True Blood Season 3: Who is Russell Edgington?

Welcome to the eighth in a series of features about the new characters coming to True Blood in season 3. We’ll be taking a look at these new characters using both information from casting calls and from the novels on which the show is based. Beware, spoilers ahead!

Who Is Russell Edgington?

Denis O'Hare will play Russell Edgington / photo from DenisOhare.com

True Blood welcomes more vampire royalty in season 3 with the arrival of Russell Edgington, King of Mississippi. We meet Russell in the third book in the series, Club Dead, and he is listed as a series regular for True Blood season 3. This 2700-year-old vampire (give or take a few decades) has been married to Talbot for about 700 years and is the current ruler of Mississippi. In the books, Talbot is Russell’s human companion, his “trophy husband”, so having Talbot be a vampire and a long-term companion for Russell is a change for the show. Additionally, the books describe Russell as “the perfect Southern gentleman”, while the show mythology will go further and reveal that Russell is a Celt who was turned around 800 B.C., but now affects the accent and mannerisms of a Southern gentleman.

Russell is somehow connected to Bill, although we can only speculate how at this point. We know that he is evil and he has a significant conversation with Bill about love. Is he involved in Bill’s disappearance?

Additionally, in the books he eventually marries the King of Indiana in what is considered both a love match and a politically sound move. Could that mean Talbot’s days are numbered?

Denis O’Hare plays Russell Edgington on True Blood.

Russell Edgington In Brief

Sex: Male
Species: Vampire
Age: Somewhere around 2700-2800, but looks to be in his late 40s/early 50s
Status: Married to Talbot
Relatives: Unknown numbers of vampire “children”
Occupation: King
Location: Mississippi