Īnna Paquin was cast in the HBO television adaptation True Blood, with her casting being announced on 26 February 2007. I wish I were as brave as she is!' Harris said that when writing for Sookie it is, 'second nature to me to step into Sookie's skin'.

More correctly, there are elements of me in her. She explained this further saying, 'it would just be absolutely horrible to know what people really thought about you.' Harris felt that there are 'definitely elements of Sookie in me-or, In an interview Harris stated that making Sookie telepathic is 'the worst thing I could think of to do to anybody'. Harris then decided she would have to establish a reason 'sensible Sookie' would 'do such a crazy thing' which led to her giving Sookie the power of telepathy. To make Sookie more interesting as Harris would have 'to live with Sookie' while writing, she decided to have the character start a relationship with a vampire as an introduction to a foreign world. Harris wanted to 'write from the point of view of a human'. Young Sookie was present in a couple episodes, with multiple actresses playing the character's younger self, including actress Lily Bigham. regional nicknames for Susannah or Susan (Hebrew, 'Lily').

And 'Stackhouse' just flowed right after it'. When naming the character Harris decided to use her grandmother's best friend's name because 'it was a fine old Southern nickname, I thought it would do well for my heroine. Harris went on to establish the protagonist of the series. And since people had told me for years that I had a great sense of humor, I thought it would be interesting to try to include that in the book, too'. The author said that to do this she would include 'all the elements I loved: mystery, the supernatural, bloody adventure, and a dash of romance. Harris stated that she decided to 'shake up my writing style by trying something new'. In HBO's television adaptation, True Blood, Sookie is portrayed by Anna Paquin. Sookie Stackhouse is a fictional character and protagonist of The Southern Vampire Mysteries book series, written by Charlaine Harris.

Dead until dark series in order