When it was first announced that actor Luke Grimes had left the cast of ‘True Blood’, it was allegedly over creative differences. Now, a new report claims those “differences” stemmed from a gay plot line.
Buzzfeed reports that Grimes — who previously played James, the vampire boyfriend of Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll) — quit because the Season 7 script of the vampire-centric HBO show included a romance between his character and the openly gay Lafayette (Nelsan Ellis).
James and Jessica in HBO's 'True Blood'A source told Buzzfeed that Grimes was willing to play the role so long as “Lafayette [was] attracted to him, but not if the attraction was mutual”. He also supposedly objected to any same-sex kissing or sex scenes, but the writers wouldn’t change the script. Grimes’ publicist, Craig Schneider, told Buzzfeed the 30-year-old dropped the show over scheduling and chose to pursue other opportunities, including ‘Fifty Shades Of Grey’ and ‘American Sniper’.
Schneider was not immediately available for further comment when contacted by The Huffington Post.
TVLine was the first to report Grimes’ ‘True Blood’ exit last December. HBO told TVLine it was due to “creative direction”. The website dubbed the move “unexpected”. “He initially joined the show because he wanted to work with [his ‘Forever’ co-star] Deborah Ann Woll,” a source said. “But when he started reading the scripts for Season 7, he was disappointed to learn that they were going in a completely different direction with James.”
Grimes was cast as Christian Grey’s brother, Elliot, in the film adaptation of E L James’ erotic novel last October. The film began shooting in Vancouver in December.
This article originally appeared in the Huffington Post.
