Despite the heartbreaking ending for the character's storyline, Joe Manganiello says, 'Story wise, it had to happen.'
- Jul 7, 2014
AceShowbiz - Sookie and Alcide's love story apparently does not last long. Starting off the final season of "True Blood" as a couple, their romance had a tearjerking ending in the latest episode aired on Sunday, July 6.
[SPOILER ALERT!] Alcide became the latest victim of casualty on the show as he took a bullet to the forehead while tracking Sookie in the woods. "I die naked in the woods with nothing but my sock on. Given Alcide's track record on the show, I was like, 'that's about right,' " Joe Manganiello tells The Hollywood Reporter of his character's exit.
Claiming that he knew this was coming, he explains why it had to happen. "There was no way they could keep him around. Sookie has to settle things with the vampire guys, and you can't have Sookie break Alcide's heart because then the audience isn't going to side with her or identify with her," he says in an interview with TVLine.
"There's no one that's going to be upset that he's dead, except Sookie - and maybe Sam. Those are the only people he's interacted with ever. He got separated from the herd," he continues, adding that Alcide's death will have a great impact on Sookie. "In terms of the plot, I'm sure she'll feel guilty about it, because it was her running off that led to him chasing after her," he says. "Story wise, it had to happen."
Insisting that Alcide won't return despite the show's history of bringing back Tara from dead by turning her into a vampire, Manganiello says, "Alcide would probably shoot himself in the head if he came back as a vampire." Thus, he defends Sookie's decision not to turn Alcide into a bloodsucker. "Vampires and werewolves hate each other, so for him to lose his werewolf powers and come back as a vampire ... I think she did the right thing," he further explains.
He adds, "It would be a fate worse than death - from a cultural standpoint for him, and to lose his power and his connection to nature. And for Sookie, she's run into trouble with all these vampires. To turn the one guy who's been just unconditionally loving and good to her wouldn't be right."
Asked whether Alcide and Sookie might have ended up together had he not been killed, the "Magic Mike" hunk answers, "I think that this moment does change her. I think it's a pivotal moment there, that this guy that was in love with her dies because of this madness that follows her and that she chases after. It winds up being a pivotal moment."
"Had he lived, taken some time to heal - maybe. Maybe he winds up being a possibility, but it never got to that point. Alcide really is the grown-up choice," he says.
"True Blood" will return with the new episode next Sunday, July 13 at 9/8c on HBO. In a preview for the episode, Bill decides to help Sookie even though they are outnumbered because he feels he owes Sookie everything. Jessica is not healing after she was shot because she is not eating, Arlene is in danger, Jason holds Sam at gunpoint and Eric shows up at Bill's mansion.
According to the synopsis for "Death Is Not the End", in the aftermath of yet another bloodbath, Sam, Sookie and Jason find themselves the bearers of bad news in Bon Temps and beyond. Pam recalls the events that led her and Eric to Shreveport and Fangtasia. Bill and Jessica get nourishment from unexpected sources. Following a new lead, Sookie enlists a band of vampires and humans to track down the H-Vamps.
