Buckner’s Attempts At Damage Control

As we posted the other day, it looks like Alexander Skarsgård will be returning for True Blood Season 7! Hooray! While this is good news…we urge you to proceed with caution if you do decide to watch next season.

Here’s why…it appears Brian Buckner (aka Bucky) has been sent to the principle’s office (aka. HBO) and was ordered to do some damage control. With numerous fans threatening to quit watching and/or subscribing to HBO altogether after Season 6′s finale, it’s not surprising HBO executives contacted him urging him to reassure the fans.  At least, that’s what we here at ESL think happened…

This has never happened before (that I know of) in any fandom…where an EP has had to make a press release or statements to let people know one of the characters is still alive; therefore spoiling their planned season ending cliffhanger. DAMN. Sorry about that Bucky, but that’s what happens when you mess with our favorite vampire Viking…TSK. TSK.

Not only that…but this was less than 2 days after the finale aired!  GO TEAM ERIC!  I can’t remember this happening…EVER on True Blood. Haha. I guess they got a lot of negative fan response, eh?

In numerous interviews including the one we posted, he talks about Eric’s fate and what we can expect in Season 7.

Here’s some others, which we’ll highlight just a few things for you and if you want to read the entire interview, please click on the links;

From Entertainment Weekly;

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: You’ve confirmed that Alexander Skarsgard will return and be a regular on the show next season. Eric’s alive!
BRIAN BUCKNER: [Laughs] Well, I did not confirm that he’s alive. Not that I want to create more conversation, because I don’t, but to be clear, we’re not saying how we’re going to use him, we’re simply saying that we are using him. I will say that I do long for the days when television audiences could stand to wait and enjoy the tease. But I understand we’re living in a different time. I don’t want to watch a show without him either.

So we can start with the next important question: Whose idea was it for Eric to be sunbathing nude on a snow-covered mountaintop in Sweden?
It was mine. The original idea was that it’s basically like a Corona commercial, but I didn’t want to do a beach because it’s obvious. This is a man who doesn’t want to love, and doesn’t want to feel pain, and every connection he has to people ends in pain. So if Eric could be an island, he would be. So with Nora gone, and having sought vengeance for her death, he found that the pain was still there and he doesn’t want to feel it again. So he retreated and returned home. That’s as much as the audience is meant to know. For now.

So he wasn’t suicidal, sitting on that mountaintop so exposed?
Nobody knew the rule that if Warlow died, the blood that he gave to you would lose its efficacy. It was a surprise to all the vampires who realized that they just lost their ability to walk in the sun, but Eric was the only one in a timezone where it was light out. I think in the sort of “What the f— just happened?” of it all [Laughs] some people missed the idea that it was Warlow dying that precipitated that event. So if people called it an anticlimax, that Warlow’s death came and went without consequence, no, the Eric thing is the consequence of Warlow’s death.

I think we’ve seen fairy blood wear off before, so a lot of viewers were thinking that was a possibility. Or are you saying Warlow’s blood would never have worn off?
Maybe it’s on us. Warlow’s blood was special in that once you had it, it was not gonna wear off. It was the real deal. That’s why Sookie’s blood and Adilyn’s blood didn’t do what Warlow’s blood could do. Bill, at a certain point in the season, realized Warlow is the prophecy, that’s why Lilith all along said that you alone are going to be responsible for the continuation of the species. But when Warlow died, out went everybody’s ability to walk in the sun.

[UPDATE: We've confirmed that the book Eric was reading was one chosen by Skarsgard: Den allvarsamma leken by Hjalmar Soderberg. Translation: The Serious Game. According to a synopsis on Amazon, it is Sweden's most celebrated and enduring love story: "Sweden at the turn of the previous century. Arvid, an ambitious and well-educated young man, meets Lydia, the daughter of a landscape painter, during an idyllic summer vacation and falls in love. Lydia, however, has other suitors, and Astrid is frightened of being tied down by his emotions. Trapped inside loveless marriages of convenience, they struggle in later years to rekindle the promise of their romance with bitter and tragic results." Well done.]

First, a few of my thoughts before we move on…

1. I think I’m going to read this book Alex was reading…sounds like a good book. Thanks Alex for the suggestion!
2. Oh Bucky…if you’re thinking what most of us are thinking you’re thinking…and are planning on using him like you’ve used Godric in the past (ie. Ghost Eric)…then DON’T. JUST DON’T. If you think THIS was bad…if you plan on killing Eric off sometime during next season…you ain’t seen nothing yet! Just warning you now…
3. I’m confused…If Warlow was the prophecy…how in the hell was it up to Bill to continue on with the species? Eric figured it out without Lillith’s help, so really, Bill didn’t do squat. Yes, it IS on you, Bucky…

From The Hollywood Reporter;

THR: Let’s just start with the most obvious. Is Alexander Skarsgard coming back as Eric Northman?

Brian Buckner: The character of Eric will be back as a regular on our show, but I’m not promising how we’re going to use him. But I also don’t want to incite more controversy. Here’s what I would like to say: Eric Northman will be back in your living rooms next summer.

THR: I assume you knew you were going to shock and piss off a lot of people with that surprising scene?

