Joe Manganiello seemingly lives by the mantra, once a werewolf, always werewolf, which means a True Blood reunion is never off the table.
“I’m always looking for the right werewolf script,” Manganiello, 47, exclusively told Us Weekly while promoting the premiere of Deal or No Deal Island. He noted that reprising the role of Alcide Herveaux is never far from his mind.
Manganiello confessed he doesn’t “know what form that would come in” since his True Blood character was killed off during the show’s final season.
The actor, who played werewolf Alcide from 2010 to 2014, told Us he’s continually searching for another avenue to play the mythical creature.
Joe Manganiello. Michael Loccisano/Getty Images for CNN
“I think [with] my character, my arc, I felt like there was a lot of gas left in the tank for me,” Manganiello explained. “And I hope that someday I get to, I don’t know, like Clint Eastwood got the Unforgiven to kind of cap off his career as a cowboy. I hope that there’s some werewolf version of Unforgiven for me somewhere.”
Manganiello joined the cast of True Blood during season 3 in 2010. He quickly became a fan favorite due to his kind heart and frequent shirtless scenes due to his wolf transformations.
During the show’s final season, Alcide was in a relationship with lead character Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), although she still loved her vampire ex Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer).
I wanna do bad things with you! True Blood hooked fans in with its dark depiction of vampire life in Bon Temps, Louisiana, in 2008, and its pull is still felt by many of the show’s fans today. From 2008 to 2014, viewers tuned in to see telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) attempt to […]
When Alcide once again saved Sookie’s life, this time from the Hep V vamps, he was fatally shot in the chest by a vigilante while he was fully naked. Manganiello told Entertainment Weekly at the time that he knew Alcide’s fate before reading the script.
“What are you gonna do with Alcide if he’s with Sookie? We’re gonna have a nice wedding and take off for Bermuda, then move away from town and stay there and have babies? That’s not the show,” Manganiello told the outlet in July 2014. “The fairy has to be with the vampire, so you gotta get the werewolf outta the way.”
He reasoned, “You can’t have her break Alcide’s heart, because then people won’t like Sookie — they’ll get mad at her for breaking the good guy’s heart. So it’s the only choice you have, really — you gotta kill him.”
While fans were heartbroken to lose Manganiello, the actor was excited by the “suspenseful” way his character was written off. “I get shot in the head by this random character whose name I don’t even know and die naked in the woods,” he said of the wild ending.
Since exiting True Blood, Manganiello has continued to expand his career, including starring in the Magic Mike franchise and appearing in 2022’s Moonhaven. His most recent venture is hosting the upcoming debut season of Deal or No Deal Island.
Beware of the full moon! Werewolves don’t have the glamorous reputation that their vampire counterparts do, but that hasn’t stopped Hollywood from making tons of movies and TV series about the shapeshifting creatures. One of the most famous lycanthropes from the big screen is Scott Howard, a.k.a. Teen Wolf, portrayed by Michael J. Fox in […]
The NBC competition show is a twist on the long running game show Deal or No Deal and according to Manganiello, fans of the original will “love” the spinoff.
“The contestants are going to play in a game of Deal or No Deal for whatever money they find in the excursion from that day,” he explained to Us, noting that 13 contestants will be dropped into a “depraved banker’s jungle island” where they have to complete a “gauntlet of challenges” all while searching for hidden briefcases with different monetary values.
As the competition progresses, guests will be voted off until one contestant is left standing to play for the final amount of prize money.
“You don’t play one game and you’re done, which also changes how they play those games of Deal or No Deal because it’s kind of twofold,” Manganiello said. “They want to add the biggest amount to the case, but they also have to stay in the game because if they lose, they’re out.”
He shared that there is “more strategy” and different layers to the game. “Then there’s also these crazy challenges, which involve complete insanity that has got thrust upon these people,” Manganiello teased.
Deal or No Deal Island premieres on NBC Monday, February 26, at 9:30 p.m. ET. It will move to its regular time slot on Monday, March 4, at 10 p.m. ET. All episodes will be available on Peacock the next day.
With reporting by Sarah Jones
#celeb #celebrity
