Yesterday evening, TV Guide’s Natalie Abrams posted an interview with Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse) on TV Guide’s website. Kwanten’s character recently sent the internet into a flurry when he was spotted in a grave with Jessica Hamby (Deborah Ann Woll) looking pretty much dead. The actor addressed this issue and more in the following interview. But like his fellow cast mates, Ryan was careful not to give away too much!
Earlier this year E! Online’s Watch with Kristin stated that Jason might not survive the season. Being in that hole makes things look pretty grim and Ryan says the stakes can’t get any higher:
“There’s actually not that much of a mislead there. The stakes are as high as it gets. I mean, the guy is not just fighting for his life, it looks like he’s dead and he’s surrounded by vampires, so his chance of survival does not look good. He’s just a mere mortal after all, or a mere Stackhouse, I should say.”
Ryan Kwanten as Jason and Deborah Ann Woll as Jessica in Gone, Gone Gone/ John P. Johnson, HBO, Inc.
His relationship with Jessica has been running hot and cold since their hookup at the end of this year. But Jessica being friends with Jason has helped his mind set toward vampires evolve since season one. He was very narrow minded toward them at the beginning of the show. But now that he knows a vampire killed his parents, Jason will have to reconsider everything in his life including Jessica. (Dun! Dun! Dun!)
And as if that isn’t enough Jason and Sookie (Anna Paquin) just found out at the end of Gone, Gone, Gone that she was promised to the vampire who killed her parents over 300 years prior. Yikes! Ryan says that in spite of this, Jason will do everything he can to protect his sister because he loves her and she’s the last of his family. Even if it means squaring off against Russell Edgington (Denis O’Hare) and Steve Newlin (Michael McMillian). The pair are on the hunt for fairie blood and Jason is the only one who knows where they are. Ryan says that scene was very fun to shoot:
“You know, it was one of the most fun scenes to shoot with the three of us together because those two, both Denis and Michael, are absolutely hilarious together. So putting the character of Jason in the middle of them, it was a really interesting thing to play because you’re playing the obvious comedy that’s there, but then there’s a lot at stake.”
Ryan Kwanten as Jason and Anna Paquin as Sookie in Hopeless/ John P. Johnson, HBO, Inc.
Outside of trying to protect Sookie and get justice for his parents, Jason also lost best friend Hoyt (Jim Parrack) who decided to head to Alaska because he felt there was nothing left for him. Kwanten feels that Jason is affected by this a lot not only because Hoyt is his best friend but also because he feels responsible for his departure. He was so busy with Jessica and everything else that he might have left the relationship to linger too long which was why he left. This might make Jason set his relationship aside with Jessica even more so that he can really take a look at his life and get it in order.
We might also see a callback to the past with Jason spending a few scenes these last episodes with Sookie and Tara (Rutina Wesley), something that hasn’t happened in awhile:
“Yes, you will. As in most seasons, towards the end, most of the story lines come together and you will definitely see the three of us together. This particular season has one of the best cliff-hangers I think we’ve ever shot, which definitely involves Sookie, myself and Tara — perhaps we’re all working together.”
Jason will have a very big role in the season finale this year. Kwanten teases that this year’s finale will feature a lot of death, where no one is really safe and the season will end on a very much OMG moment:
“Well, a very big role. Like I said before, it’s his family he’s fighting for. It’s the town. It’s for the answers to his parents dying. It’s pretty much do or die for Jason. This finale actually takes us all the way up to a huge cliff-hanger in [the final episode] where you’re not quite sure who’s going to live and who’s going to die. In previous seasons, we had the so-called cliff-hanger in either Episode 10 or 11 and then, Episode 12 is answering that cliff-hanger and then setting up the new season, whereas this one very much leaves us on a big “Oh, my God,” moment.”
Ryan Kwanten at the True Blood Season 5 Premiere/Jason Merritt, Getty Images
As for what challenged him this year, Ryan enjoyed seeing Jason’s evolution which left him to deal with a lot of different situations. He actually had to deal with the consequences of cheating, losing his best friend, and now he has to protect his family. Sex wasn’t the be all end all for him this year. And those things are very difficult to deal with in the few weeks in show time.
Currently, Ryan is in Canada shooting a film as part of his hiatus and he says Canada is the perfect place to be:
“I’m actually in Canada as we speak, shooting a film called The Right Kind of Wrong, one of the best scripts I’ve read in a long time. So I’m really excited. We start our first day of photography actually on Monday, but it’s absolutely gorgeous here. I thought I’d been to beautiful places before here in the world, but this puts most of them to shame.”
Source: TV Guide.com- “True Blood‘s Ryan Kwanten: It’s Do or Die for Jason Stackhouse in the Finale”
