It’s all still far too quiet in Bon Temps, with only 66 days to go until the premiere of True Blood Season 7. However a couple of cast members have been speaking to the media this week, namely Amelia Rose Blair and Riley Smith who plays new vampire Keith.
Riley’s interview is definitely the most interesting as he reveals that episode 4 is “huge” and contains a big fight. My best guess is this is the fight that happens at Fangtasia, part of which was filmed out on location a few weeks ago. As Alexander Skarsgard was on set that night, I think it’s safe to say that Brian Buckner’s comment about Eric being away in the “short-term” has come to fruition and he will be back in Louisiana by episode 4.
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: 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’s 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.
You can check out the entire interview at TVRage.
Amelia Rose Blair has not been so forthcoming with spoilers but has done a couple of interviews this week for EW
And with BetterTV
Most interesting in that interview is that when Amelia auditioned, she had to play a role where she was turned unwillingly by Bill, so the audition videos that have been doing the rounds for this season may contain some red herrings!
Also of note is that they were probably filming at Fangtasia yesterday (possibly episode 5?) as EJ Scott was on set and uploaded a photograph to his instagram of himself on the Viking Throne.
The more Fangtasia for Season 7 the better I feel. :)