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True Blood Stars Shine On in Post-Bon Temps Careers
4 Oct
Summary
- True Blood aired 2 months before Twilight's vampire craze
- Show featured dark humor, gory horror, and Southern Gothic camp
- Actors like Alexander Skarsgård and Joe Manganiello found breakout success

In October 2025, it has been over a decade since HBO's supernatural drama True Blood aired its final episode. But the show's impact and the success of its cast continue to reverberate.
True Blood, which premiered in 2008, put an original, sexy spin on the vampire genre just two months before the Twilight craze took over. Based on Charlaine Harris' The Southern Vampire Mysteries books, the show was packed with more seductive characters than one could shake a sharpened stake at. Led by Anna Paquin's lovable telepath, Sookie Stackhouse, and her brooding, blood-sucking boyfriend, Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), the show's forbidden romances were colored by dark humor, gory horror, and Southern Gothic camp.
The winning formula had viewers returning to the show's fictional Louisiana town long after Edward and Bella had their happily ever after. While some characters casually walked off into the sunset, others fell victim to True Blood's burning rays. Regardless of their fates, the actors who portrayed them have stayed with us, with breakout stars like Alexander Skarsgård and Joe Manganiello continuing to shine in their post-Bon Temps careers.