Amelia Rose Blaire, Jurnee Smollett Join ‘True Blood’

True Blood will be adding to its cast for its upcoming sixth season.

90210‘s Amelia Rose Blaire and Friday Night Lights‘ Jurnee Smollett will be joining the HBO vampire series. Blaire will play Willa Burrell, daughter of Louisiana Governor Truman Burrell (Arliss Howard). Willa and her father often clash over vampire rights. Smollett will play Nicole Wright, whom Deadline describes as someone “who is not concerned with money and more concerned with the common good and doing what’s right.”

Smollett will be a series regular, while Blaire’s role is recurring. She may, however, become a series regular later on.

Howard was cast as the Louisiana governor in December. According to TV Fanatic, his dislike for vampires stems from the fact that his wife ran off with one. Howard most recently appeared in 2011’s Moneyball and the TV series Rubicon. He also appeared in The Time Traveler’s Wife.

Also ahead for season 6, Robert Patrick, who plays Jackson Herveaux, has been promoted to series regular. Patrick has also recently appeared in Gangster Squad, Lovelace, and Last Resort, which was recently canceled by ABC.

Season 6 was shortened from 12 episodes to 10, partly because Anna Paquin was due to give birth to twins with on-screen love interest and real-life husband Stephen Moyer in November. The season was also cut for “economic” reasons. Moyer said the sixth season is going to be “pretty wild” and that there will be a lot of things that the show has held back on in the past.

Season 6 of True Blood will premiere over the summer.