Buckner: Well, yeah, but truthfully, here’s the thing — the idea that the audience needs to and deserves to know that everything’s going to be OK sort of runs counter to what I think our job is. So, yeah, of course Skarsgard and I sat down and said, “We’re doing this story for behind-the-scenes reasons, but we knew it was going to be fun.” The anger is surprising. But I understand he’s beloved, and he understands he’s beloved and he’s going to be a part of this show going forward. We should be allowed to put characters in jeopardy — and people can hope we didn’t just do that — without death threats.

THR: We got some pretty passionate comments on our website about those choices.

Buckner: I’m happy people still care. I didn’t want to upset people or ruin their fall, winter and spring. But I stand by it — I think it’s good storytelling. I understand that it made the rest of the episode hard to go down for people. I get it. I guess I can’t be surprised — it’s the level that surprised me.

I don’t get it… Why is this so surprising to you, Bucky? We’ve never kept it a secret that if Eric Northman was gone…so will many of True Blood’s viewers. And Bucky…YOUR job is to entertain and to tell a decent story…which hasn’t happened for awhile now. As for death threats…you think any of us are going to do that to you? We still don’t believe the author (who shall remain nameless) received ANY. And guess what? Your idea of good storytelling versus mine is vastly different.

From Vulture.com;

Why do you think the finale fueled so much negativity?
Well, it’s testament to Alex Skarsgard. People want those ten or twelve weeks with him in their living room and they may have feared we were taking him away from them.

Will the feedback you’ve received recently influence the story lines of season seven?
I don’t think so. Look, the blogosphere … This, by the way, is my very first time sitting in this chair, watching something like this happen. It is my first rodeo. But I have been making TV for a long time and I don’t think that we should let the audience tell us what show to make. Because I think it’s the death of television if we give people exactly what they expect to get every week. What’s the point? So the idea that we need to release material beforehand and immediately come clean with our audience and promise to not surprise them anymore, I’m not sure that’s the TV world that we want to deliver.

How dare you deny us a Jason-Eric sex dream? Or should we expect that in season seven?
I think you can reasonably expect it. With our show there is an appetite — Alan from the get-go called it “popcorn for smart people.” And popcorn is addictive: You keep eating it and expect there to be another piece of popcorn right away. My favorite shows on TV make you wait for things. So the idea that I failed to deliver on a promise when I only made one episode after that promise … You know, sometimes things are better when we wait for them. I would love to get our audience conditioned to the idea that this might be a show that delays gratifications sometimes. Because of course we know people want to see that dream. The setup wasn’t written lightly. And believe me, there were HBO executives who were saying, “You have to give us the dream!” And we will. Of course we will. But that doesn’t mean it has to come in the very next episode.

His reasoning for not having the Eric/Jason sex dream doesn’t make sense. No, you don’t have to put it in the very next episode, but after 6 MONTHS? Not to mention…after having some of Violet’s blood too? Um…you’re forgetting about the time jump. By then it’s too little…too late, IMO.

To quote our good friend Debbie about the “popcorn for smart people” comment they keep saying over and over again…

Popcorn for smart people. *laughs*
Popcorn has very little nutritional value.
Add water and it tricks your stomach into feeling full.
Not even Orville Redenbacher can save this show if Eric’s gone. : )

TRUE DAT!

As for whether or not this will influence what we see during Season 7…IT BETTER NOT!  I do agree, we shouldn’t tell you how to write the show, but you SHOULD listen to what we say when it comes to continuity and plot holes. We’re only offering you free advice. Please take it and use it wisely. Then, we’ll have no problems whatsoever!

Lastly, from TV Guide;

Turning to the biggest question after the finale: Is Eric really dead? What kind of role will Alexander Skarsgard have next season?
Buckner: In the olden days, this was a fun tease for an audience [Laughs]. The actor Alex Skarsgard and the character of Eric Northman will be back on the show next year. He’ll be a series regular. We’ve obviously promised a “Where is Eric?” story and it would feel incredibly cheap to deliver the goods right away. We sent Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten) off in search of him and if she were to find him right away, we would be doing a disservice to ourselves and to the audience. How we use him is going to be up to us, but we want people to rest assured that he will be back in their living rooms next year or wherever they watch. Boy do they love him! Wow!

Pretty sure he broke the internet after going full-frontal.
Buckner: It was crazy. I got a question about the discussion on that and said, “He’s Swedish. There was no discussion whatsoever.” I even called him to say, “Are you sure this is OK?” and he said, “No problemo.”

People thought it might be a body double.
Buckner: Nope! One day the tell-all will come out that that guy is as cool as Eric Northman. He doesn’t sweat the small stuff.

Of course we love Eric Northman! Normally we would be happy with a “Where is Eric?” story…but lately our trust in writers has vanished. Now you need to work harder to please us. (No pun intended). But I do love Alex’s reaction to being naked, “no problemo”. Haha…gotta love him!

Remember, if you would like to read all of these interviews in full…please click on the links. I highly suggest you do, because they reveal more of what we can expect in Season 7.

What do you think about what he said? Should we believe him? Please share your thoughts below!