Slake your thirst by watching Season 4 of True Blood. We sit down with the hunky werewolf himself Joe Manganiello, who will bare more than his six pack.

How was it working with real wolves?
I love working with the animals. At first it was intimidating, but you get use to it and they are such amazing, beautiful, intimidating animals. I relate to them too, being a big meat eater myself and having a higher body temperature.

Have you ever played a werewolf before True Blood?
No I haven’t, but I remember when I was in Catholic school, the nuns told me that if I pray with all of my heart god will answer you. So sure enough, I would wake up super early and get to church at 6am to pray to god and ask him to turn me into a werewolf. It never happened, so I started not to believe in god. Then, 25 years later I get to play a werewolf, so I guess the universe works on its own time.

What aspects of Alcide’s sensitivity can you relate to?
I’ve had friends of mine that are former gang members, with tattoos that they had to earn. And these big guys are always getting their feelings hurt and storming out of the room. The toughest guys are really the most sensitive. It’s all about fear. All those big tough guys are just bunny rabbits. And they have constructed this monster to protect the bunny rabbit, and I definitely identify with that.

Was it hard when you told your family that you wanted to be an artist and not a football player?
My dad was not happy and had a tough time with it. My mom was very supportive and took me to arts classes and children’s theatre. My father was just scared, he saw me as having more than he did-being able to succeed in ways he wanted to. After I talked with him, I reminded him that because of his sacrifices, I get to do what I wanted to do. Years later, my father who isn’t artistic at all, wrote me a poem about
werewolves. He had it done in calligraphy and had it framed for me.

He’s a bunny inside too?
Completely! Exactly Exactly!

How many times do you work out a week?
I work out twice a day six times a week. I was football player, so fitness was sort of my thing, until I went to drama school. All I did was sit around and drink whiskey and smoke cigarettes.

Are you running fully naked when you are running across the field?
Not fully naked, but a carefully placed sock.

A Christmas Sock?
Chuckles kinda of.

Do you like being shirtless?
I’m not going to like this forever. You make hay when the sun is shining.

Was it easy assimilating to the set of True Blood being the new guy?
You know Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh, who’s always dopey and depressed. I was telling Anna how I was basing my character off Eeyore. When Anna and Steven went to Disneyland, they brought me back a giant stuffed Eeyore, which made me feel so welcome.

How has True Blood changed your life?
I’ve never been to Asia, and now I woke up this morning and I’m in Hong Kong and I get to open my window and see the building Batman jumped off from. I get to see the world and meet new people. And people love the show because they understand it’s about the human condition and it’s deeper than just werewolves and vampires.

So what are your final thoughts regarding your role on Season 4 of True Blood?
The show is about being human- people with serious handicaps trying to deal with love and death. It’s a bit like Greek mythology. You are going to see a continuation with Alcide and Sookie. You will see that he moves really close to Sookie, making his love life even more complicated.

Catch Season Four of True Blood every Thursday @ 10pm on HBO