For the last season of HBO's "True Blood," the cast and executive producer of the show made sure they were able to say goodbye to their loyal fans at the San Diego Comic-Con. It was a tearful goodbye for everyone.
The "True Blood" panel started with a farewell video, where the cast said their thanks to the viewers. After the pleasantries, a reel of scenes were shown as a sneak peek to the last five episodes of the final season were also shown. The reel showed Bill infected with Hep-V and Sookie trying to save him. But Bill wants to set her free, which might hint at a big sacrifice at the end of the season.
The cast spent seven years together and it wasn't easy for any of them to let go of that. The cast answered questions with occasional tears.
"This season is about the love all these people share with each other — it's really touching," Brian Buckner shared. "I think we've really given these people their due. It's our last season... this season had to be about Bill and Sookie. It's not going to be exactly what you think it is, but Alcide had to go," says the executive producer about Alcide's death.
Buckner also revealed that the main focus of the last episodes will be Bill and Sookie's relationship. "This show started out and worked because of the chemistry they shared... they got married for us! I certainly felt that we had to come back to Bill and Sookie; how we're coming back to them, we're not telling you."
"It's not done changing, it's not gonna slow down any, there's just a bit more focus on romance... We put last season's issue to rest early on purpose," adds Buckner. "We know you love these characters, so we landed them in a place where we hope you guys will be okay not with getting them anymore."
Bauer van Straten, the most emotional from the bunch, shared that she has cried 96 times that day and admitted her struggle when filming her last scene with Alexander Skarsgard.
"I've been crying for about a year, thinking about when that scene would come... I thought he would be rock solid, so when I saw him crack... I just tried to get out of there." The duo was seen in tears when they exited the panel.
Although Tara died early in the season, Buckner revealed that it won't be the last of Rutina. "It hit me all at once... It was beautiful, it was sad, it was on to new things," the actress who played the character shared.
What was the final scene like? Deborah Ann Woll narrated, "In typical 'True Blood' fashion, I wrapped at 4 a.m. out in the woods somewhere. We had a moment where at least half the cast were together, 17 people wrapped at once." Nelsan Ellis agreed, "It was a beautiful scene, I thought it was appropriate."
Carrie Preston added, "We were just in each other's arms and mourning, but celebrating too. We started crying at the table read for that episode."
Even Stephen Moyer said that saying his farewell to the crew was very emotional for him. "This is the last time we'll all be together in this guise, so we're still mourning," he said.
Anna Paquin shared her own experience with the farewells. "The second that we wrapped, everyone had to pack their shit up and get out of there as fast as possible because we weren't on any of our regular sets," she said, which made the ending bittersweet.
When asked about her opinion on who Sookie should've ended up with, a question she has avoided for years to avoid disappointing or offending anyone, she answered, "Charlaine [Harris] ended it with Sam [with Sookie] — that made a lot of sense, they can both exist in the daylight... I understand why she made that decision."
Catch the last episodes of the final season of "True Blood" on HBO, Sundays at 9 p.m.
