Joe Manganiello Didn’t Like ‘True Blood’ Ending: “There Was So Much Left on the Table for Me”

Joe Manganiello wasn’t happy with the 2014 conclusion of True Blood. The actor, who played fan-favorite werewolf Alcide Herveaux in later seasons of the HBO show, said this week that he feels “like there was a lot that was left unexplored” in the series ending.

“I thought there was so much left on the table for me,” Manganiello said on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show. “The thing about it was they never planned for me to be on the show past one season. I was signed up as a guest star my first season, and when my character really broke and people really loved the character, they were kind of unprepared for that to happen.”

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Early in True Blood‘s seventh and final season, Manganiello’s character — originally introduced in season three — died unexpectedly after being shot. Later that year, the series’ end was met with mixed reviews from fans, when protagonist Sookie Stackhouse (played by Anna Paquin) broke up with vampire boyfriend Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer). Sookie’s other love interest, Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård) ended by obtaining control of a new blood product.

“I wound up on the show for five years in total, but my character had to get out of the way so that Sookie could wind up settling the A and B plots with Bill and Eric,” Manganiello continued. “The only way to get me out of the way was — spoiler alert — you know, to shoot me in the face. I really felt like there was a lot that was left unexplored.”

Since the True Blood conclusion, Manganiello said he’s “always on the lookout for like a good werewolf script for me because… I feel like there’s a lot in me that was unfinished. I have unfinished business in the werewolf department.”

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