'Moonlight' Star Alex O'Loughlin Wonders If 'Twilight' Could Have Helped Save His Vampire Series

Just when you thought you didn't have enough vampire-related pop culture floating around this summer — what with "The Twilight Saga: Eclipse" opening on June 30, the third season of "True Blood" and ABC's new "The Gates" — the CW made an announcement that excited some and shocked other when they decided to air reruns of CBS's short-lived "Moonlight" after summer reruns of "The Vampire Diaries."

The announcement came only a few weeks after we sat down to talk with "Moonlight's" leading man, Alex O'Loughlin, to chat about his romcom "The Back-Up Plan." What with vampires being all the craze nowadays, we figured we would talk to him about his own pre-"Twilight" fanged drama, not knowing how timely the conversation would soon become.

"It's a really cool genre," Alex told us about being a part of a vampire show. "I loved the Anne Rice books when I was younger. I sort of had an idea of the character before I even read the script, I had my own vampire in my head and when I read the 'Moonlight' pilot, my character in that genre, I was like, dude, I know you. I knew how I was going to do it."

Despite a fan base that really supported the show, "Moonlight" was canceled by CBS after its fourth episode back in 2007 and only lasted one season. The show was much more traditional than "Twilight," meaning its vampires were susceptible to sun and silver and slept in coffins. While other shows like "True Blood" and "The Vampire Diaries" have been able to make that classic formula work, its arguably because "The Twilight Saga" revitalized the genre.

"The vampire sort of flavor comes in and out of the entertainment world every so many years. We sort of felt like we were the beginning of this new phase," said Alex when we asked him if, had "Moonlight" debuted after "Twilight" got big, the show would have lasted longer. "I don't know what those answers are, but I loved 'Moonlight.' I put a lot into it and I got a love of amazing fans who still write to me and still rewatch [the show] — we only did a year, you know but they were very invested in the characters and the story. I just don't know, it's speculative. But I thought it was a good show!"

With our culture so infused with vamps, its hard for their not to be some overlap in style and substance, and Alex joked that sometimes he feels that actors or writers have borrowed from him and "Moonlight." "I have vampires in my head all the time," he said with a laugh. "I'm like, 'Hey, I did that before you! That's my move!

Of all the vampire shows and films out now, Alex shared that "True Blood" is his favorite. "It's more than a vampire show," he said. "I like what Alan Ball has done for the show and all of the characters and stuff. The setting is great." And, though Alex's next project is working on the very unsupernatural remake of "Hawaii Five-O," we're crossing our fingers he could potentially make a fanged cameo on one of our favorite vampire shows some day soon.


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