Four Reasons You Don't Want To Miss True Blood

Lafayette
Oh, La-fayette! True Blood creator Alan Ball knows when he has a hot gay storyline (Six Feet Under anyone) and the ultra-sexy gender-bending Lafayette (Nelson Ellis) is at the center of it all. La returns with a third season of sardonic swag and—surprise, surprise—a boyfriend played by Kevin Alejandro. By the way, Alejandro has to have the sexiest lips in Hollywood. Ellis tells E! that his mom and sisters' mannerisms helped him prepare for the role of Lafayette. Well, and "a little research," he says. Oh? Lafayette, you just saved my HBO subscription.

Alan Ball
Speaking of Alan, he's out and as the famed creator of SFU and now True Blood he gets queer kudos for choosing dignity and real-ness over caricature when developing his gay characters.

Anna Paquin
Can I get a B, anyone? That's bisexual for Anna Paquin. True Blood's lead is not only engaged to co-star Stephen Moyer (Bill), but she's just come out as bi. Way to represent, Anna!

Vampires
Most vamp tales, even before Twilight, were about an individual's place in a world uncomfortable with the "others" of society—where the "different" ones live in shadows, coming out only under cloaks of darkness.

Anne Rice, mom of out author Christopher Rice, was the queen of these fanged tales. Her vampires were often gender-bendging and bisexual. And in most cases, their same-sex relationships included eternal love as well as the carnal drips of sex. With True Blood, Alan Ball has created the closest rendition since the queen of the damned abdicated.

True Blood Season 3 begins Sunday, June 13 on HBO.