True Blood‘s upcoming seventh and final season will have one rather big chance to its cast. Luke Grimes, who played Jessica’s vampire boyfriend James in season 6, will not be returning for the final season, though his character will.
According to TVLIne, Grimes has left the show over differences in the “creative direction of the character,” and as a result HBO is now recasting the role for the final season.
It seems that Grimes’ initial interest in the role was to work with Deborah Ann Woll, with whom he costars in the upcoming film Forever, but the initial scripts for True Blood season 7 had a completely different direction for James. However, don’t feel too badly for Grimes as he has already been cast in the upcoming Fifty Shades of Grey film as Christian Grey’s brother Elliot.
Whatever the new direction is, James the vampire will return for True Blood‘s final season, only he’ll be played by a different actor. However, this is nothing new for HBO or even True Blood.
The show previously recast Claude, a fairy relative of Sookie. Originally played by Neil Hopkins in season 4, he was replaced by Giles Matthey in subsequent seasons.
HBO has also done this several times with its other big drama, Game of Thrones. Gregor “The Mountain” Clegane has been played by several actors. In the upcoming fourth season, Daenerys Targaryan’s mercenary Daario Naharis will have a new face as actor Ed Skrein will be replaced by Michael Huisman.
What new direction do you think True Blood will take James that gets him away from Jessica? And who do you think should replace Luke Grimes? These answers and more will be revealed in True Blood‘s final season debuting this summer on HBO.
(Image courtesy of HBO)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
John watches nearly every show on TV, but he specializes in sci-fi/fantasy like The Vampire Diaries, Supernatural and True Blood. However, he can also be found writing about everything from Survivor and Glee to One Tree Hill and Smallville.
