If you’ve been keeping up with True Blood, you might remember James, one of the show’s many hunky (and usually naked) vampires. James was the one who was having prison sex with Jessica until Vampire Bill turned into undead Jesus or something and they all broke out because they were able to walk in the sunlight . . . Look, Season 6 was fucked up; let’s leave it at that.
Anyway, in Season 7, James’s original actor — Luke Grimes — left the series and he was recast, which no one really seemed to notice. Partly because the period between seasons was pretty lengthy and partly because he was a tertiary character in a series already bursting at the seams with characters.
So what’s the deal with the unceremonious recasting? Well, according to a report from BuzzFeed, Grimes left the show due to creative differences over an upcoming storyline that would have seen him and Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis) hooking up.
Apparently, Grimes tried to renegotiate the arc, suggesting that “he would be willing to play the role if Lafayette were attracted to him, but not if the attraction was mutual.” But wouldn’t you know it, it didn’t come to pass, so Grimes was sent off.
The sad thing is, this isn’t entirely Grimes’s fault; there is still a heavy fear among actors that playing gay will get you typecast and that your career will become severely limited after the fact. And if he had stayed on, Luke Grimes wouldn’t have had the chance to participate in . . . Jesus Christ, the Fifty Shades of Grey movie? Oh honey, no. No.
Why you can trust Xtra
