“I read Benedict Cumberbatch. He came and read for Bill. … Jessica Chastain read for Sookie. Jennifer Lawrence read for, in season 3 there’s this werepanther girl, and she was great.”
Ball really wanted to cast Lawrence, but she was only 17 at the time and the character was meant to be Jason’s girlfriend, so the age difference would’ve been inappropriate. On Anna Paquin‘s casting:
“Anna wanted this role so bad. Poor thing, she read like five times and I was like oh, do we buy her as Southern? Do we buy her as Sookie Stackhouse?”
– True Blood creator Alan Ball.
Anna Pacquin was absolute perfection as Sookie. I can’t imagine anyone else in the role now.