As Gulf War veteran Terry Bellefleur on HBO’s True Blood, actor Todd Lowe is used to stormy weather — both the literal kind, in the fictional town of Bon Temps, La., and the psychological kind, in his PTSD-addled brain. Deep down, though, Terry is a tolerant sweetheart faithfully in love with Arlene, played by Carrie Preston.

“I know that Terry loves Arlene unconditionally and I can’t predict their relationship because that’s up to the writers, but I know in my heart that Terry loves Arlene and he’s going to hold her as close to him as he can,” Lowe told Uinterview in our exclusive video interview.”

In the rest of the interview Lowe takes questions from fans about Terry’s very human place among a motley crew of creatures, from vampires to telepaths to werewolves, and how his upbringing in southeast Texas has helped him create Terry’s Southern twang. Now in its fifth season, True Blood has amassed more than just a cult following despite taking enormous risks in terms of storyline, character and fantasy-world logic (if there is such a thing). Also starring Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Ryan Kwanten and Kristin Bauer van Straten, as well as many others, True Blood is created by Academy Award winner Alan Ball (American Beauty, Six Feet Under) and based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries (commonly called “The Sookie Stackhouse Novels”) by bestselling author Charlaine Harris.

This video interview is brought to you in partnership with DailyMotion USA.

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User Kimberly Steele
Q: Hi Todd. This is Kimberly, from Florida. I was wondering, how do you go about creating a believable character in a world where there are so many fantasy characters and situations? - Kimberly Steele

Hey Kimberly, thanks for the question. I try to play things as normal as possible. The supernatural does not bother Terry. He is not bigoted in that way. And all of his demons and monsters are actually inside him, so I think he fits into the show pretty well because he is not a supernatural, but he has some, let’s say, supernatural things going on in his head and it’s a constant fight for him to stay level and appear as normal as possible.

User JustinJannise
Q: Hi Todd, this is Justin from Houston. Todd, you grew up in Southeast Texas, which is near the Louisiana border. Did you have any bayou-related experiences that have helped you on True Blood? - JustinJannise

Hey Justin, fellow Houstonian here. I grew up in Humble, a little bit north on Highway 59, and there’s a bayou going through Houston. I’ve used pretty much my Southeast Texas accent and hope that it’s close enough to Louisiana in proximity and nobody is really going to pick it apart. As an actor, you go to finishing school, you learn how to speak proper American standard English, but you have these tools because I grew up there, I go back and I think of my family members and I can drop into a little Texas thing, and hope that it’s close enough to Louisiana that nobody’s gonna notice. Bayou, I hunted crawdads as a kid, but never saw any alligators.

User Leslie Chen
Q: Hey, this question is for Todd. What do you predict for the future of Terry and Arlene’s relationship? - Leslie Chen

I know that Terry loves Arlene unconditionally and I can’t predict their relationship because that’s up to the writers, but I know in my heart that Terry loves Arlene and he’s going to hold her as close to him as he can. And I hope the writers keep them together. I don’t know what’s in the future though.

User Mijon Zulu
Q: As Terry’s role has changed in the show – he obviously started with a lot of PTSD – and he’s now found love with Arlene and family life with the baby, have you had to play the character differently? I guess, as we go forward, are we going to start seeing a different Terry? - Mijon Zulu

Thanks for the question. The storm that has been going on in Terry’s mind has subsided. Maybe we’re in the middle of the eye of the hurricane, because Arlene has brought stability to Terry’s life. I just want to keep Arlene as close to me as I can, because her and her children, which are now my children, brings normalcy to my life and I don’t have to think about past occurrences that caused my PTS state.

User SiobhanMcBride
Q: Hi, this is Siobhan from New York. My question is really open to any of the actors. I was just wondering if you have read the Sookie Stackhouse novels at all and, if so, how influenced are you by them when you’re trying to dissect your character? - SiobhanMcBride

Hey Siobhan. I read the first two Charlaine Harris books in the Sookie Stackhouse series and, when I got the part, I Googled Terry Belleflour and I found out that he was in book nine and I kept my fingers crossed, saying, “Oh, I hope he stays around the series.” And apparently he has, so it’s been great.