With the fourth season of True Blood being shot right now, are you guys sitting around wondering what is going to happen next? I know I am guilty of this so I was hoping to dig around a bit and see what I could find out.

We have a very special shape shifter series this week that although will not reveal any MAJOR plot points, will be enough to whet your appetites a bit. Today we are featuring Sam Trammell who of course plays shape shifter/bar owner Sam Merlotte on the HBO supernatural drama. Tomorrow you will read our interview with Janina Gavankar who will play Bon Temps newest shape shifter/school teacher Luna in season four.

Trammell’s character had some major demons going on inside him during season three and you will be happy to know that Sam (the actor not the character) is enjoying every second of it.

Plus learn a little more about the real Sam Trammell and some of his favorite things, including a surprising television show that he loves watching on his free time!

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Rosy: Happy New Year Sam! Did you kick off the new year with any resolutions?

S. Trammell: Oh my goodness, I really didn’t, what can I say? I haven’t even dealt with the fact that it’s the New Year yet, I was just trying to get in shape for the show because I have to do these scenes, but I don’t have any New Year’s Resolutions, I got nothing for you on that.

Rosy: So let’s get right into some True Blood talk! Have you guys headed back to set since the holidays?

S. Trammell: Yeah, we are, we started on the 3rd of January or something like that. So, we’re back, I’ve already done like two nights, all nights, overnight, cold weather.

Rosy: What episode are you all currently shooting?

S. Trammell: We are shooting parts of one, two and three. We usually have two episodes going at the same time. But, I know we’re shooting two, and I think we might have started three at this point.

Rosy: I had no idea you did a few of them at the same time. Doesn’t that get confusing?

S. Trammell: Well, it’s pretty wild. Like for instance, I was shooting a scene of episode two one night at the early part of the night, and the latter part of the night a new director and crew came in, and I did a scene from episode one, so I did two different episodes in the same night. So, it’s really not that confusing, those two scenes, just because they are different episodes doesn’t necessarily make it confusing.

It’s just as likely that those two scenes could have been in the same episode, it’s just a day has passed or something like that. So sometimes its confusing, we have so much to shoot, so it takes a while to shoot our show, and if we didn’t do two at a time, we’d finish in October.

Rosy: When the season premieres, is it going to pick up from where it left off?

S. Trammell: I can’t really talk about that. There are definitely some surprises that are really cool that happen right at the beginning of next year.

Rosy: Sam has gone through a major evolution since we first met him in season 1, can you talk a bit about the character’s evolution, and where you see him going?

S. Trammell: Well yeah, I guess the first three seasons that took up about two months time and in that time he had sex with a few different people. He has one girlfriend that totally betrayed him to Maryann. He almost got killed by Maryann, and then the whole stuff with his parents an all that. We don’t know yet if I shot my brother or what happened there. But yeah, Sam has kind of had a tough road for sure, but we saw in the flashback that she had a tough life before Bon Temps. So, I think Sam came to Bon Temps to reinvent himself and to start a new life, and I feel like Sam is a really good person at heart.

But a lot of the repressed emotions built up. It’s frustrating that we didn’t know a lot about me because I kept to myself. I was kind of secretive and, I think that throughout the two months that were the first three seasons, I was coming out of my shell a lot more, and not repressing a lot of the baggage that I had coming into Bon Temps.

In a way, I’m becoming more myself, I’m kind of hiding myself a little bit less. Also, people have found out that I’m a shape shifter and it’s kind of hard. I think that would be one of the main things that sam has been shaken loose from his shell and and we are starting to see really more who he really is, the good sides and the bad sides. Sam is definitely a good person and he follows that up in the fourth season. He is not as hidden as he was.

Rosy: As we got further in to the season, your character got a lot darker, we saw stuff that we never expected from Sam. Are you enjoying the change?

S. Trammell: Oh yeah, that was fun, that was really fun! I loved getting to do the flashback scenes from stealing with the girl and then when I shot them that was really fun. And also kind of being drunk and firing Tommy. Just getting to do something different like that was great, and just a lot of fun to do something different. I did enjoy that.

Rosy: Sam’s parents were a big part of season three, do you know if we’ll see them again?

S. Trammell: I think we will see my parents again, yeah, I think we do. I think that happens, it’s gonna happen. I thought they were great, they were really good. They were fantastic.

Rosy: Sam and Sookie’s (Anna Paquin) relationship has been really complex. Where do you see the future of their dynamic?

S. Trammell: Sam is always gonna hold a bit of a flame for Sookie. She’s obviously in love with Bill (Stephen Moyer), and she has that whole world to explore. But I feel like there’s always going to be a connection between us.

