Joe Manganiello isn’t too pleased with how the hit vampire series True Blood, ended.
Appearing on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM show this week, the “Deal or No Deal Island” host said he feels “like there was a lot that was left unexplored” when the HBO series wrapped up in 2014.
The hit horror series was based on the popular Southern Vampire Mysteries novel series written by Charlaine Harris. Manganiello joined the cast of True Blood in 2010, in the show’s third season, and played an ultra-buff werewolf pack master, Alcide Herveaux.
“I thought there was so much left on the table for me,” Manganiello told Cohen during the episode that aired Tuesday. “The thing about it was they never planned for me to be on the show past one season. I was signed up as a guest star my first season, and when my character really broke and people really loved the character, they were kind of unprepared for that to happen.”
But Manganiello’s character was unexpectedly shot and killed early on in True Blood‘s seventh and final season, much to fans’ disappointment.
“I wound up on the show for five years in total, but my character had to get out of the way so that Sookie could wind up settling the A and B plots with Bill and Eric,” Manganiello said, explaining why his character was nixed before the show’s end.
He added, “The only way to get me out of the way was — spoiler alert — you know, to shoot me in the face.”
Despite being bummed out over his character’s demise, Manganiello previously told Entertainment Weekly that at the very least he was thankful that his character wasn’t murdered by what Alcide hated the most: vampires.
“I think that might have been emasculating,” he told the outlet in 2014. “He hates vampires so much, then he gets taken out by one of them? Is it better to get taken out by a nameless hillbilly? I don’t know.”
On Cohen’s podcast, Manganiello also insisted he hasn’t ruled out playing a werewolf again in a different role, adding, he’s “always on the lookout for like a good werewolf script.”
“I feel like there’s a lot in me that was unfinished. I have unfinished business in the werewolf department,” he said.
Back in 2014, Manganiello gushed to Variety about what he’ll miss the most about starring as Alcide.
“Playing a character that’s this savage monster but also has this huge heart, it’s such a winning combination,” he told the outlet at the show’s final season premiere. “To me, it makes complete sense that that was the right role for me at the right time that people responded to. How could you not respond to that blend of character traits?”
Seasons 1-7 of True Blood are streaming on Max.