True Blood has a new vampire in its midst – and I have a feeling she’s going to be very popular.
That tuxedoed Italian beauty is Valentina Cervi, who’s joining True Blood in Season 5 as a series regular. According to TV Line, Cervi will play Salome, “an ancient vampire who is a world class seductress and fiercely intelligent.” She is also a tiny bit mad. And although she is quite powerful, she is able to hide her abilities when she wants.
If Cervi looks familiar to you, you’re probably a fan of foreign language cinema. Her best-known role is as Artemisia Gentileschi, one of the world’s first female painters whose work remains well known today, in the controversial French film, Artemisia. (She learned to speak French for the part.)
Americans may recognize her from Jane Campion’s Portrait of a Lady, in which she played Pansy Osmond. More recently, she guest starred in BBC series Zen and played Bertha Mason in Cary Fukunaga’s version of Jane Eyre with Mia Wasikowska.
Whether Salome will be this season’s villain out to destroy Sookie remains to be seen. But I’m sure the character’s name is no accident. Salome in the New Testament is King Herod’s stepdaughter, who danced for him on his birthday. The king was so “pleased” by the seductive dance that he offered Salome anything she wanted. She asked for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.
Given that the new True Blood character is an ancient seductress, I wouldn’t be surprised if she turns out to be the very same Salome.
We don’t know, of course, whether Salome will be an equal opportunity seductress. But we certainly need a character to take up some of the girl/girl slack now that Sophie-Anne is gone. Stereotype or not, I do love me some lesbian vampires.
What do you think of Cervi joining True Blood? Do you know the actress from any previous work?
