True Blood's Theo Alexander On His Gay Vampire Sex Scene with Alexander Skarsgard

I read that you and Denis O'Hare went on a hiking trip to nail down your characters' history. Can you tell me about that?

Yes, we spent a lot of time together. We went on hikes, we went to dinners, we spent time together. Just spending time with Denis though... he is an amazing actor. Every time we met, I learned new things about acting and we bonded really fast and really deep because we had to create this immense love and relationship of 700 years. And even though our characters were fighting in the last few episodes, I think Denis's performance in the next episode will show off how in love our characters were.

How do you begin to flesh out a 700-year relationship? How in depth did you and Denis get?

We thought about the important moments, like when I was turned into a vampire. We thought about secrets between us, ranging from our sexual lives to how we played good cop/bad cop in front of people, because they truly have a different persona in front of people than what they have in their own bedroom. We had secrets from our characters' personal lives though that we never revealed to our costars. The most important thing for me was to "fall in love" with Denis as an artist and as an actor. That wasn't difficult because he was so kind and so open. I'm very proud to call him a friend now. For a young actor to work with someone with a Tony who gets international recognition for his craft, it's very flattering.

Was there one trip in particular that really cemented your friendship?

We bonded pretty immediately. Our first dinner was for sushi and we had such an amazing time that we spent four hours at the restaurant talking about books, what research we were doing, and our characters. Something that was very important for me playing a gay vampire was that in my mind, we were always a married couple. We got married like 700 years ago, undercover. Last week, when I heard that Proposition 8 was overruled after people had fought so long for their right to be what they wanted, I felt really proud, even as an artist, for playing a small part in that and that this couple in True Blood really stood for something.

Your character had a lot of hilariously over-the-top lines. What was the most ridiculous bit of dialogue you had to deliver on the show?

Not ridiculous, but I do not think that any actor ever in the world will have the chance to say "I had to bury werewolves under the gazebo" again.

Might we ever see more of Talbot?

Well, we may do something in season four.

Oh yeah?

Well, my vampire goes through ancient rituals and he comes back as a straight, nice vampire and he goes out with Sookie. [Laughs] At least, that is my plan for Talbot.

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