HBO’s Upcoming Vampire Show Is The True Blood Replacement I’ve Been Waiting For

Ten years after True Blood came to an end, I can finally celebrate HBO’s announcement that the perfect vampire replacement is in the works: an adaptation of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires. Created by Alan Ball, True Blood is based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries, a series of bestselling novels by Charlaine Harris. Set in Bon Temps, Louisiana, the fantasy drama centers on Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), a telepathic human-fairy hybrid living in a world where synthetic blood has allowed vampires to live more openly than before. Trust me: True Blood is peak 2010s TV.

To me, the most compelling part of the series is the vampire activism — a thinly veiled metaphor for LGBTQ+ rights, which comes into conflict with the hateful anti-vamp movement. Elsewhere, Sookie falls in love with vampire Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer). Packed with gore and even more sex, the series ran from 2008 until True Blood‘s disappointing ending aired in 2014. Pulpy and endlessly watchable, I think True Blood‘s cast of characters elevates the series and makes it memorable a decade later. Although HBO nixed plans for a True Blood reboot, the network finally has a perfect replacement.

The Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires Show Is Finally Happening

Grady Hendrix’s Bestselling Horror Novel Makes The Jump To The Screen

Toward the end of July 2024, Deadline reported that a TV series adaptation of The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires, a horror novel by Grady Hendrix, jumped from Amazon Prime Video to HBO. I must admit, AMC’s Interview with the Vampire series is the vampire show these days — and one of the best horror TV shows of 2024 — but HBO has a solid track record with the sub-genre thanks to True Blood. Although hardly anyone is attached, I’m also happy that Hendrix will adapt his work alongside The Righteous Gemstones‘ Danny McBride and Edi Patterson.

Set in Charleston, South Carolina, during the 1990s, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires centers on suburban homemaker Patricia Campbell, who finds escapist joy in her true-crime book club. After an elderly neighbor attacks Patricia, she meets the mysterious James. Patricia soon suspects that the ever-charming James is actually a vampire, and enlists her book club to help her protect their community from the alleged blood-sucking entity. Honestly, I think The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires is a solid read for fans of True Blood‘s 7 seasons — and, moreover, its source material.

What Grady Hendrix’s Vampire Story Has In Common With True Blood

Southern Horror Tropes Connect Southern Book Club’s Guide To Slaying Vampires With HBO’s True Blood

I’m not the first to say it: certain things went wrong with True Blood‘s later seasons — really wrong. Still, the show boasts several fun outings. One thing I never tired of was True Blood‘s fully realized setting — and heaps of Southern charm. Similarly, The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires is also firmly rooted in the Southern horror sub-genre. Packed with mystery elements, and the plot of tight-knit groups banding together against the supernatural, there’s no denying that Hendrix’s book bears a passing resemblance to True Blood‘s first few — and, arguably, best — seasons.

All seven seasons of True Blood are streaming on Max.

true blood

True Blood is a horror/fantasy drama series created by Alan Ball and starring Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, and Alexander Skarsgård. The series follows the life of Sookie Stackhouse, a waitress with telepathic powers that lives in a fictional town in Louisiana. In this town, a new synthetic “drug” has allowed vampires to escape their coffins and roam amongst the living.

Cast

Ryan Kwanten , Kristin Bauer van Straten , Sam Trammell , Alexander Skarsgard , Stephen Moyer , Rutina Wesley , Anna Paquin , Chris Bauer

Release Date

September 7, 2008

Seasons

7

Network

HBO Max

Writers

Raelle Tucker , charlaine harris , Brian Buckner , Alan Ball , Alexander Woo

Directors

Daniel Minahan

Showrunner

Alan Ball

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Source: Deadline