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HBO Sinks Its Teeth into Alan Ball's "True Blood"

Sharpen your stakes.

I can't tell you how excited I am to share this news. After months of waiting (and waiting), HBO has finally announced that they have officially ordered Alan Ball's latest series, True Blood. Ball (Six Feet Under) wrote and directed the pilot for True Blood and it is anticipated that he will write several episodes of the supernatural drama.

Based on the acclaimed Southern Vampire novel series by Charlaine Harris, True Blood will go into production this fall. However, the pay cabler still hasn't determined an episode count or launch date for the series. (I'd guess sometime in mid-2008 or as late as fall 2008.)

True Blood will star Anna Paquin, Ryan Kwanten, Sam Trammell, Stephen Moyer, and Brook Kerr. Paquin toplines as Sookie Stackhouse, a telepathic waitress and social pariah, who falls for a seductive vampire (Moyer) in rural Louisiana. Vampires, having developed a synthetic blood, freely mingle with humans.

Ball's pilot script for True Blood was one of the best written ones from this past development season and I have been waiting with baited breath for HBO order the damn thing to series. This has just become a must-watch series.

Stay tuned as this project develops; I'm already trying to get my hands on the pilot that HBO shot earlier this year.
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Comments

Anonymous said…
I can't tell you how excited I am about this news. I have been reading about this project on your blog for the past year or so and I am already excited about seeing this on HBO.
8/09/2007
Anonymous said…
Whoa. This is awesome news and Anna Paquin is HOT in that photo!!!!
8/09/2007
ticknart said…
Can't wait, can't wait, can't wait!

The books are excellent fun and I trust the man bringing them to TV.

Next year can't get here soon enough, what with the late starts of Battlestar Galactica and Lost and now the news that Sookie Stackhouse will be flesh and blood.
8/09/2007
Freddie L Sirmans, Sr. said…
Just browsing the internet, you have a very, very interesting blog.
8/09/2007
Danielle C.F. Maris said…
Yay! I loved the pilot script and am so excited for this show. Anna Paquin is the perfect lead. Thanks for the update!
8/09/2007
Anonymous said…
Awesome news! I really wanted to get my hands on this script but never managed to. Any chance of getting a copy? (I kid, I kid!) I loved SIX FEET UNDER and think that Alan Ball is just the guy to tackle these books.
8/09/2007
The CineManiac said…
I'd watch anything with Anna Paquin (no really I wasted hours of my life watching Darkness, it was horrible)
And I love Vampires, so count me in!
And Thank You for that Picture!
8/09/2007
Anonymous said…
That picture of Anna Paquin is totally hot and I'd watch anything with her. I watched Finding Forrester about 13 times because she was in it. This sounds awesome and I love that Paquin is going to be in a weekly show.
8/09/2007
Anonymous said…
You'd think that the television-viewing world would be done with 're-imagined' vampire storylines by now... but Alan Ball? HBO? Anna Paquin? Ok, sign me up.
8/10/2007
LB said…
Rock. On.

I love the Sookie series, I think Anna Paquin is fabulous, Alan Ball is a genius, and now I have to sign up for HBO again before this airs!
8/10/2007
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