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Sunday, August 10, 2014

Comic-Con 2014: True Blood Says Goodbye to Comic-Con With Their Final Panel

Written by Jami Ferguson
Saturday’s final panel in Ballroom 20 was also the final panel for "True Blood" as the show is in its last season on HBO with just a few episodes left to air. The panel began with a thank you video to all the fans who have supported the show, followed by the hashtag #goodbyes suck. The cast members that were present were newcomer Nathan Parsons (James), Deborah Ann Woll (Jessica), Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette), Comic-Con virgin Carrie Preston (Arlene), Chris Bauer (Andy), Anna Camp (Sarah Newlin), Kristin Bauer van Straten (Pam), Rutina Wesley (Tara), Sam Trammell (Sam Merlotte), Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton) and Anna Paquin (Sookie Stackhouse). Most notably absent were Alexander Skarsgard (Eric Northman), Ryan Kwanten (Jason Stackhouse) and Joe Manganiello (Alcide). The actors were joined by producer Brian Buckner, who they affectionately call Buckey.
The panel first discussed their memories from the pilot episode and we learned that the original intention was for Lafayette to be killed. It was decided that Nelsan Ellis’ character often called La-La was just too good to get rid of. Ellis recalled wondering at the time why Lafayette’s shirts had to be so tight. It was recently revealed that the vampire bar Fangtasia was originally a video store in the 80s. Kristin Bauer van Stratten admitted to having a lot of fun with the 80s clothes, hair and makeup. Bauer van Stratten was the most emotional of all the cast and was brought to tears more than once during the panel.
When asked what set items the cast wanted to take from the set, she talked about a series of paintings of Clinton and Bush as vampires that she would like to own. The topic of politics came up again as Kristin revealed that she has made people angry with her work on the show, including Sarah Palin. Bauer van Straten did laugh it off saying “Sarah Palin will weigh in on anything.” Although Producer Brian Buckner promised that we have not seen the last of Tara, and that there is still a lot left to be revealed, the cast often returned to reminiscing. The cast discussed the moments when they had their final wraps and talked about shedding tears during the table read for the final episode.
At a previous year’s Comic-Con panel, Kristin Bauer van Straten talked about her character Pam’s relationship with her maker Eric, and Kristin’s own close relationship with the actor who plays him, Eric Skarsgard. In a previous season Eric released Pam, freeing her from the bond they shared and that was a very hard seen for the both of them. Kristin had been relying on Alex’s strength to get her through their final scenes but revealed that he was equally emotional and her plan to say see you tomorrow instead of goodbye failed to keep it a tear-free moment. With a teaser of things to come this season, the panel ended and the crowd rose to its feet. Kristin Bauer van Straten recorded the standing ovation with her cell phone and the panel said its final goodbye’s to the Comic-Con audience.

If you'd like to see the panel yourself, check out the videos below. There's also some additional pictures after the video too.

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