Deborah Ann Woll spoke to CBSNews.com about what’s in store on the show this season; her character Jessica’s evolution in the series; and a special project she worked on recently outside of her normal vampire duties.
Below are excerpts from the interview:
How would you compare this upcoming season compared to past seasons?
I would say for me the big difference I’ve noticed this season is we’re kind of gathering into our story lines. I would say that circumstances have pulled a lot of people together. I work with a lot more people this year. The story lines are a little bigger, more focused, where more people are focused on the same plot.
That last scene in the season five finale, where Bill comes back to life as this powerful figure after it looked like he died, was pretty incredible. Will there be a resolution to that in the new season?
Definitely something happened to Bill. We’re not sure yet, we’ll find out as the season goes on. I think even Bill’s not quite sure what’s happened to Bill, so there’ll be some searching for him as well.
What will happen to Jessica in season six for her? It seems like she’s gone through some maturity in the last couple of seasons.
Even though she’ll be 17 forever, time is what matures us. She certainly has a lifetime of experience in the last season. Yes, I think that she’s evolving. I think that this season — while there’s definitely still that youthful — I like to think of Jessica as irrepressible, that you can’t really get her down. These terrible things happen, she does terrible things, she feels horrible about them, but somehow she’s able to rally her spirits and start again. I find that to be a really admirable quality. I think [in] this season that comes off in a big way. She’s gonna be really tested to see if she is mature enough to pick up the pieces and start again because every season she seems to be alone and looking for someone to be there for her and we’ll see who it is.
There was obviously a romantic chemistry between Jessica and Jason. But then in the season five finale, he treated her pretty cold.
He’s also brain-damaged at the time, too. We got to give him that. Hoyt’s gone for good now and Jason’s not giving her the time of day, and even though she may not know it yet at the end of season five, her maker [Bill] has been completely transformed in some way. She’s really on her own and I think she’s gonna cling to whatever she can find.
By the way, the scene in which Jessica glamours (hypnotizes) Hoyt into forgetting about her so he could move on with his life was one of the most poignant moments of last season.
I think it’s one of the most beautiful ways we’ve had a send-off. Jim Parrack was really dear, — certainly to me personally — but I think to all of us. I think it meant a lot to everyone that he got such a beautiful send-off, we all really wanted to do right by him.
How is it like working with Ryan Kwanten, who really made the character of Jason Stackhouse as his own?
Ryan is awesome. He really is. I have to say I hit the jackpot when it comes to the people I get to work with on the show. I mostly work with Steve and then Jim previously and Ryan and all of them are just the kindest, most respectful and most talented. Ryan is just to watch him on set — sometimes I forget I’m doing a scene and I’m just observing — because he’s so excellent and he’s fun to hang out with as well. These are long days and 40 percent of them is just waiting around and it’s nice to have someone who is interesting and fun to talk to. He’s a smart, kind man.
Outside of True Blood, you served as an executive producer of a new documentary called Running Blind, which tells the story of EJ Scott, who has a degenerative eye disease called Choroideremia — and yet ran in 12 marathons in 12 states in one year while blindfolded. How did you get involved with that?
[EJ] is my boyfriend. This was a charity event, a fundraiser he was doing last year. We are trying to raise awareness and fund for a cure. But also this is a great story about people who face challenges and rise above them. We ended up making this short doc and we had a premiere at the Telluride Mountain Film Festival a couple of weekends ago. We’re very excited. It was really hard for him, but he did a great job.
From what you did on Running Blind, do you foresee yourself doing more behind-the-scenes work as your career progresses in addition to acting?
Not really. I think I did this because it was really close to my heart. It was very personal and I wanted to support EJ in what he was doing. I’m a bit of a writer — I’ve done a little bit of that. But mostly acting is really where my heart is and that’s what I really want to do.
Source: TheVault
