TVRage recently spoke to Riley Smith about his new role of vampire, Keith in True Blood Season 7 who provides a tease of what we can expect from the show’s final season.
SPOILER ALERT!
In the interview, Riley talks about a major event that occurs in Episode 4 and it’s going to be a big situation. Episode 4 was a huge — I think it was like a 25-day shoot for us. There’s a huge fight and a lot of the main characters are in some serious trouble…
TVRage: What can you tell us about your character?
Riley Smith: I’m playing Keith, who’s the new vampire for the seventh and final season. I’m going to get introduced in Episode 4 and then I’ll be with the show for the remainder of the season. Right now we’re actually filming Episode 5. I’m also going to be Arlene’s love interest, played by Carrie Preston, and I think that’s pretty much all I can talk about at this point.
TVRage: It’s also been released that you’re in a band, which I think a vampire rock ‘n’ roll band sounds pretty much like the best idea ever. Is there a real life human band you can compare yourselves to? Are you the un-dead Beatles or Rolling Stones?
Smith: You know what, the funny thing is, they made a big deal about that when they announced the character, but I haven’t even seen an instrument since I got here. There was one reference to me being in a band and then that was it. There’s been no other mention of it sense. I actually asked because I was going to take drum lessons. I’m supposedly a drummer, so I was like, ‘Should I take some drum lessons or anything?’ and they were like, no I don’t know if we’ll ever even see you in a band.
TVRage: That was going to be my next question, if we were going to get to see you play.
Smith: That would be awesome. I was kinda hoping for it, but I don’t know if it’s going to happen. It was more of a backstory…when I get introduced it sets it up like, ‘Hey, this is Keith here and he’s in my band.’ That’s literally the only mention that we’ve had and I’ve been shooting this for two months now.
TVRage: And like you mentioned before, Keith is immediately attracted to Arlene upon seeing her. Can you give any hints as to how the two of you first meet?
Smith: We meet on a mission where the vampires are trying to save some of the cast that are in trouble. That is how Keith and Arlene meet. Keith is saving Arlene from a serious situation and that’s their meet-cute, so to speak. And that’s what kind of brings Keith into that world.
I don’t know how much the audience knows so far about what’s going on, but there’s a big part of the first three episodes of Season 7 that’s leading up to this major thing that occurs in Episode 4 and it’s going to be a big situation. Episode 4 was a huge — I think it was like a 25-day shoot for us. There’s a huge fight and a lot of the main characters are in some serious trouble, so I’m recruited by James [played by Nathan Parsons] to come help and that’s what introduces Arlene and Keith. And that’s how they meet and they create their own relationship, which we’re just now starting to get into.
TVRage: What was it that initially attracted you to this particular role?
Smith: I have always wanted to play a vampire. I’ve always wanted to have fangs and was running out of time on this show, so the opportunity was perfect. They’re in the last season and this role kind of came up out of nowhere. I’m on hold right now for a TV pilot, a potential series that I did at the end of last year called ‘Deliverance Creek,’ written by Nicholas Sparks Productions. So I can’t really do anything contractually anyway until we find out if this show gets picked up, so I was just hanging out making music.
Then it just so happened that the casting directors of my pilot also cast ‘True Blood.’ They called in like the twelfth hour and said we think you’re perfect for this role. If they want you, we will make it contractually work out and I went in literally the next morning. I had no time to study. I went in, met with all the creators of ‘True Blood,’ did a couple scenes for them, and before I even got home I got a call and they said the show was yours…Literally, the next day I was in a wardrobe fitting. It was like, 48 hours before that I hadn’t even thought about being on the show, and now I’m the new vampire, so it happened very fast.
TVRage: Have you always been a fan of the show?
Smith: I have, yeah, but like anything, I got busy and lost track of some of the episodes, so basically that first weekend after I got the job, I spent the entire weekend in front of my TV catching up and re-familiarizing myself with the show and the characters and the storylines. It’s been a whirlwind, but it’s been great just be apart of it, especially the last season of a show like this. I feel like anybody who’s ever watched it, is going to watch the last season to see how it ends. And we have so many great storylines for the last season, I think everybody is going to be ecstatic with how it turns out.
Read the rest of this interview by going to: tvrage.com
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