When Rutina Wesley discovered the writers of True Blood planned to have Tara start Season 4 as a lesbian cage-fighter, the first question she asked was “Is she gonna be happy?” 

Wesley sat down with TVLine’s Michael Ausiello during Comic-Con to talk about how she found out about Tara’s shift in sexuality and her thoughts on whether or not her character is “just going through a phase.”

As for whether Tara is lesbian, bisexual or just going through a phase, Wesley says, "I think its just one of those things that just would have happened. I think she maybe met her, didn’t realize she was being hit on, next thing you knew, things happened and she was sort of like ‘hm, interesting. I kind of liked that.’ I kind of think, with the whole cage fighting thing, she kind of wanted to start spending more time with her and then that sort of led to a relationship. I really do think there is a love there, and I really do think it is a relationship. I would say she’s bisexual. I don’t think it’s a phase because I think she really is into this woman.”

Viewers are not the only ones who were surprised to see Tara in a relationship with a woman. Wesley says she thinks Tara didn't see it coming, that she "got side-swiped," and Tara "was sort of taken for a ride." But adds "I think that that’s okay. I like it because she is really happy, and she is smiling – thank goodness.”

"I think Tara was in love with Sam, but she wasn’t ready for it," Wesley says of Tara's past relationships with men. "I think now, with the time that’s gone by, she’s been able to open herself up in a way that she’s ready for love, or whatever has come her way, and it just so happened to be a woman.”

When Wesley found out her character would start Season 4 in a lesbian relationship, she says she was fine with it, asking only "'Is she gonna be happy? Am I going to be duct-taped to a toilet? No? Okay, cool.’ Fine.”

"We signed up for a show that is very racy, you have to expect things like that - or we take off our clothes, or run in the woods naked, or have orgies in the middle of the forest with black eyes." When its compared to the other crazy things Tara has been through on the show, being in a lesbian relationship is no big deal. 

Watch the full video interview on TVLine. 

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