Actress Michelle Forbes says she would love to reprise her role as the sinister maenad Maryann in the third season of True Blood. There’s just one problem.
“Don’t know how you come back with a big hole in your chest and no heart,” laughs Forbes, while in Canada to promote the DVD release of True Blood’s second season.
“I know it’s True Blood and all. But I think Maryann has gone to maenad heaven.”
Not that it wasn’t a good run. Forbes says she loved every minute of working on the Emmy-winning southern vampire series.
“It was awesome. You never knew where the story was going,” she says. “Episode to episode, the show went from being an old fashioned love story, to classic horror, to a farcical comedy. At the end, it was like a Pirandello play. It was so absurd.”
Though she’s out of the TV vampire business, Forbes isn’t hurting for work. Still best known as Ensign Ro from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Forbes remains one of the busiest actresses in the business.
Her credits over the last two decades include regular roles on Homicide, 24, Battlestar Galactica, and In Treatment. Add to that guest appearances on everything from Seinfeld to Lost, and keeping them straight can get tricky at times
“Lost? I have no f**king idea how I got that. I was in Germany and had to fly to Hawaii through England. It was like four times zones. I really can’t remember much about it.”
Though she has no “cunning career plan”, Forbes admits she often gets cast as no-nonsense authority figures.
“At one point I had to leave the country (U.S.) and go to the UK just to play a housewife,” she says.
Still, it’s unlikely she’ll ever get a role quite like True Blood’s Maryann — whose farewell scene remains memorable … to say the least.
“I’ve died so many times on screen, it’s ridiculous,” she laughs. “I’ve had my throat slit. I’ve been shot in the head. But nothing beats having a love scene with a bull then having someone shove their hand in your chest and pull out your heart.”
True Blood, The Complete Second Season, will be released on DVD and Blu-Ray on Tuesday.
