Rutina Wesley played the character of Tara Thornton throughout True Blood, but she wasn't the actor originally cast in the role, leaving viewers wondering the reason for the character being recast. Brooke Kerr played the character in the original True Blood pilot episode, which was shown to HBO before the series was greenlit. However, she was recast before the actual series was filmed, causing the pilot to be re-shot.
Tara Thornton is the childhood friend of True Blood's protagonist, Sookie Stackhouse, and plays a ing role throughout all seven seasons of the show. The character originated in Charlaine Harris's Southern Vampire Mysteries series, on which True Blood is loosely based. Throughout the HBO series Tara went through plenty of ordeals, including the death of her boyfriend Eggs, being kidnapped by the sociopathic vampire Franklin Mott, being turned into a vampire herself, and ultimately being killed but continuing to appear as a ghost to her abusive mother, Lettie Mae.
The reason why Tara Thornton was recast after the pilot is still not entirely clear, with no official announcement made. Reportedly, Brooke Kerr left the show because of "creative differences," which could mean any number of things. True Blood frequently seemed unsure what to do with Tara as a character, and Kerr's departure could have been an early sign of the creative trouble that led to True Blood's disappointing ending. On the other hand, the recasting could have been a case of Alan Ball or other producers on True Blood not liking Kerr's performance or having personal clashes with the actress.
Why Rutina Wesley Was Cast As Tara In True Blood
It's not unusual for shows to be majorly reworked between the recorded pilot and the first episode that actually makes it to air, but that doesn't seem to be the case for True Blood. The pilot, which was filmed in the summer of 2007, was largely similar to the first episode that aired on HBO, except for the opening credits and character wardrobes. This suggests that the pilot was re-shot primarily to for the recasting of Tara Thornton with Rutina Wesley in place of Brooke Kerr. It wouldn't be the last time the series replaced an actor, either, as James Kent was recast for season 7.
Rutina Wesley was primarily known as a theater actress when she was cast in True Blood based on an audition process in 2007. Ball reportedly cast her because she "was the first person who showed [Tara]'s vulnerable side" (via NYT). Wesley being cast so soon after the pilot was shot suggests that Ball and the rest of the True Blood crew probably decided to recast Kerr pretty quickly.
Footage from the original True Blood pilot leaked in 2010, and some scenes of Kerr as Tara can still be found online. Ultimately, there may never be a more detailed or official reason as to why Wesley ended up playing Tara instead of Kerr, but given True Blood's popularity and Wesley's subsequent success in series like Queen Sugar and the The Last of Us, the recasting of Tara Thornton can't be called a mistake.