HBO executive Casey Bloys says that the True Blood reboot is still more than a year out from hitting the air. It was reported in December that the HBO vampire saga would be returning to the network. At the time, original star Anna Paquin said it was the first she was hearing about the reboot. Charlaine Harris, author of the novels the show is based on, had also been kept in the dark about the potential reboot, and it has since been reported that there are no plans to bring back any original cast members at this point in the show's development.
Riverdale co-creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa is currently slated to executive produce the reboot. He will also write the script with NOS4A2 creator Jami O'Brien. Alan Ball, creator and showrunner of the original series for five seasons, is also set to return as an executive producer on the reboot. Story details are under wraps for the True Blood reboot, and now Bloys has revealed why so much is still up in the air for the forthcoming HBO show.
Bloys told TVLine that the True Blood reboot is still very much in the early stages of development. In fact, Bloys says that there is no green light for the series on the horizon and that he is waiting for a really good story to come to fruition before making the decision. The HBO boss goes on to say that the True Blood reboot won't air within the coming year and that it may be hitting the network even further out than that. Ultimately, Bloys wants to make sure that the reboot will add to the original series rather than be a repetitive rehashing of what True Blood has already done so well.
There’s no green light imminent on that. I wouldn’t say it’s as far along as, say, the Game of Thrones [spinoff House of Dragon]. We definitely have a writer working on an idea for sure, but I think that it’s fair to say it’s not quite as far along as people think. It’s [not] coming on the air next year. It’s a long way away from that. We’ll have to see how it comes together. Like with any development, you want to see [if] it [is] a story worth telling. Is it engaging? Does it add to the original? And we’ll see.
For fans of the original, a True Blood reboot is exciting, but news that the original cast may not be returning is disheartening. Of course, the events of the series finale would prevent some True Blood characters from returning, but familiar faces are always good when a show like this comes back from the dead. Still, the series seems to be in good hands with Aguirre-Sacasa and O'Brien.
NOS4A2 and Riverdale both riff on the horror genre, so it's safe to say that the writing pair have some experience with shows like these. The fact that it's so far out shows that HBO is putting careful consideration into how to do this reboot right. Rushing something into production to capitalize on the name of the original True Blood is exactly what fans don't want. So while it's unfortunate to hear that it could be some time before we see it, it's also good news that ample time is being invested into the reboot, even if it's still strange that the news of a reboot was so secretive.
Source: TVLine