HBOThe biggest mystery of the True Blood series finale has been answered. Warning, spoilers!
Sookie Stackhouse married a stuntman! At the end of True Blood, viewers were treated to a flashforward of a married—and pregnant—happy Sookie (Anna Paquin) at a Thanksgiving dinner. Her mystery man was never revealed, but he was played by stuntman Timothy Eulich.
After Bill's death, Sookie went on to fulfill his wish and live a normal life. Executive producer Brian Buckner explained that he felt it was "irrelevant" to know who Sookie ended up with.
"What we wanted to know was that she was happy and living the life that she wanted to lead, and to introduce some other stranger in the last five minutes of the finale wouldn't have made a lot of sense," he told Entertainment Weekly, noting that Sookie Stackhouse creator Charlaine Harris got flack for pairing Sookie with Sam in the books. "So we made a choice it's everyman, it doesn't matter. So we didn't have a version where we revealed him. I mean, we basically cast the man with the best arms from our stunt crew."
Eulich's credits also include Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Bones, Captain America: The First Avenger, Captain America: The Winter Soldier and the upcoming Jurassic World. He's also had bit parts on True Blood, playing vampires and in season two had a speaking role as Rich. So did Sookie end up with Rich?
"You know, I was thinking about that, and I don't think it's terribly far-fetched that it's Rich! I don't think the writers would necessarily think that [laughs] but I mean, Sookie did save Rich from being killed by Eric in that scene, so there was a little moment there and it's possible it turned into something, years and years later," Eulich told Vulture. "'Hey, remember that time at church when you saved my life? That was really awesome of you. We should go have a drink sometime.' Yeah, I think it would have been nice."
However, he was listed on the call sheet as stunt/Sookie's husband.
Eulich said it was him in the turkey scene because producers wanted a stunt performer to put the bird in the deep fryer because of how dangerous it can be.
"We shot the turkey [scene] first. And then we waited for it to get dark to shoot the table scene. But they knew whoever was going to be the guy putting the turkey in was going to be the guy [and] they never wanted to see his face," he said. "I didn't have to audition, because pretty much almost everyone over there knew me anyways, but I sent in photos of my arms. They wanted her husband to have manly arms, I guess! So I was coming back from a vacation with my wife, and she was shooting pictures of my arms in the airport."
Eulich tweeted the photo above with the caption, "Who was Sookie's husband? Recognize the back of that head? #TrueBlood #TrueToTheEnd #truebloodfinale"
Check out his stunt reel below.