After True Blood Twist, Actress Rutina Wesley Talks Tara [Spoilers!]

After a long wait, True Blood fans were finally able to dig in to the seventh and final season of the show — and don’t read any further if you haven’t started yet, because there is no way to avoid spoilers in the upcoming quotes.

Fans of both True Blood the show and the series conceived by Charlaine Harris know that the adaptation has seemingly entirely diverged from the books at this point — particularly as it’s ending long before the scripted adventures of Sookie Stackhouse concluded in a manner that angered many hardcore fans. (NOT COOL, HARRIS, NOT COOL.)

The absoluteness of this book/screen schism became clear during the first few minutes of True Blood‘s first and final season kickoff last night — when Tara Thornton, best friend and eternal balance to Sookie was killed off in a non-book-based twist. (By the by, she was fighting in part to protect her long-disapproving mother Lettie Mae.)

Given the differences between the books and the show (which the TV adaptation appears to be doubling down upon), it’s hard for book fans to context something like the killing off of Tara — and the actress who portrayed the popular character spoke in an interview published after the hashtag “Not Tara” shot to the top of Twitter’s charts last night.

Rutina Wesley has been with the show since True Blood‘s inaugural episode, and the star seems to be content with the fate of her character so close to the end of the drama’s run.

When asked what she felt after learning Tara died in a vampire/human battle in the first few minutes of the first episode, Wesley explained:

“I think it’s great. I think somebody had to go. To have a main character right off the bat go, that’s gonna bring everybody into the show. It’s like, ‘Okay, and the show has started.’ It’s kind of like the catalyst for everything else that’s gonna probably happen—I don’t know what’s gonna happen, because I didn’t read anything else because I want to be surprised. I think it’s kinda cool that the last time you see me, it looks like I’m gonna win the fight, and then you cut to Lettie Mae.”

Wesley continues:

“Me and that vampire went at it, and unfortunately, he wins. [Laughs] They’ve given me such an incredible journey on this show that I’ve never had any complaints about what they’ve written for me. So when I found out, I was just like, ‘Okay, great. Let’s get it started. This is the final season. We can’t all make it to the end.’ You wouldn’t have a show. There wouldn’t be any drama. It wouldn’t be True Blood if somebody didn’t die.”

(Did anyone else think of how Bill laments to Sookie after Jessica is turned that most baby vampires don’t make it past their first year? And did anyone else wonder if Pam “felt” Tara’s death, being her maker?)

Wesley also hinted that while her character is good and dead on True Blood, that doesn’t necessarily mean we won’t see Tara again — perhaps in a flashback or even a ghost-related scene.

[Image: Rutina Wesley, HBO.com]