Alexander Skarsgård reprises ‘True Blood’ role for ‘What We Do in the Shadows’

Surprise! Eric Northman is undead and well again.

The star who played the iconic True Blood character, Alexander Skarsgård, reprised the part in this week’s edition of a different vampire show: What We Do in the Shadows.

In the episode, titled “Come Out and Play,” Laszlo (Matt Berry), Nadia (Natasia Demetriou), Colin Robinson (Mark Proksch), and Nandor (Kayvan Novak) get blamed for a murder at a meeting of all the New York vampires and must find a way back to the safety of Staten Island.

At the end of the episode, Doug Jones’ Baron Afanas gathers all of the New York vampires again to smooth things over and reassert his control. After his speech, he asks if anyone has any questions, and Laszlo’s monster goes to crush the head of the first person who raises his hand. Standing next to him is Skarsgård, who has his hand raised, but when he sees this shocking act of violence he promptly lowers it. Baron asks him if he had a question. Clearly terrified, he replies, “Nope. I thought I had a question, but then you answered it.” The episode ends as Skarsgård and the other vampires disperse.

In a statement, Skarsgård joked, “I’m afraid I have no recollection of shooting this episode as Dr. Laszlo Cravensworth apparently hypnotized me at the wrap party. But I did wake up with an intense physical attraction to Dr. Cravensworth and found his extraordinary wit, charm and intelligence absolutely disarming. I have since started a YouTube fan page for him. It’s called ‘Because you’re Cravens-worth it.’ Please like, follow and subscribe.”

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Skarsgård isn’t the first member of the True Blood universe to cross over with the FX comedy series. In season 1, Evan Rachel Wood (who played Sophie-Anne Leclerq on the HBO vampire show) appeared as a member of a vampire tribunal that also included other fellow well-known actors that have previously played vampires, including Tilda Swinton (Only Lovers Left Alive), Paul Reubens (Buffy the Vampire Slayer), Danny Trejo (From Dusk Till Dawn), and, via Skype, Wesley Snipes (the Blade franchise)

Over its six seasons, What We Do in the Shadows has featured some incredible guest stars including Zach Woods, Steve Coogan, Patton Oswalt, John Slattery, Sofia Coppola, Jim Jarmusch, Martha Kelly, Aparna Nancherla, Hannibal Buress, Mark Hamill, Benedict Wong, Donal Logue, David Cross, Greta Lee, Cree Summer, Craig Robinson, Lucy Punch, Vanessa Bayer, Haley Joel Osment, Scott Bakula, Fred Armisen, Nick Kroll, Kristen Schaal, Dave Bautista, Beanie Feldstein, as well as Jemaine Clement, Taika Waititi, and Jonny Brugh, who reprised their roles from the film upon which the series is based. 

Now in its the sixth and final season, the Emmy-nominated comedy follows Nandor, Nadja, Laszlo, Colin, and Guillermo (Harvey Guillén) as they enter the workforce, visit New Hampshire, go to a human dinner party, fête The Baron and conjure a demon — all while trying to find their place and their purpose in our crazy, mixed-up world.

What We Do in the Shadows airs Mondays on FX and streams the next day on Hulu.