True Blood’s Nelsan Ellis Dies at 39

Nelsan Ellis, who played Lafayette Reynolds on HBO’s True Blood, has died at 39 due to complications from heart failure.

Variety reports:

“We were extremely saddened to hear of the passing of Nelsan Ellis,” HBO said in a statement. “Nelsan was a long-time member of the HBO family whose groundbreaking portrayal of Lafayette will be remembered fondly within the overall legacy of ‘True Blood.’ Nelsan will be dearly missed by his fans and all of us at HBO.”

“True Blood” creator and executive producer Alan Ball echoed HBO’s epitaph in a statement of his own. “Nelsan was a singular talent whose creativity never ceased to amaze me,” said Ball. “Working with him was a privilege.”

It was an utter privilege to work with the phenomenally talented and deeply kind soul .@OfficialNelsan I'm devastated by his untimely death. pic.twitter.com/If17csduHz

— Anna Paquin (@AnnaPaquin) July 8, 2017

Crushed today by the loss of my friend and castmate Nelsan Ellis. He was a wonderful person, a pioneer, and a one of a kind artist. RIP pic.twitter.com/fvtquhIac7

— JOE MANGANIELLO (@JoeManganiello) July 8, 2017

Octavia Spencer, Ellis’s co-star in The Help, posted this on Instagram Saturday morning:

View this post on Instagram

Just got word that we lost @nelsanellisofficial. My heart breaks for his kids and family. #RIPNelsanEllis. #brillIantactor #trueblood #getonup #thesoloist #thehelp. The first time I met him was on the set of the soloist and we were at rehearsal with a lot of the homeless cast members, and Nelsan was playing our counselor. He walked in wearing a pair of fitted camo cargo pants, a pristine white tshirt, a beret, and a denim jacket. Needless to say he was gorgeous, sexy. But his talent had me speechless. We became instant friends after that. He was sooooo funny. I miss him. #nelsanellis

A post shared by Octavia Spencer (@octaviaspencer) on Jul 8, 2017 at 11:43am PDT

In 2014, Ellis ripped his co-star Luke Grimes for leaving the show after refusing to play gay:

“If you have a child, if you have a son, and he comes out as gay, what are you going to do? You just made a statement, and it has ripple effects. I didn’t like what he did because he made a statement, and sometimes you have to take responsibility.”