Deborah Ann Woll. Photo: John P. Johnson/HBO

The newly liberated Jessica may not want Newlin to chip one of his baby fangs on Jason’s hard ass, but she’s not against sharing him either. After relegating Jason to hot hookup (and before that, moving too fast with Hoyt), True Blood’s teenage vampire is finally starting to act her age. Deborah Ann Woll spoke with Vulture about what a forever 17-year-old does for fun in Bon Temps, the possibility of reconciling with Hoyt, and why wearing that Red Riding Hood outfit helps.

Jessica’s foregoing Jason for keg stands, frat boys, and Rock Band?

Well, she’s spent her whole life not really having any friends, not knowing what it’s like to be a teenager. She went from a sheltered home to being a newborn baby vamp living with Bill and then moved right in with her long-term boyfriend. I imagine that she felt this rush of freedom, met some guy and his college friends at Merlotte’s and decided to have a party.

And that green streak she’s been sporting — is Jessica chalking her hair?

My idea was that Jessica has never been cool. It’s one of my favorite things about her. I thought she’d be thinking, “Oh my gosh, all these college kids are coming over for a party,” and the first thing that occurs to her is to put a green streak in her hair. I just thought it was a great symbol of trying a little too hard, but it’s very endearing. We just did a little extension.

For a second, I thought that she was fattening the boys up for dinner.

Jessica’s not quite that evil. I think there’s a lot of feeding she wants to do, but I think she’s still a little bit shy. Even sexually shy.

Except when it comes to Jason.

I’d say she’s experimenting. She was with Hoyt and then she was drawn to his best friend, so I don’t think she’s ready to be promiscuous. What was really sweet in that first episode back was her kiss with the frat boy. It was very sweet and innocent. I don’t imagine they slept together later that night.

She’s already chased off Newlin twice. Isn’t she just fighting her feelings for Jason because of Hoyt?

They obviously have a very strong attraction to one another and a lot of chemistry, but they did start in a guilty way, betraying Hoyt. It’s going to take a lot of healing before they can move forward as a couple. She doesn’t want to hurt Jason the way she hurt Hoyt. Right now, she’s of the opinion that relationships between humans and vampires on an intimate level don’t work.

Jessica seems to be enjoying being an older and more powerful vampire than Newlin.

She’s also going cross paths with new baby vamp Tara. Jessica’s single now, so she’ll be hanging out at Fangtasia more, which is where Tara’s maker Pam works. When Jess finds out that there are vamps younger than her, it’s very exciting.

Will she be playing big sister?

Jessica’s finally dabbling in the benefits of being a vampire herself, so I think she’s going to make Tara feel a little better about it.

Speaking of Fangtasia, the teaser trailer featured Hoyt trolling around the bar with a lot guyliner on.

A lot of guyliner. He’s all sort of fangbanger’d out. He’s got a very interesting storyline this year in which Jessica weaves in and out.

Are Hoyt and Jessica headed for a reconciliation?

They ultimately can’t satisfy one another. Jessica’s dark and wild and Hoyt is much more conservative and innocent in a way. If Jess were to stay with Hoyt, she would corrupt that innocence he has. You’ll see a little bit of what I mean by that soon. Obviously their relationship isn’t completely concluded, there’s more fallout, but I can say that we’ll start to see that Hoyt and Jessica are really not made for one another.

The show’s explored the bond between makers and their progeny when it comes to Godric and Eric and now Eric and Pam. Are we going to see more of what that relationship means for Jessica and Bill?

Yes. Bill has always been very busy and he hasn’t had a lot of time for Jess. Left to her own devices, she gets into a lot of trouble this season. Definitely, they’ll come together, and when they do it will be a test in a way to see where their loyalties lie.

How so?

It’s a very polarized world on True Blood this season. There are boyfriends, girlfriends, the Authority, Pam, other vampires, humans … What sides are they going to pick? We’ve seen that usually progeny will go along with their makers, but we also know sometimes your kid doesn’t always do what you want. We’ll see how Bill and Jessica navigate those waters. Will they be loyal to the same faction or will they go opposite ways?

Your sex scenes with Jason have been pretty racy. I read that you warn your boyfriend beforehand.

Yeah, we watch the show together. It can’t be easy for anyone to have to watch that. I think he’d be a poor boyfriend if it didn’t bother him a little. Usually, he’ll turn to me and say, “You looked beautiful. You did a great job sweetie,” and that’s about as much as he wants to get into it. You never get used to shooting those scenes, but I’ll say I find them quite funny. It’s very silly. Thirty people in a room and two naked people bouncing around.

The Red Riding Hood outfit probably helped.

It did! It helps to be dressed up in something so outrageous and really go for it.