Each year that passes sadly takes away some of pop culture's most beloved entertainers, and this weekend saw the death of True Blood star and fan favorite Nelsan Ellis, who played the fashion-friendly cook and medium Lafayette Reynolds. His passing was a huge shock for everyone, and social media was flooded with touching and heartfelt messages honoring Ellis' life and his career. Most notably, of course, were the posts from the actor's True Blood family, as so many of them shared their mournful thoughts. To start, show lead Anna Paquin.
Like others here, both Anna Paquin and Nelsan Ellis were part of the show from the premiere on, and they both starred in all of True Blood's seven seasons on HBO. Notably, however, Lafayette was nowhere near as successful a survivor in Charlaine Harris' Sookie Stackhouse novels that served as the show's source material. Lafayette was dead by the end of the first book, but the overwhelmingly positive feedback to Ellis' portrayal cemented the character's redeveloped future within the series.
Charlaine Harris, whose next book-to-TV series Midnight, Texas could have been a great project for the actor, had some kind words of her own to share concerning Nelsan Ellis' death.
Kevin Alejandro played the witch/brujo Jesus on True Blood, who was a character created specifically for the TV show to continue developing Lafayette's character, which brought about the two characters' temporary (but still lovely) romance. Naturally, Alejandro was as shocked as anyone by the tragic news.
As the owner of Merlotte's, the restaurant serving as a central True Blood location, Sam Trammell's Sam Merlotte was responsible for a lot of the on-set sweat that Nelsan Ellis poured out while rocking it in the kitchen with Todd Lowe's Terry Bellefleur, who was killed off the show in Season 6. To be expected, both actors shared their thoughts.
Now here's a rundown of some of the other big True Blood stars pouring their hearts out for Nelsan Ellis' untimely passing. Here's Stephen Moyer, who memorably starred as the morally torn vampire Bill Compton.
Here's current Daredevil star Deborah Ann Woll, who played the initially immature vamp Jessica.
Now the great Joe Manganiello, the mid-series addition who starred as the werewolf Alcide Herveaux.
The always excellent Kristen Bauer van Straten played the exquisitely moody Pam on True Blood, who was responsible for Lafayette selling V again.
Definitely not the last of Nelsan Ellis' True Blood co-stars to mourn his loss via social media, as there are many more, Michael Raymond-James was one of the show's big stars in Season 1 as the duplicitous Rene Lenier, who only reappeared once beyond his initial run.
Unbelievably sad news. Nelsan was such a sweet, gentle soul with an enormous talent. He will be missed greatly RIP
While True Blood may not air new episodes anymore, fans can always hit up HBO Go to watch Nelsan Ellis' Lafayette going through all his former trials and tribulations anew, and he can also be seen as a regular in the most recent season of Elementary. For all the shows that are coming to primetime in the near future, head to our summer TV premiere schedule.
