Where were we left?
Firstly, we know the show bears little resemblance to the books on which it's based. So we can't successfully speculate the outcome of next season by turning the pages of chick lit. Instead, let's scrutinise the previous series' cliffhangers to see where we're likely to go.
After proposing to Sookie, the love of his afterlife, Bill is seemingly kidnapped by a gloved attacker. The evidence suggests Eric's his captor: not only has the veteran vampire promised the Queen he'd take care of him "personally", he also lusts after Sookie and burns at the touch of silver (thus the need for finger protection).
Isn't all that a bit obvious though? Damn right it is. Remember how it was hinted, at the end of season one, that the toe-nail painted corpse was that of drug-dealing Lafayette, not voodoo lady Miss Jeanette? The True Blood producers love to mislead their audience.
At least we know it can't be Maryann--thank God that Maynard's dead and gone. The fang-hating Fellowship of the Sun has seemingly been destroyed too and shape-shifting Sam is far too busy trying to trace his birth parents.
What do we know?
The current cast of stunning actors isn't enough for the True Blood team. They've gone and hired hordes more. Thankfully, with the announcement of these incoming faces come revelations of upcoming plots. Think Twilight meets Shameless.
On his quest to find relations Sam meets his mechanic brother Tommy (Marshall Allman), "dirt-poor" mother Melinda (J. Smith-Cameron) and mum's partner Joe (Cooper Huckabee). Sam's already been warned against them by his adoptive mother, can they really be that bad? Well, apparently his real mum's also a "trashy-looking" alcoholic. Chances are she's a shape-shifter too.
As has become the norm with True Blood, even more supernatural beings are expected to emerge this season. Ugly Betty's Grant Bowler has been cast as Cooter, the leader of a menacing motorcycle gang, who also happens to be a werewolf (Bill's kidnapper too, perhaps?). Meanwhile, British actress Lara Pulver (Robin Hood) will play the recurring role of Sookie's fairy godmother, Claudine.
Elsewhere, Lafayette is reunited with his ill mother (Alfre Woodward) who's accompanied by a hunky "good-natured" carer called Jesus Velasquex. Prison Break's Kevin Alejandro plays the new orderly, who ends up in a relationship with Lafayette.
They're not the only gay couple in Bon Temps though; one of the straight locals has an affair with a new male vampire. Talbos, played by Theo Alexander, is rumoured to cheat on his sugar-daddy of 700 years--the King of Mississippi, played by Dennis O'Hare--with Sam, Bill, Eric or Jason. Our bet's on Eric; he's not had much loving so far. Tara on the otherhand has had a new bloke every season, and this one's no different: she ends up with Mr Mississippi.
Talking of love, Bill's first wife (Shannon Lucio), who we met in season one, returns more regularly in the third season. In what capacity though, we're not quite sure.
When will it air?
True Blood's third season debuts in the States on Sunday, June 13. In Britain, however, we've far longer to wait---FX don't plan on airing the new episodes until early next year. At least there are (foul-mouthed) webisodes to watch in the meantime…
Also, here's the latest teaser trailer...
Ummm... we didn't meet Caroline, Bill's wife in Season 2. We *heard* about her, and we met Lorena, his maker, but Shannon Lucio didn't even make a cameo in Season 2.
YAY for season 3. I can't wait!!!
To Spoonfed, if you don't want to know what's happening then why open an article which discusses season 3? It's idiotic.
Not big on Bill's first wife ;o[ but sounds like enough new blood to mix it all up! Looking forward to it.
I hope they haven't added too many charcters but I can't wait for more Eric. Bill who?
Great show, but I skipped reading most of this, just once it's nice not to know every detail of what will happen. The element of surprise seems to be a dying art, looking forward to this season though.
Can't wait for season 3 and more Eric. :D