 will be to 'Living Dead in Dallas,' the second book in Charlaine Harris' series:
One of the reasons the books are so popular is because they work. So I'd say we're remaining relatively faithful to the Sookie/Bill story from 'Living Dead in Dallas.' We are certainly trying to find ways to get our other characters involved in everything that's going on. I think we were probably more faithful to the first book than we are being to the second, but we're still pretty faithful to it.

On the show completely diverging from the books:
Obviously, we're always going to have to juggle those things, and eventually the more books that Charlaine publishes and the more seasons of the show that we do, I think it'll probably diverge even more. But I feel a desire, and a kind of responsibility, to remain true to the spirit of the world Charlaine created.



On themes in the second season:
The overall theme for season 2 is the power of cults, whether that is a strange, neo-Greco pagan cult or a church -- organized religion. Sookie (Anna Paquin) is on a journey of self-discovery over this season and over the arc of the show. She's learning a lot of new things about herself.

On Tara and Jason's separate stories for season 2:
It goes back to the books and the source material ... You can't really have Jason and Tara go with Sookie on her mission. It just sort of worked its way out that it starts with all these separate strands that come together towards the end of the season.

On 'True Blood' as 'Twilight' for adults:
I can't really talk that much about 'Twilight' because I haven't read any of the books and I didn't see the movie. I personally don't really understand why you would have vampires in something that's basically about abstinence, but I guess it makes it safe for young girls to fantasize about vampires in a way that isn't really threatening. But I don't know. I don't really know 'Twilight' that much. I'm not the audience for that.

On the hold vampires have over pop culture:
Vampires are sex. Vampires are like the ultimate romantic, rock-star, bad boy or girl fantasies ... The idea of being consumed by a vampire is a big turn-on ... You can also project yourself onto the vampires, and you get to live this existence above the law and you also get to defeat death.

On his recent quote that the show is"sexier" this year:
I'm never going, like, into porn territory. Honestly, HBO ... I've gotten a note about one specific sequence that's like, "Mmm, could it be a little hotter?" By me saying it's sexier, when I saw the first episode, I sort of went, "OK, wow!" It's very sexy. It's not a show for children, let's put it that way.




On Evan Rachel Wood's guest starring role and whether she's begun filming:
She's appearing in the last two episodes. As everybody knows, she plays the vampire queen of Louisiana -- a very powerful vampire, very interesting character. I can't really give much more away than that right now ... We do the table read for that episode Monday.

On humanizing the vampires:
I loved the bit last season about Eric texting Bill (Stephen Moyer), and Bill saying, "I hate to use the number keys." ... We're definitely going to see a much more human side of Eric this year. Certainly seeing Jessica make the adjustment to being a vampire has been a lot of fun. And we're also going to meet a new vampire who is the oldest vampire we've ever met and who is probably also the most human later on in the season.

On Bon Temps as a sort of 'Buffy'-esque "Hellmouth":
It never gets explained in the books as to why this particular spot seems to have so much happening in it. My approach to it is that it's everywhere; in this world, supernatural creatures are everywhere ... We do get out of Bon Temps this season and if there is a season 3, also in season 3 ... And we also go back in time for some flashbacks for some different characters this season, and we see that they have been everywhere, always.

On the number of future seasons:
I don't know how many seasons it could last. My instinct at this point is that it could last for a long time. It's probably going to last to the point where we have to hope that people ignore that the vampires are looking older.

On communication with creator Charlaine Harris:
I think there is a certain boundary that has to exist. But I do remain in contact with Charlaine and she's actually going to come out and have a cameo, probably in the last episode of the season.