On a show about the undead and the mortals that love them, it’s safe to assume that there would be a lot of bloodshed on True Blood. Living in Bon Temps is a pretty tricky business, but actually staying alive is even harder. True Blood fans saw their fair share of heroes and villains bite the dust over the course of seven seasons (which you can stream on HBO Now), and the show made it clear that no one was safe. Some deaths were insane because of the brutality, while others brought the shock that can only come from an abrupt loss. Death was always entwined with the fabric of True Blood, so let’s take a look back at some of the most memorable. And of course, be aware that there are spoilers ahead.
10. Steve Newlin
Steve Newlin (Michael McMillan) was introduced in season two as the charismatic and malevolent leader of the Fellowship Of The Sun, and over the course of the next five seasons came out as both a vampire and a gay man. Moving from cartoonish villain to weirdly endearing pragmatist, Newlin unfortunately met the true death at the hands of his wife’s (Anna Camp) goons, with a last cry of “I love you, Jason Stackhouse” as he was engulfed in flames.
9. Claudine
Sookie’s (Anna Paquin) fairy grandmother Claudine (Lara Pulver) was the unfortunate casualty of amnesiac Eric (Alexander Skarsgard) in season four. With a sheepish “my bad,” the vampire drained the fairy dry, unable to withstand the temptation of her blood. It put an end to much of the peripheral fairy storylines and proved to be one of the major deviations from the books. Sookie probably could have used her godmother’s help in the coming seasons, but after the grotesque death, she just had to make do with her own powers.
8. Talbot
Poor Talbot (Theo Alexander). Who wouldn’t jump at the chance to get a piece of Eric Northman? Russell Edgington’s (Denis O’Hare) 700-year-old Greek lover, Talbot was used against him by Eric in an attempt to hit the powerful vampire where it hurt the most. Talbot’s demise was one of the bloodiest of season three, meeting the true death with a stake in the back. A gory death with a heavy dose of homoeroticism? Memorable. Even more memorable? Russell’s insistence on carrying around a jar full of Talbot’s viscera for the rest of the season.
7. Alcide/Tara
Alcide (Joe Manganiello) and Tara (Rutina Wesley), despite being fan-favorites, were anti-climactic casualties of season seven’s bloodbath. Tara gets an off-screen death at the hands of another vampire early on in the season, while Alcide is shot in the head by an errant bullet. Both had proven to be steadfast allies for Sookie, so it was truly shocking to see them disposed of in such a manner.
6. Governor Burrell
One of the high points of the Lillith storyline was that Bill (Stephen Moyer) was able to day-walk to take out the power hungry Governor Burrell (Arliss Howard). The Louisiana governor was using his position of power to use the police to round up and destroy vampires, and someone had to stop him. Bill dispatches of the villain easily, using his time in the sun to rip off his head, much to the dismay of Burrell’s girlfriend, Sarah Newlin.
5. Ms. Suzuki
Part of True Blood‘s deal was showing that the humans in the mix could be just as monstrous as the vampires and werewolves. Sarah Newlin is a prime example of this, growing from preacher’s wife to a Big Bad in her own right while using her business to eradicate vampires through a variety of nefarious methods. Sarah proved that she had gone full psycho when she murdered Ms. Suzuki (Tamlyn Tomita) with a high heel spike to the brain in an attempt to keep her secrets… secret. The deranged praising of Jesus following the bloodbath was just the icing on the cake.
4. Maryanne
Maryanne (Michelle Forbes) had most of Bon Temps under her sway with a potent mix of magic and debauchery. For such a compelling villain, only a jaw-dropping death would do, with Sam Merlotte (Sam Trammell) shape shifting into the bull that she worshipped before goring her and pulling out her heart with his bare hands. A fitting end for a maenad who destroyed the life and love of Tara, who had always been close with Sam.
3. Lorena
There are bad ex-girlfriends, and then there’s Lorena (Mariana Klaveno). Manipulating Bill from the get-go, she was both his maker and his tormenter, working to keep him from a happy life with Sookie in seasons two and three. When Sookie finally freed her vampire boyfriend from her clutches and staked her in the heart, Lorena erupted in a disgusting volcano of blood and gore all over the reunited lovers. Talk about a terrible break-up.
2. Bill
Bill vacillated between protagonist a villain for a good part of the series, but many fans still believed that he and Sookie were endgame. After all of the suffering that they had gone through to find each other, to have Sookie lovingly stake Bill in the heart before he succumbed to Hep V instead of giving him the cure was difficult to take. There were a lot of shocking occurrences in season seven, but having Sookie’s main love finally give up the ghost has got to take the cake.
1. The News Anchor
True Blood may have occasionally gone off the rails into absolute madness from time to time, but few shows were better at delivering complete shock value. When Russell Edgington announced to the human world that vampires were not there to be their friends but to gain dominion, he did it by slaughtering a nameless news anchor (let’s call him Chet. Seems like a good fit) at the end of season three. Between the brutal removal of the man’s spine and the gleeful “Now for the weather, Tiffany?,” this season ender will go down as one of the best and most insane death scenes in television history.