And, as frustrated as I certainly got the first season, it maybe part of the second season of which they’re running off with the vampires, cause it’s going to be healthy for her. As frustrated as I got, I think I’ll always hold the torch for her and also really keep an eye out for her. I feel like there’s definitely a real love there.

Who knows, maybe it can turn into some sort of relationship down the line, and be more than just friends. But in the meantime, I feel like we’re both kind of definitely from season one Sam has kind of given up on her as far as pursuing her in a romantic relationship and he’s gone on to other things. But I feel there’s still a spark there, and there probably always will be.

Rosy: This season you have a new shape shifter coming in. Janina Gavankar is going to playing the role of Luna. Can you tell us what role her character will play in Sam’s life?

S. Trammell: She is a new shape shifter, and she’s someone that I’ve met. I honestly don’t know what her whole thing is going to be. I’ve only seen the first three episodes myself.

She’s definitely somebody that Sam can share his experiences as a shape shifter with, and she’s somebody that I’m actually trying to help out in a certain way. I’m trying to sort of in the way that Daphne’s character tried to help me deal with my own shape shifting stuff. I’m kind of helping her a little bit. So she’s kind of, she’s somebody that Sam is able to share her experiences with.

It’s hard to do interviews and I’m trying not give anything away. So that’s why some of this is vague and cryptic so, sorry about that.

She’s definitely someone that is going to be a big part of Sam’s life in this fourth season, and I think there’s going to be sounding boards for each other, and they’re going to help each other.

Anyways, she’s sort of part of this, she’s another shape shifter that I’m talking to.

Rosy: I heard that you and Luna would be getting together and attending some sort of “meetings” together. Are the shape shifters planning to come out into the open like the vampires are?

S. Trammell: Well, that is possible, but I don’t know. I actually don’t know the answer to that. I kind of doubt it, but it’s possible. Ok it sounds like you know about this group, yes there’s this little group that she’s apart of, that I’m apart of.

But I don’t know, it kind of feels, I think it’s just, I don’t know if there’s a kind of group plan to do anything together as far as group vs society. We just kind of help each other with our problems so far.

Rosy: True Blood is such a guilty pleasure for so many. I watch celebrity interviews and so many confess to watching the show without fail. What are your guilty pleasure tv shows?

S. Trammell: Oh Gosh, there’s a couple of new things. Tosh.0 I just started watching on Comedy Central. That guys pretty funny. There’s that, and for a while, Project Runway.

There were a bunch of people that I knew were watching it. I haven’t watched it in two seasons. There was a season that I wasn’t into it, and I haven’t gotten back.

Rosy: Dexter is one of my other guilty pleasure TV shows, I love that you were his second victim. Can you tell me what the experience was being wrapped up in the cellophane and to be killed by Dexter?

It was pretty cool, it was the first episode after it got picked up, so they didn’t even know they were a hit TV show yet. So it was really cool.

Michael C. Hall was great! It was intense because I think they now have something figured out with the cellophane. They have this sort of suit that it’s easier to get in and out.

But, for me they wrapped me in cellophane and it felt like it took almost a half hour to do that. And then I was stuck for almost four hours wrapped tightly, and I remember my arms starting to go to sleep. They were trying to get the shot off before my arm really fell asleep, and I had to get out of here. But, it was intense. It’s really intense; he shoved an ice pick into the heart or something like that. It was a fun deal, I love playing bad guys, it’s always great. So, that was good. It was intense, it was kind of claustrophobic being wrapped up like that.

In case any of you missed this episode (shame on you!) check it out!:

Rosy: With all the time that goes into creating and promoting a show like True Blood, do you have time to work on other projects? I know you did the Funny or Die video which is great, and you have a couple movies coming out?

S. Trammell: Yeah, we have four or five months of hiatus, we don’t do 22 episodes like the cable network shows. But yeah I do have some time. I did this movie called Guns, Girls, and Gambling over the hiatus and yeah I got some of those Funny or Die videos, and definitely got called to do some other stuff during the hiatus.

Rosy: Has Guns, Girls, and Gambling gotten a release date yet?

S. Trammell: No, not yet. I think they’re still editing but it doesn’t have a release date yet.

Rosy: You’re also rumored to have a role in a movie called “Egg Scape”? Can you confirm if you have a role in the film and what it is?

S. Trammell: I don’t know if that film is happening or not. I read it and said I might be interested, but that movie is not in production or even in pre-production. That’s just a possibility.

Written by Rosy on January 18, 2011

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