James True Blood
Luke Grimes played James in season 6 of "True Blood." HBO

“Fifty Shades of Grey” fans were overjoyed when 29-year-old Luke Grimes was cast in the upcoming movie as Elliot Grey, the adoptive brother of kinky millionaire Christian Grey. However does Grimes’ casting mean bad news for “True Blood” viewers?

Luke Grimes joined “True Blood” in its sixth season as James, a vampire who Jessica met while she was locked up at Governor Burell’s camp. Although season 6 featured a lot of deaths, James managed to make it out alive. Jessica and James formed a romantic relationship that carried on outside the prison walls when they were released by Eric and Bill. He was last seen performing with a band at the human/vampire party at Bellefleur’s Bar & Grill (formerly Merlotte’s Bar & Grill).

“True Blood” showrunner Brian Buckner revealed to TVGuide in late August that Grimes will be a series regular in season 7, but is that still a possibility with his casting in “Fifty Shades of Grey”?

Filming for “Fifty Shades of Grey” was initially supposed to start at the beginning of November in order to meet an August 1, 2014 theatrical release date. However the Hollywood Reporter claims that production has been pushed back to Dec. 2 due to Jamie Dornan’s late casting as Christian Grey due to Charlie Hunnam’s drop out. This becomes a problem for Grimes because Kristin Bauer van Straten revealed at New York Comic Con that season 7 for “True Blood” is set to begin filming in January.

Buckner told Entertainment Weekly that season 6 only “scratched the surface” of Grimes as James. “I always think it’s a nice thing to be able to introduce the next season’s regulars in an organic way in the previous season, if you know where you’re going, as we did in this case,” Buckner explained. “It felt really good, especially with Vamp Camp being what Vamp Camp was – that was a way to meet new vampires.”

It’s possible that filming for “Fifty Shades” will still give Luke Grimes plenty of time to play James in the final season of “True Blood,” although nothing has been confirmed.

Elliot isn’t a major player in the “Fifty Shades of Grey” books. He’s first introduced in the series when he goes with Christian to pick up a drunk Anastasia Steele(to be played by Dakota Johnson) from a bar in Portland. It’s there that Elliot meets Kate Kavanagh (casting currently unknown), Anastasia Steele’s best friend and roommate. Elliot and Kate dated throughout the novels before eventually marrying.