Well, it turns out that Rutina Wesley isn’t as sad as we were when we saw “Tara’s gone before the credits!” Wesley chats her death her death in the interview below:
Was it a shock to you the way it would be to viewers, that Tara died right away?
It’s kind of fun. [Laughs] It wouldn’t be True Blood if someone didn’t die in the final season. I’ve loved my journey on this show, so I have no regrets. It’s like, “Okay, cool! Let’s do it!” And I got this amazing kick-ass fight. I love that she went out winning, and then you cut to the scene where you just see Lettie Mae, and you realize I lost the fight. I love how all the death scenes have been amazing, like when we lost Terry last season, and the funeral they had for him. I think they really sent him off nicely. And during that table read, everyone kind of lost it, when we got to the part where Arlene was singing for him. I think we clapped for a good ten minutes for him, or if not ten minutes, for a really long time. We cried and sent him off well. That’s kind of the atmosphere at our table reads, and it’s so beautiful, that we could have that environment, and the space to be in these scenes.
What about when Tara died? How did that go over during the table read?
I got some applause, too. I remember it was really sad. I remember crying, especially when Lettie Mae was like, “They killed her, my baby girl.” I loved working with Adina [Porter]. She always brought out the best in me, and just hearing how she connected to the scene, I was crying. Everybody was crying. Kristin [Bauer] was crying.
I kind of wish we’d had more of a chance to see Tara and Pam’s relationship develop.
I know! Me too! Me too! I thought that was going to go somewhere. I loved all of Tara’s relationships. I loved Tara and Sam together, and Tara and Pam, that was great, too. I thought they were so much alike. They were both so feisty! It would have come out a perfect little match. But you can never have happy endings on True Blood. When Pam left Tara to go look for Eric, Pam just flew away! And if she hadn’t, Tara probably would have gone looking for her, because she was like, “Please don’t even tell me you’re going after him.” I think Tara finally came into her own with Pam. She met her match in Pam. I always call Tara the flower that grew through the concrete, because she was incredibly insecure and vulnerable, but also fierce and strong and defensive, all of that mixed together. She was an incredibly complex individual. But if you remember her, I would hope you look back at her strengths, her laugh, her smile. I love that she always spoke her mind. And as a vampire, it was nice to see that she settled into herself. At first, I think she hated it. She had become the thing she hated the most. But she learned to deal with it, and once she did that, she was pretty comfortable. A powerful panther vampire. She was strong. It just took her a minute to get there.
Tara and Lettie Mae also finally got to make peace before she died …
I think that moment, when she finally feeds off her mother, was an act of forgiveness, an act of peace, an act of trust. Lettie Mae was asking for her forgiveness, “If I can’t do anything else, let me feed you, let me nourish you,” and there’s something really beautiful about that. And that was all that was needed to be said. That was all you needed to see in that moment. “Let me feed you.” And since we pick up right where that left off, this season, she loses her right off the bat!
Which is surely going to have some repercussions …
I think Tara’s death is going to be the catalyst for the rest of the season. I can’t say more than that! [Laughs]
It’ll be interesting to see how different characters handle her death …
Yeah, like, “I grieved her once already, so I feel nothing. I feel relief.” Lafayette knows that she doesn’t have to struggle anymore, to be the thing she hates the most. That’s the perfect example. But there is still the very real sense that she’s gone, especially for Sookie. There’s no coming back from the goo!
Although not so much goo on you this time!
It was so cool the way we shot it. Last time Tara died, it was so sad, because it was like Tara and Sookie and Lafayette were this little family, and when Tara got shot in the head, it was like, “Whoa!” This one wasn’t as emotional. It was really emotionally getting shot in the head. Especially because it was a finale, so I kept thinking, “What if they write me out? Oh my God, this could be my last scene!” But this time, I get this amazing fight, I get to fight my way out of it, you get to see her going out fighting. Because she is a fighter.
Read the rest of this interview at vulture.com.