Just days before True Blood 's sixth season premieres on HBO, the cast gathered for a blood-themed premiere party in Hollywood on Tuesday night to celebrate the return of the vampire drama.
At the end of season five, most of the residents of Bon Temps were in peril in one form or another, with the biggest threat being Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), who had just drank the blood of Lilith, the first vampire, and been born again as a blood-covered (and possibly evil) being.
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"He is out to try and find out what he is and what he can do," Moyer told THR about his new, bad boy version of Bill. "He doesn't know. He doesn't know what his powers are, he doesn't know what his purpose is."
Most of the cast of HBO's drama attended the premiere at ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood on Thursday, including Moyer along with his wife and co-star Anna Paquin, Alexander Skarsgard, Sam Trammell. Kristin Bauer van Straten, Joe Manganiello and Rutina Wesley. The screening was followed by a blood-red themed party at Boulevard 3, which featured carnival games and models dressed in all-red costumes and body paint.
The new season promises to present plenty of threats for many of the characters, who will not only deal with the new Bill, but also increasing tension between humans and vampires and new complicated relationships.
"We're at war," said Wesley, who plays newly made vampire, Tara. "They shut down all vampire-run business, there's a curfew. It's really tough to survive."
Wesley also told THR that she's involved in "a really cool stunt" in a very bloody scene later in the season. "But I can't really tell you what it is," she added at the premiere at the ArcLight Cinemas in Hollywood.
Deborah Ann Woll, who plays Jessica, Bill's vampire progeny, told THR that it's been a very bloody, dirty season for her as well.
"I feel like every other day I'm covered in blood or dirt of some kind," she said.
Woll said that for the premiere episode, which was directed by Moyer, they shot a very intense scene for five nights in a row. "By the end of that I think I had blood on 75 percent of my body," she said. "And it was the kind of thing where a week later I was still finding it in my ears."
Anna Camp, who is returning as Sarah Newlin, the Southern preacher's wife who is not a fan of vampires, also told THR that she's involved in a bloody scene that left its mark on her.
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"I have a lot of bruises from shooting a bloody, bloody scene. I had to put some makeup on them," she said. "I just shot it last week. It's by far the craziest thing I've ever done."
Camp's Sarah Newlin first appeared in the second season of the show, and is returning with a very specific cause this year.
"This has been one of my favorite roles that I've ever played, ever in my life," said Camp, adding that she bases the character on her mother, who is from South Carolina.
Camp's character will get to reunite with her former husband, Steve Newlin, who was once a conservative reverend, but then became a gay vampire. Rev. Newlin will get to be a part of some pretty "wild stuff," said Michael McMillian, who plays the character.
"He's at the center of a lot of violence this season," he told THR. "He's going to be on the receiving end of some trouble and he's going to be causing some trouble."
True Blood's sixth season premieres on Sunday, June 16, at 9 p.m. on HBO.
E-mail: Rebecca.Ford@thr.com
Twitter: @Beccamford
