Rutina Wesley On Her New True Blood Role

We saw it coming (even though Liz didn’t want to acknowledge it), and now we have at least 11 more episodes to watch Rutina Wesley take on the challenge of playing Tara as a vampire. What was her first thought when Alan Ball revealed Tara’s fate? How does will Tara and her Maker, Pam, get along? Vulture caught up with Rutina and asked her all about it.

Finally, Tara’s not a victim anymore! Was that your reaction, too, when you found out she was going to be a vampire?
I was actually very surprised. I wouldn’t have expected Tara’s journey to go that way. I was excited but incredibly terrified at the same time.

Why terrified?
Well, as an actor, when you’re going to be shot in the head at the end of a show’s season, and you hear about this next step that’s totally different from what you’ve done, it can be scary. I will never forget [series executive producer] Alan Ball pulling me to the side on set last season and going, “Hey! We’re really excited and we hope you will be too because Tara is going to be turned into a vampire.” I was just like, “Uh … uh … okay? Awesome?” I didn’t want to react too much because we were shooting and it was supposed to be secret. But I went home and was like, “Oh my God, I gotta start over. What am I going to do? I hope I’m a good vampire!” It was a mix of emotions.

(Read the full interview here…)