"True Blood" executive producer Alan Ball recently talked about casting Joe Manganiello, who will bring a new dimension to the Sookie, Bill and Eric triangle of love in Season 3.

Manganiello ("One Tree Hill") will play Alcide Herveaux, a werewolf who enjoys instant chemistry with Sookie (Anna Paquin).

We were looking for a guy who was big, sexy, decent and heroic, with some darkness, Ball said in an interview with Entertainment Weekly. And [Manganiello] showed us all of that in the audition.

In fact, Ball found little reason to preform a chemistry test between Paquin and Manganiello.

We do that when we have four or five options, and in this instance, I felt like Joe was the only one who came close to what the character needed to be, Ball explained.

Like in the books, Herveaux helps Sookie "find [her kidnapped boyfriend] Bill, Ball said. And he has a business reason for owing Eric a favor. Hes there with her during a very painful time in her life -- and his life, actually. And theyre thrown into some pretty intense situations together.

And hello, hes hot! And hello, so is she. Two hot people in some intense situations and, for whatever reasons, their significant others are not there ... theyre human.