Unlike his True Blood character, Sam Trammell can wax philosophical on both astrophysics and the band Rush alike. Not impressed? He can also discuss all of the above in French, enfoiré. But these days, the actor (a.k.a. diner owner/shape-shifter/nice-guy-with-a-past Sam Merlotte) is more preoccupied with genetics: as in his still-gestating twin sons with actress-girlfriend Missy Yager. Vulture interrupted Trammell, who’s busy nesting at home in L.A., to talk to him about his True Blood plotline, his castmates’ drinking habits, his days partying with Peter Dinklage, and what to do if a serial killer cocoons you in Saran Wrap.
Congratulations on completing season four. What was that wrap party like?
This year a lot of the cast had already gone off to their respective countries. But last year was crazier. There are definitely people on the show that like to have a good time. [Laughs.] Me, one of the writers, [Alexander] Skarsgard, and [Ryan] Kwanten — we’re not shy of doing shots, let’s put it that way. You know Kwanten … both those guys … I don’t wanna speak out of turn, but they probably wouldn’t mind.
They drink like champions?
Oh yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Kwanten, yeah — for sure.
You grew up for a bit in Louisiana. Do you think the accents on the show are, you know, overblown?
I think everyone does a really good job. When you talk about the Louisiana accent, the people in the north have different accents than the people in Lafayette, which are a little more Cajun. Everyone sounds a little bit different, but everyone sounds a little bit different in the south.
That was very diplomatic of you.
[Laughs loudly.]
This season, we’re getting the feeling Sam just can’t trust his brother, Tommy. True?
[There’s] a huge deception and a huge violation of trust. Tommy is definitely in deep water. He’s got Maxine [Hoyt’s overbearing mom], but Tommy’s running out of friends in town. And Tommy’s trying to cheat Maxine out of her land, so he’s really burning a lot of bridges right now.
Will he outright turn evil?
I don’t know if I can really answer that specifically. We’re going to find out what price you pay when you shape-shift. That’s going to be a big issue. There’s a lot of mess that Tommy has already created that I have to clean up, and there’s potentially a lot more mess. He’s kind of a loose cannon.
And what of Sam’s new relationship with Luna?
Luna has a very scary ex-husband and father to her child [and a werewolf]. Sam is going to have a major conflict with the werewolves.
How bummed were you that the show didn’t get any Emmy nominations this year?
Well, you know, it would’ve been really nice to get an Emmy. I think it’s tough because it’s a genre show. I mean, our show is much more than a genre show, because it deals with social issues and it’s really well written — it’s Alan Ball. And production wise it’s really, really rich; we shoot about four pages a day. But I think the fact that we have supernatural beings on it, maybe that’s not popular with Emmy voters.
To read the rest of this interview, go to: nymag.com