HBO has renewed its hit drama series “True Blood” for a seventh season, the network announced earlier this week. The new season premieres in summer 2014 with executive producer Brian Buckner returning as showrunner.
“‘True Blood’ remains a signature show for HBO, and a true phenomenon with our viewers,” noted Michael Lombardo, president, HBO Programming. “Thanks to Brian Buckner and his talented team, the show continues to be a thrill ride like nothing else on TV.”
Mixing romance, suspense, mystery and humor, the show takes place in a world where vampires and humans co-exist, after vampires have come out of the coffin, thanks to the invention of mass-produced synthetic blood that means they no longer need humans as a nutritional source. The series follows waitress and part-faerie Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), who can hear people’s thoughts, vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) and vampire Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgård). Alan Ball (creator of the Emmy®-winning HBO series “Six Feet Under”) created the show, which is based on the bestselling Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris.
The sixth season of “True Blood” launched on Sunday, June 26 and has inspired critical raves, with the Boston Herald praising the show for “suspense, surprises and crackling dialogue,” while US Weekly noted that the show’s “cheeky humor and vivid imagination are still there to relish,” and the New York Post called it “bloody hilarious.” According to early data, the show is already exceeding ten million viewers per episode. Its most recent episode (June 14) garnered “Blood” its most watched episode of the season with 4.5 million viewers tuning in.