‘True Blood’ season 7, episode 1 reaction: Rutina Wesley on Tara surprise

“True Blood” loves to deliver on that big “shocking” moment, and on the premiere Sunday night they did that in the first few minutes with the revelation that someone is dead. (Warning: Spoilers ahead!)

That someone in this case was none other than Tara, who died off-screen during the episode and sent the rest of the characters (particularly her mother) into shock and mourning. Unlike the other characters like Arlene and Holly, she was not found alive a little later in the episode.

Is she really dead, though? This is something we asked in our full review for the premiere episode, given that we never saw a body and that is traditionally a big indicator that someone is still alive. However, Rutina Wesley told Entertainment Weekly in a post-mortem that Tara is definitely dead, but “dead doesn’t always mean gone” when it comes to this show. Our feeling is that she’ll have way more story to tell.

As for what she feels about being the character to go at this point in the story, she was mostly excited for the opportunity:

“I think it’s great. I think somebody had to go. To have a main character right off the bat go, that’s gonna bring everybody into the show. It’s like, ‘Okay, and the show has started.’ It’s kind of like the catalyst for everything else that’s gonna probably happen—I don’t know what’s gonna happen, because I didn’t read anything else because I want to be surprised. I think it’s kinda cool that the last time you see me, it looks like I’m gonna win the fight, and then you cut to Lettie Mae. Me and that vampire went at it, and unfortunately, he wins. [Laughs] They’ve given me such an incredible journey on this show that I’ve never had any complaints about what they’ve written for me. So when I found out, I was just like, ‘Okay, great. Let’s get it started. This is the final season. We can’t all make it to the end.’ You wouldn’t have a show. There wouldn’t be any drama. It wouldn’t be True Blood if somebody didn’t die.”

If we don’t see Tara again, then we figure that this will be of many shockers like this before the story comes to an end. We imagine losing at least a few more people prior to the series finale, given the way that this show operates, and the stress relief of knowing that you no longer have to keep people alive for another season.

What did you think about Tara being killed off? Let us know your thoughts with a comment.