Newly appointed True Blood showrunner Mark Hudis was interviewed for the Fall 2012 edition of Haverford* Magazine, in which he shares a few tidbits on what to expect in season six. Here are some noteworthy excerpts from the interview and naturally, we’ll start with Bill. There are some minor spoilers ahead, so proceed with caution.
Season five ended with our normally human-friendly vampire hero Bill Compton drinking the blood of vampire savior Lilith, exploding and reconstituting into something evil. “Certainly he’s not going to be the Bill we know and love,” says Hudis of the character’s evolution next season. “He’s going to have more bite, no pun intended.”
What else can we expect? Following a season that dealt with more global issues (such as national vampire politics), Hudis wants to bring the action back to Bon Temps, the small Louisiana town that is home to the show’s central characters, and focus on telling fewer stories with more characters. (True Blood-ophiles might also be interested to know that Sookie and Jason will spend the year searching for Warlow, the vampire that Sookie has been promised to.)
As showrunner, Hudis is now the chief executive of the production, the head of the writers and the person responsible for the day-to-day operation of the show, including all of the creative decisions. “Ultimately, the tricky part is that now I have to be the arbiter of what ultimately gets on screen,” he says. “Last year, my suggestions would be heard, but this year, it is my call who gets cast, it’s my call how their hair looks, and it’s my call what kind of bullet wound they have.”
To read the rest of the interview, please visit the source.
*Haverford College is the alma mater of Mr. Hudis (class of 1990)
I DO like that there will be fewer storylines, that for me is a huge plus, but I’m a little concerned about bringing it back to Bon Temps.
Sounds to me like Billith wouldn’t exactly ‘fit in’ at Merlotte’s anymore so does it mean screen time will be limited?
Sure hope not.
But I probably should go read the whole interview. Sookie and Jason on the hunt for Worlow huh? That could be okay, it just depends on how stupid they make it.
Me personally, I’d just like to see it come to a reasonable expectation/conclusion… I don’t think any of us are expecting a HEA but just some kind of semi-realistic turnaround would be nice to make it watchable again.
Comment by wickedlywonderful — January 10, 2013 @ 9:21 pm
I’ve been counting on the AB comment that Bill would still be in there, with his thoughts and memories. If he goes deeper and deeper into darkness, it will seem more unrealistic for him to turnaround, just like you mentioned WW.
Comment by senseofdoubt — January 10, 2013 @ 9:35 pm
I don’t know what to say , for the first time ever in True Blood I have no idea where they are going.
Comment by chelad — January 10, 2013 @ 10:02 pm
Interesting… thanks for the link… of course Bill is the main question for everybody
Although Mark Hudis didn’t say that Bill was now something evil… just the writer of the article. While I don’t expect Bill to be all puppies and rainbows, having “more bite” can mean a lot of things… and I’m still holding out hope that by the end of the season he will be more of the Bill we have come to know over the past 4 and a half season.
Even at his craziest, he did what he did because he thought it was the right thing, not because he was trying to be malicious or evil.
Comment by shelhill — January 10, 2013 @ 10:21 pm
Feeling a lot of mixed emotions about Bill’s possible path in S6. I guess the most important thing to me is that our superb Stephen gets loads of screen time. (I am a Mets fan so I know how hard being a loyal fan of any kind can be!) lol
Comment by Mirela — January 11, 2013 @ 11:04 am
Thanks for providing…well I too am happy for less story lines and the Bon Temps centralized approach will hopefully allow the side character to be grounded better into the shorter season and the whole S6 to be more cohesive and fan(g)tastic!
I am very enthusiastic about Warlow, Bill/Billith in any form and Steve directing.
Comment by callonmebill — January 11, 2013 @ 12:33 pm
“…he’s not going to be the Bill we know and love.”
Hmmm, I’m not encouraged by this statement. It doesn’t sound like Bill will be rethinking his Billith incarnation anytime soon. And there’s no hint here that Bill will be involved in any way with Sookie’s search for Warlow.
At this point my hopes are modest: That Bill is clothed in GQ style suits, jeans, cashmere sweaters, leather, and henleys – or nothing at all! That there isn’t one drop of blood on him. That he is out and about, and not stuck in that underground compound. And, first and foremost, that he has ample screen time!
After that, IDK what to hope for.
Except perhaps that we don’t see a role reversal between Eric and Bill – that would be too predictable, too contrived, and too difficult to swallow.
Comment by iamtrue2bill — January 11, 2013 @ 11:00 pm
I agree with everything you wrote, iamtrue2bill. I love the changes from the books that we’ve seen so far, but to have Bill be a bad vampire and Eric the good one is too far afield for me.
Comment by aemac — January 12, 2013 @ 7:14 am
Me too. Please let there be tons of screen time for Stephen. He is, and always has been, the #1 reason I watch TB!
Comment by Mirela — January 12, 2013 @ 9:38 am
Oh well, we will see what this means when we see the first ep.
Comment by Lizzie1701 — January 13, 2013 @ 3:18 am