True Blood is coming back this Sunday and I can’t wait! I’ve read all the books except the latest one, and am so excited to see how Alan Ball interprets Harris’ new characters and upcoming plots. The end of last season was pretty disappointing to me, and I found the whole climactic bacchanalian theme with Maryann over the top. It didn’t take too much away from how excellent the show and characters are (except for Maryann, she was awful), but it was a real departure from the books that failed, in my opinion.

Potential mild spoilers ahead. Serious spoilers after the quote There are confirmed new characters from the books being introduced that I’m looking forward to, particularly werewolf Alcide and Jason’s new shapeshifter love interest, Crystal.

In the new issue of Entertainment Weekly, the cast talks about their sex scenes and the strategic use of socks during filming. Stephen Moyer jokes that he doesn’t need a “fluffer” for his scenes with real life love interest Anna Paquin. Are we about to see vampire wood?

“I think that one great bonus is that we don’t need a fluffer,” Moyer, 40 (who plays Bill, vampire Sookie’s lover on the HBO show, returning June 13), brags in the new issue of Entertainment Weekly about his fiancee.

Paquin, 27, doesn’t mind stripping down for her racy bedroom scenes.

“It doesn’t really bother me,” she says. “I’m really close with all of our cast, and we’ve all seen each other in various compromising and odd situations.”

New castmate Joe Manganiello, who plays werewolf Alcide, says he got used to taking it all off as soon as he stepped on set.

“Having been a fan of the show, you know you’re going to be naked at some point,” he jokes. “I will say that I was welcomed into the brotherhood of the sock. When you’re naked on the show, you have to wear a sock, and it’s not on your foot.”

[From US Magazine]

Serious spoilers ahead
So we know that there are more sex scenes with Sookie and Bill coming, but the real question is – when will Sookie and Erik (Alex Skarsgard) get it on? In Harris’ series, those two had mad sex for a couple of weeks while Erik was conveniently enchanted and nothing like his regular scheming self. He was also unable to remember their romps when he snapped out of it, something that worked out very conveniently for Sookie. I wish I could set up some kind of arrangement like that. I want to see some hot non dream sequence sex scenes between Sookie and Erik!

If you can’t wait to see the new True Blood series, there are some previews and webisodes available to whet your appetite. My favorite webisode is one with spitfire teen vamp Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) messing with a preacher at a casino. Her character is not in the books and is a welcome addition to the show. Woll has a new interview with People Magazine in which she talks about some of the issues Jessica faces this season. Anna Paquin also partially revealed what’s in store for Sookie, and I think those of us who read the books know what she’s referring to when she says “We find out what Sookie is” this season.

There are some spoilers in those links, but no matter how much you think you know, True Blood will have surely have some juicy surprises in store. It airs this Sunday on HBO at 9pm. (This is not an ad, I’m just a fan!)

EW cover courtesy of HuffPo.