As we gear up for the third season of True Blood, beginning June 13, the first full preview was just released. Click here to view it.

This post contains some spoilers.

Just as the first two seasons were loosely based on the first two of Charlaine Harris’s Southern Vampire Mysteries, so the third season will be based on the third book, Club Dead (which I review here). As we saw in the finale of season 2 of True Blood, Sookie’s vampire boyfriend Bill Compton goes missing. In the show, he vanishes in the middle of a marriage proposal, but in the book, after a period of distancing behavior (he is always holed up with his computer, to Sookie’s dismay) Bill leaves for an extended, mysterious “business trip” to Seattle. Later, after she is attacked by a were at Merlotte’s, Sookie learns — from Eric and Pam — that Bill was on some kind of business for the Queen of Louisiana (Sophie Ann), but has returned to his sire, Lorena, and is now in terrible danger.

Here is a cute promo poster:

Unlike the TV show, readers of the Sookie Stackhouse mysteries have had no knowledge to this point of who sired Bill, when, why or how (actually, Bill’s origin story is never told in the books, making the TV Civil War and roaring Twenties vignettes completely unique to the show). The addition of origin stories, including Eric’s, was an interesting choice on Ball’s part. I confess I felt their lack as I read the books, but perhaps I have just been conditioned to think of vampires as an “other” whose existence needs explanation, while Harris wanted readers to think of them as no more mysterious than humans. That said, despite finding the character of Eric’s sire Godric intriguingly enhanced on the show (and Season 3 will have lots of flashbacks of Eric and Godric), I haven’t been thrilled with them.

In Club Dead, a furious and heartbroken Sookie nevertheless does the right thing (by her lights) and sets off for Mississippi to rescue Bill. There, she is under the protection of Acide Herveaux, a were, and we are introduced to a new paranormal element (Merlotte’s owner Sam is a shifter, quite different in Harris’s universe from weres). Weres are pack animals, with a tendency to aggression. They are anxiously waiting to see how the vampires’ “coming out” goes for them among the humans. Some weres want to follow suit. The title of the book, Club Dead, is the nickname of the Mississippi bar where the weres hang out.

This is the book where Harris deviated completely from the romance script. Not only does Harris introduce a fourth potential suitor in Alcide (leading some to call “The Anita Blake” effect on her), but what happens between Bill and Sookie is surprising, shocking, and sad.

I will be very interested to see what Ball and co do with this book in Season 3 of True Blood. Overall, the casting has been great (Sookie the one major exception), and from what I can see casting of new characters continues to impress, at least visually. Here’s a shot of Alcide:

Joe Mangianello

And Alcide’s problematic girlfriend, Debbie Pelt (a character I really enjoyed):

And the vampire king of Mississippi, Russell Eddington, played by Denis O’Hare:

Here’s the regular cast promo poster:

Ball will continue to add his own elements to Harris’s universe. First, they’ve cast a beautiful new female dancer at Fangtasia, whom Eric will hook up with. Second, they’ve cast someone as a Reverend Daniels, to whom Tara’s mother will turn for comfort. A vampire love interest has been cast for Tara. Lafayette will get more screen time, as well as a boyfriend and mother, the latter played by Alfre Woodard. Also, more in store for Arlene and her relationship to the supernatural, and more with Jessica and Hoyt, the latter moving in with Jason, who continues to experience comedic sexual mishaps.

It looks like Ball will continue his signature bloody and hypersexualized tone, and that includes accelerating the timetable of Sookie and Eric’s complex developing relationship (notice her come on to him in the preview).

I enjoyed Club Dead a lot, especially the introduction of Alcide and the weres. Readers will recall a very memorable final (or near final) scene with Eric, Bill, and Sookie. My eyes may be deceiving me, but I thought I may have seen evidence of it in the preview.

While I would have loved it if Tara and her mother would have gone the way of the maenad, there’s a lot to look forward to come June 13.