SPOILERS: Sam Merlotte’s Family Issues

Nothing on True Blood is simple, that much we know, so of course Sam Merlotte’s search for his family is going to raise more questions than Sam expected. TVGuide.com spent some time in the Mickens’ family trailer with Sam Trammell, Marshall Allman (Tommy Mickens) and J. Smith-Cameron (Melinda Mickens) to get some scoop. Here’s what they gave up:

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  Sam and Tommy: brotherly love? / HBO

  Joe Lee Mickens (Cooper Huckabee) IS Sam’s father, not his stepfather as we’d assumed.

• Joe Lee was in jail doing hard time when Melinda was pregnant with Sam, so she gave him up for adoption to an affluent family.
• Later this season, we’ll see flashbacks to some disturbing things Sam did after his adoptive parents abandoned him. (We got a glimpse of this last season when 17-year-old Sam broke into Maryann’s house.)
• In True Blood episode 6, we’ll see Sam’s dad “pimping” both Melinda and Sam because of their abilities, revealing even more family dysfunction.
• Sam Trammell says that all his character wanted from this trip to Arkansas was to see “how bad” his family was and leave it at that. Instead, they “begin to bleed over” into his life.

Sounds like a juicy storyline for Sam is on the way for season 3!