Who Is…Earl Stackhouse?

This is part 10 in our series of features about the new characters coming to True Blood in season 4. 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 Earl Stackhouse?

When Alan Ball announced at this year’s PaleyFest that actor Gary Cole would be joining True Blood in season 4, we were excited and intrigued. We were already familiar with Cole’s work playing Sarah Walker’s father on NBC’s Chuck, as well as so many other great roles on various television shows and in film. So my first thought was “Gary Cole as a vampire??” Well, the guy could do anything so why not. However, it’s the role of Sookie’s grandfather, Earl, that Cole will delight us with.

We’ve all seen the first eight minutes of the season four premiere, “She’s Not There”, so we know that ‘Grandaddy Earl’ has been in Faeirie since Sookie’s birthday 20 years prior. Quite the departure from the books, but perhaps it’s a great way for Sookie to find out about her family history. Not much is written about this man in the novels, and his name was not Earl; however, we see that Earl has the same telepathic abilities as Sookie. We didn’t see any display of microwave fingers from him, but who knows what will happen once he reaches Bon Temp in Sookie’s world.

In Brief

Sex: Male
Species: Human
Age: Unknown
Status: Married
Relatives: Sookie, Jason and Adele Stackhouse
Occupation: Unknown
Location: Fairie, Bon Temps (?)