Superhot actor Joe Manganiello, who plays the werewolf Alcide on the upcoming season of True Blood, which starts this weekend

“Vampires can get away with having very slight builds and the audience will still believe that they’re super powerful. Werewolves are animals and in my mind they should be very muscular. Not an extra ounce of fat on them. Really ripped. I wanted people to look at Alcide and think, ‘wow, he’s a super strong animal’…My mom is half Austrian and comes from a long line of giant athletes. I remember my mom doing double bicep flexes and her arms were just ripped. She had like Madonna arms. She would flex and say, ‘that’s where you get it kid.’ So I have my mother to thank.”

Manganiello also talked with Anna Paquin in a video interview and about his introduction to the ‘Brotherhood of the Sock’.