I should give warning that there are spoilers ahead, and if you haven’t yet seen Season 4, or at least the end of Season 4 of ‘True Blood’, I would wait to read this.

Kevin Alejandro, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Rutina Wesley and co-executive producer Raelle Tucker all gave interviews recently, discussing the deaths and the emotional baggage that came with Season 4, and what they see happening in Season 5. If you missed the finale, you missed some big changes. At the beginning of the episode, Jesus was stabbed and killed by Marnie, who was using LaFayette’s body. In the end though we saw him appear as a ghost to LaFayette. Rutina Wesley’s character Tara, who has had a pretty rough time in the history of ‘True Blood’, got shot in the head by Debbie Pelt. Now, Sookie was holding her and screaming for help, with her vampires not far, could we see Tara become something she hates?

Rutina Wesley spoke with TV Line about Tara’s fate, and what she thinks will happen.  She knew early on that it was happening, “[Series creator] Alan Ball himself pulled me aside early on and told me that this was happening. And I was like, ‘OK, that’s cool.’ I know I’m coming back in some capacity, I just don’t know how I’m coming back. It’s scary as an actor to be in that position. Whatever they do, I think it’s the Golden Hour for Tara. But I don’t know how they’re going to revive me or if I’m dead” But as we all know, dead isn’t always the end for people in Bon Temps. Will we see Tara in season 5? “Yes. I know I’m coming back. I just don’t know in what capacity.” As one of the few humans on the show (Think about it, there really isn’t many), Wesley does enjoy playing one.  “I like playing a human on the show. I like not having any powers. I like being the voice of reason. But it wouldn’t be a drama if we didn’t have a shift in things. Everything’s up in the air because half of my head is missing. [Laughs] I know Alan has big plans for me next season. But has he shared those plans with me? Not really.” But does she think she’ll be a vampire? “Not really. Some of my fans actually talked about that a couple years ago. They were like, “Wouldn’t it be great if Tara became a badass vampire? Wouldn’t that be amazing?” But as I said, I like being human. [Laughs] We don’t have that many on the show. And then I’d have to figure out how to talk with the fangs and all that crazy stuff. But with that kind of injury, even if I got the vampire blood could that really save me? I don’t know.”

Kevin Alejandro talks about his character, Jesus Velasquez’s death as well with Access Hollywood.  “My phone’s been blowing up. The ones that I’ve worked with have been like, ‘Great job!’ and the ones that didn’t know [the twist] – it was another sort of ‘Southland’ effect,” Kevin says, referencing the  death of his TNT character, Detective Nate Moretta, on the cop show. “A lot of people were actually kind of touched by it and surprised and shocked.” Alejandro knew ahead of time that he would be a dying character, but asked that it be in LaFayette’s hands. Nelsan Ellis and Kevin Alejandro have a very close relationship off screen as well, and they were both excited for the idea.  “I thought it would be interesting. The direction that they put the characters in [was] so ‘in love,’ where we balance each other out. What an incredible statement to go into the show, creating such love and having the one person that you love the most have to take your life.” Will we continue to see Jesus as a ghost in Season 5? “I’ve talked to a couple of people who make those decisions and yeah, I think I will be back in some aspect of helping [Lafayette] try and figure out how to use his magic, or if he gets in trouble, I think there might be an easy way to see Jesus come back,” says Alejandro.

Kristin Bauer van Straten’s character Pam didn’t die this season, but she did get into some trouble with Eric. In an interview with Huffington Post, she talked about Pam’s vulnerable side and where she see’s things going in season 5. Pam hasn’t had a very easy season, with her maker Eric first being under Marnie’s spell of being Mr. Nice, and then after the spell is lifted, banishing Pam from his sight. Not to mention the rotting spell Antonia cast on her, making her face fall off. But even with the blows she’s been thrown this season, Pam’s outbursts are still a little humorous (“I’m so over Sookie and her precious fairy vagina and her stupid name!”) When talking about Pam’s relationship with Eric, Bauer van Straten says “”He really is the one rock in her life — the one person she really loves and would do anything for,” Bauer van Straten continues. “She would die for Eric. That’s it for her. He’s her maker. He really is her best friend, her daddy, and they just have such a complicated relationship. And she loves being his lieutenant. She doesn’t want to be first-in-command, so when he’s not there to be her rock, she doesn’t like it. That will definitely come into play when we go into Pam and Eric’s pasts next season.” When talking about the rotting face from this season, the actress says she was amazed at the effect. “It was many many hours to create that effect, but I love that kind of stuff, and I love to see how that’s done. Part of it was doing the scene, and then seeing the change in Pam — both physically and emotionally. It’s really rewarding to watch the scenes and see how I did because from inside the makeup, you really don’t know if you’re creating the image and desires you had in your head. I felt like I did pretty close to what I hoped to do, so I feel really good about that now.”

So what’s in store for Season 5? Co-executive producer Raelle Tucker, in a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, has given a few hints. “There will be a very significant, strong, mysterious woman at the center of one of our main stories next year,” she says, “That will be a very familiar and compelling character. It may be someone you’ve heard of before.” When asked about the fairies, she replied with, “Season 5 will explore more fairies, new fairies, fairies in a way you haven’t really seen fairies. We will all, as well as Sookie, come to understand fairies more than in previous seasons.” We will also learn about Patrick, who is played by Scott Foley, Terry’s friend who we met briefly in Merlotte’s. “His arc has to do with Terry’s past coming back to haunt Bon Temps and Arlene and their life they’re trying to set up together.” We also got to see the cement of the parking garage being broken through, does that mean Russell Edgington is back? Tucker only teases, and says  “It’s safe to assume the king of Mississippi is not gone for good.” Who else is returning? “I will say that Steve’s reason for returning to Jason is not at all what you expect.” Although its hard to believe that Steve Newlin returning was a surprise to everyone, especially with his new condition. The important question still lies though…will Sookie return to Bill or Eric? “While there will always be romance in Sookie’s life, Sookie at the moment is choosing herself over all of them, I think that will continue to play into season 5.” But what about Bill and Eric suddenly becoming a team? “The consequences of their actions in the finale are going to chase them for a while next year.”

With those teasers in place, and it’s already been known that Pam’s origin story will play into next year as well, do you think you will be tuning in? What did you think of the Season 4 finale?