Joe Manganiello says 'True Blood' cast was 'way too overqualified'

Joe Manganiello recently reflected on his time starring in the hit HBO series True Blood, calling it a "really wild, crazy, intelligent" show that "pushed the culture forward at the time."

However, he also noted that the cast was comprised of actors with impressive backgrounds, saying they were "way too 'overqualified'" for the series.

“What’s funny about True Blood was, you know, we were all really, really overqualified,” Manganiello admitted.

“Well, I should say the material was deceptively tricky because it was kind of written in like Tennessee Williams. It was very operatic at times.”

He continued, “But, you know, but it’s all theater kids. It’s like people with Tonys and Oscars and, you know, Mike McMillan and I were the Carnegie Mellon kids, then there was Rutina [Wesley] and Nelsan [Ellis] were the Juilliard kids, then Chris Bauer was the Yalie, then you get West End of London, then you get this international cast. You got [Alexander] Skarsgård from Sweden. You had, [Stephen] Moyer from England. And Anna [Paquin], obviously, from New Zealand by way of Canada. It was really, really intelligent, trained actors.”

Manganiello's claim that the True Blood cast was "overqualified" is supported by their impressive credentials.

For instance, Anna Paquin won an Oscar at just 11 years old for her role in The Piano before playing Sookie in True Blood. Meanwhile, Alexander Skarsgård and Carrie Preston went on to win Emmys for their work in other shows.

Additionally, Lois Smith and Denis O'Hare, who played Sookie's grandmother and other roles, have both won Tony Awards.

The show, which aired from 2008 to 2014, was created by Alan Ball and followed the supernatural adventures of telepathic waitress Sookie and her encounters with humans, vampires, and other beings.