In a recent interview, True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten reflects on his role of Sookie’s brother, Jason Stackhouse.
True Blood’s Ryan Kwanten plays Jason Stackhouse, True Blood’s boneheaded hunk with a heart of gold, he was naked and crouched down between a woman’s legs. The first shot of his face in the very first episode of the show is sort-of a peek-a-boo in between bouts of administering some, um, oral pleasure.
It was a fitting introduction to the character and the actor playing him, as sex and (blessedly) copious nude scenes would quickly become a defining part of Jason’s storylines. But give credit to Kwanten and True Blood’s writers for finding the beating heart beneath Jason’s impossibly chiseled pecs, as, over the course of the last six seasons, his character has become one of the show’s most pivotal, most fun, and most endearing characters.
On the show’s end Ryan says: “All good things, I guess, I’d rather go out our way, though, than run things into the ground.”
So do you know how everything is going to end?
I do. And I’m going to tell you all about it right now!
Ha—I’m sure. Are you happy with it though?
Absolutely. We were lucky and blessed to have the writers that we have. They never cease to amaze me with the kind of crazy, emotional, intriguing, amusing, confusing, stuff that they come up with, particularly for my character. I just feel so lucky to have played that character for as long as I have.
It’s been a while. And Jason’s changed quite a lot over the seasons.
I hope so. He was quite the boy when we first met him.
What’s it been like to play that transformation?
It’s actually amazing, in terms of the amount of the days that have actually transpired since the beginning of Season 1 has not actually been that much. Does that make sense? It really hasn’t jumped forward that many years. Certainly not as many as seven. There’s been a growth, but I still think those character traits are very much in there. I think he’s starting to learn from his mistakes more.
He’s always been a bit of a moral compass for the rest of the characters on the show, right?
That’s a bit scary to think about, but I think you’re right!
Maybe not so much with the promiscuity and such, but the fact that he’s always been willing and open to changing his mind about people. And vampires.
Yeah! And I think that’s been the biggest growth. That’s a really good point. Because I don’t think he was necessarily a bigot, but he was a little more close-minded before. Now he has the ability to kind of weigh two sides and make somewhat of an education decision.
He seems to fall fast and hard with the women in his life. Whether it’s Lizzy Caplan’s Amy, Lindsay Pusipher’s Crystal, Deborah Ann Woll’s Jessica, Anna Camp’s Sarah—he’s had a revolving door of fast-moving, intense relationships. And now he’s with Karolina Wydra’s Violet. What is it about her that he’s drawn to?
I think with Jason, he really does wear his heart on his sleeve. There’s a woman who’s vibrant with life in the form of Violet who sort of represents everything that he’s never had. She’s got this incredible history behind her. I think it’s a pure fascination with her. She’s his equal in many ways. He’s just so intrigued by her.
When we last saw them together last season, we saw that she was withholding sex from him—there was that scene in the finale that might have been the longest oral sex scene ever, where she says she’s made him perform oral sex 178 nights in a row without letting him penetrate her. Not to spoil too much of the premiere, but they finally have sex in Sunday’s episode, but not until after they have an explosive argument outside by Jason’s police cruiser. What was shooting that scene like? It was pretty passionate…both the argument scene and the sex scene that followed.
Anytime you’re doing sex scenes it’s not the best of times, and this one was done outside virtually on a main road.
Umm…it was fun. [Laughs uncomfortably] Anytime you’re doing sex scenes it’s not the best of times, and this one was done outside virtually on a main road. It was tough, but Karolina is an incredible actress. And she made it work…
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