Happy Sunday Truebies! While you anxiously await a brand new episode of True Blood tonight, I have the Comic Con 2013 True Blood panel coverage you’ve been waiting for! The panel kicked off yesterday afternoon in Ballroom 20 moderated by Kate Hahn of TV Guide and featured Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse), showrunner Brian Buckner, Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse), Sam Trammell (Sam Merlotte) Rutina Wesley (Tara Thornton), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette Reynolds), Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica Hamby), Kristin Bauer van Straten (Pam Sywnford de Beaufort), Joe Manganiello (Alcide Herveaux), Anna Camp (Sarah Newlin), Michael McMillian (Steve Newlin) and Rob Kazinsky (Ben Flynn).
One of the things that was different for Comic Con 2013 is that the convention put all of its panels into 45 minute blocks. In the past, panels had the full hour but sometimes they didn’t start on time or ran over their allotted time which meant that the entire day’s schedule for that room might be thrown off. I mention this because while it did seem to work well for some of the other shows, the 45 minute limitation did not help True Blood. Even with the absence of Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton) and Alexander Skarsgård (Eric Northman), most of the cast only got to speak twice giving the panel the feeling of being entertainment fast food so to speak. We see the cast, the moderator asks a few questions, fans ask three of their own, and then time is up. Considering that people come to Comic Con just to see certain casts, panels should always be top notch so that they are worth both audience attendance and the time the cast has taken to be there.
With the large cast that True Blood brings, the panel has to be well moderated which is something EW’s Tim Stack accomplished in the past two years I saw him moderate the it. He not only asked good questions but I could tell that he is genuinely a fan of the show and his own enthusiasm was contagious in getting the audience excited.
The cast and Brian Buckner however were in top form. They answered their questions and it was obvious that they had a great time with each other. Some of the highlights for me included the interactions between Michael McMillian and Anna Camp who easily slipped into their roles of Steve and Sarah and were hilariously funny. Rob Kazinsky and Ryan Kwanten addressing their homoerotic scene was also very funny and cute. And as always, Anna Paquin’s dry sense of humor about the adventures of Sookie Stackhouse is good to see. Brian Buckner also made a point of saying that True Blood is returning to its roots with one central story drawn together, which got a lot of positive response. Enjoy the videos and photos below!
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