Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse) recently spoke with CBS News about two of her current projects; True Blood season 6 and the WIGS webseries Susanna. While the WIGS series did give Anna a chance to step outside of Sookie Stackhouse for awhile, playing the role of Kate helped shed a light on an important issue facing some new mothers; post-partum depression. Director and writer of the series Jon Avnet explained that he was inspired to do the series because similiar experiences can happen to any mother under the best of circumstances:
“Part of what made me feel this was worth doing was I think every mother experiences fear and terror very rapidly in the best of circumstances. There’s no license to be a mother, no simple course, and you’re fortunate you have a friends and family support system.”
Anna explains that Kate has no real support system and everything is falling apart:
“(Kate) is a single, first-time mother. The dad is kind of nowhere in the picture. She is not really holding it together very well. She’s incredibly depressed and anxious that something terrible is going to happen to her child. She is falling apart, and she doesn’t have so much support.”
In the process of preparing for the character, Paquin did a lot of research about postpartum depression and began to understand why the condition can get missed, which is why she hopes Susanna can help light on it:
“It’s admitting that you can’t do everything and that you’re not superwoman. I think it is very hard because a lot of people sort of expect when someone has a baby, they’re going to automatically do everything and know everything. ”In general, those type of topics don’t get talked about. If we can shed some light and open up the conversation, to me that’s very worthwhile.”
As for True Blood, Anna admits that the show is different without Alan Ball and that while they miss him, they’re on their own:
“It’s not that we don’t miss him at all. He’s incredibly talented. He created the world that we’re all living in now, but he kind of cut the apron strings. We’re off on our own now.”
When pressed about season 6 Paquin remained tight lipped about Bill (Stephen Moyer) and his identity post blood drinking as well as Sookie’s love life:
“We still don’t know ultimately who or what this character is…I don’t think it’s giving anything if I say if it involves Sookie. It’s always complicated. That it’s not necessarily going to pan out in a way that’s easy, simple or un-traumatizing.”
Tune in tomorrow night to see the next True Blood installment,“You’re No Good” airing at 9PM on HBO! Susanna can be watched in its entirety here.
Sources: CBS News.com- “Anna Paquin spills on “True Blood”
CBS News.com- “”Susanna” starring Anna Paquin sheds light on postpartum depression”
Image Credits: WIGSCO, LLC and HBO, Inc
