Even with a recent string of shuffling showrunners, the cast and current True Blood showrunner and executive producer Brian Buckner promised a thrilling second half of an already pretty intense season six.  As has been shared before, this season has been about bringing the focus back to the people of Bon Temps and the characters that the show has been following for so long.  Not much was said or shared about what remains of season six, but a trailer for the remaining episodes of the season was shown, and one memorable quote to sum it all up would be, “Death ain’t the end anymore.”

Moderated by TV Guide’s Kate Hahn, the panel included Buckner, Anna Paquin, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Sam Trammell, Deborah Ann Woll, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Nelsan Ellis, Joe Manganiello, Anna Camp, Michael McMillian, and Rob Kazinsky.  Hit the jump for my recap of the panel and to watch the trailer for the second half of season six. First off, here's the trailer that was shown at the panel: [EMBED_YT]https://www.youtube.com/embed/Y0MAtGuGEls[/EMBED_YT] Here are the highlights:

• When asked how husband Stephen Moyer asks around the house now that he is essentially playing God now that Bill and Lilith are connected, Paquin simply responded that she’s agnostic.

• Buckner commented on his new showrunner job as being somewhat of a breakneck speed car cash, having not known how much would be involved.  The cast joked that they now do chores for him, with Manganiello washing his car on weekend and Straten doing his laundry.  When asked if Buckner had changed any after having become showrunner, the cast said he was still the same, and had been an active and essential voice to True Bloodsince the beginning.  “The show is going to return back to its roots,” he commented, wanting to make the show feel like it’s “coming home.”

• Kwanten teased much more to come this season for Jason, saying that his main goal has been to try to figure out who killed his parents, even though he has been failing pretty miserably.

• “My girlfriends keep getting killed!” said Trammell, saying that new woman in his life Nicole (Jurnee Smollet-Bell).  He said that Sam definitely has his hands full dealing with Alcide and the other werewolves, and maybe should try shifting into a slightly bigger wolf to fight back against him.  With all of the running he’s doing with Nicole and Emma, he’s said he’s getting in a lot of cardio.

• Wesley talked about Tara’s new role as a protector amongst other vampires including Jessica, but alliances could easily be broken.  Wesley said Tara delights in being a vampire especially because of her mother’s beliefs, and now really loves the “strength, the power, and the blood” that comes with the change.

• Ellis’ Lafayette is definitely a crowd favorite, and has been channeling a lot of other spirits recently.  Ellis shared that he doesn’t need too much prep work to play someone else possessing Lafayette, but to get in the mood to play Lafayette he likes to put on some Rihanna and get the make-up on.  Ellis even demonstrated, using his own scarf, how he would get into character and have Lafayette rock it.

• Woll shares that Jessica is definitely at a stand still at the moment.  Having killed three out of the four fairy girls, she feels like maybe she should die, maybe she deserves to, and that’s something Jessica is going to struggle with for the rest of her time in the Vamp Camp.  She doesn’t want her friends to die, but Jessica feels that “the monster inside took over,” she stated.

• Straten acknowledged that Pam could absolutely take Eric in a fight, but there is still that lingering feeling there for her maker.  Straten and Woll did a sweet shout out to their “makers” Moyer and Alexander Skarsgardthat weren’t there at the panel.  As far as sibling rivalry with new vampire sister Willa, Straten teased that Pam probably won’t feel that great about having to share Eric.  Straten does miss wearing Pam’s outrageous outfits that forced her to go to the gym, but she did love being able to lounge around and eat potato chips in the Vamp Camp uniform.

• Many fans haven’t been the happiest with Alcide this season, which Maganiello has noticed, but he thinks that Alcide being the pack master is not the easiest job in the world.  “Being pack master is a pretty thankless job, except for the threesomes,” he said.  For the actual threesome scene, Maganiello said that it was not the best because it was about eighteen degrees out that night, but no one seemed to be complaining.

• Camp and McMillian talked about a shared but subdued caring feeling still between Sarah and Steve, even acting out an improvised scene on the spot declaring their lingering love for each other, even if they’re more just using each other at this point.  Camp agreed that Sarah does love camps, because they allow her to be in control and have power.  Kwanten shared that Sarah and Jason do interact again, but probably not romantically.  On the flip side, McMillian hands down declared the Steve still and will always carry a torch for Jason.

• Newcomer Kazinsky is tentatively Team Warlo, and believes that Warlo might not be truly evil, since he’s wrestling between his fairy and vampire sides.  In regards to the recent Warlo/Jason shaving fantasy scene, Kazinsky said he thought it was a hazing, but that Kwanten treated him “like a lady that day.”  Kwanten shared that Kazinsky was pretty nervous about the scene going into it.

• Paquin said there are definitely feelings from Sookie for Warlo, but she’s wary.  She somewhat understands where Sookie’s parents were coming from, but they were deciding to kill their child after all.  She likes that Sookie isn’t really being a doormat for anyone anymore this season.  Paquin told a story of how she kept making Kwanten do more pull-ups while filming a scene one day by delaying her cue, apparently a form of slow torture, but showed off Paquin’s self-described “mean sense of humor.”

Some cast members shared their favorite scenes from the series.

• McMillian is a huge fan of the barbecue scene from season two he shared with Kwanten and Camp.

• Paquin loved when Sookie got to fight with Debbie Pelt.  She said that it was a lot to work on stunt-wise, but that it was great for Sookie to finally be matched with someone she could actually physically take on in a fight.