Though HBO raised a few eyebrows when it announced that True Blood —the messy but fun vampire series based on the novels by Charlaine Harris — would be rebooted, such a project has more potential than might be immediately apparent. True Blood was a tremendous success for HBO during its run, even though it largely eschewed the mystery-solving component of the book series after its first season. Like so many other vampire series of the time and since, it worked very hard to make vampires sexy, and it often focused more on the relationship dramas of its central characters rather than murder mysteries.
True Blood and its enormous cast was, of course, a part of a larger cultural fascination with vampires that flourished during the 2000s and into the 2010s. Though vampires aren’t quite as ubiquitous as when True Blood was first on the air, they have never really gone away, which is not likely to change. Furthermore, reboots have become very popular in both movies and TV, so it makes sense that a network like HBO would want to capitalize on this industrial trend and on what remains a very popular series of books.
A True Blood Reboot Can Use A Lot Of The Books (That The Original Didn't)
The first season of True Blood and its protagonist Sookie Stackhouse stayed remarkably true to the novel on which it’s based, Dead Until Dark. Very shortly thereafter, however, it went very far afield from its source material, drawing only intermittently on the books themselves. At the time, this sort of departure earned a mixed reception, particularly once the series seemed to lose its own plot during the middle of its run. However, the heavy changes made by the original series open up a world of possibilities for a reboot, which could establish its own identity, one more in line with The Southern Vampire Mysteries series.
A new series could stay truer to the original books, drawing on some of the underutilized stories from Harris’ novels. For example, a True Blood reboot could focus more on Jason Stackhouse’s transformation into a werepanther since the original True Blood hinted at this particular storyline but ultimately kept him fully human. The reboot could also stay truer to the fairy story as outlined in Charlaine Harris’ books, as this was something that the original HBO series didn’t quite know what to do with in terms of its central story.
A True Blood Reboot Is Easier After The Original's Bad Ending
True Blood started out strong, with a compelling central cast and a story that made a certain amount of sense. By the second season, however, the seams started to show, and it really leaned into the excess with its maenad storyline (played by Star Trek: The Next Generation’s Ro Laren). As it strayed further and further from the books on which it was based, it also lost much of its narrative coherence. It frequently introduced new characters and mythologies with no clear endgame in mind, and the character of Warlow, a mix of Faerie and vampire, perfectly illustrated this problem.
As a result of these problems, True Blood ended as a far weaker series than it was when it began. Few of its storylines had a satisfying conclusion, and it was particularly egregious when it came to Bill Compton’s death (willingly) at Sookie’s hands, which felt like a disservice to both the characters and those who had spent so many seasons getting to know him. Given how unsatisfactory the ending of the original series was, this leaves room for a new series to start over with a blank slate, and it means audiences might give it a chance so that the novels can get the adaptation they deserve.
Will A True Blood Reboot Happen?
There is certainly a lot of material for a reboot of True Blood to draw from, both in terms of the original series and Charlaine Harris’ novels. The success of reboots and revivals such as the recently-released Night Court also suggests that there is an appetite among audiences for a return to the series that they loved in the past. While it only left the air in 2014, it seems as if enough time has elapsed for a True Blood reboot, one which includes more murder and less soap opera, to find a home.
Unfortunately for those who would welcome the chance to see Sookie Stackhouse and her supernatural companions brought to the small screen again, there have been many signs that such a series faces an uphill battle. While it was originally announced that it would be produced for HBO Max, an interview from HBO’s Chief Content Officer in 2022 suggested that there was still a long way to go before the series would get the much-coveted green light. The shakeup that has resulted from the merger of Discovery and Warners has put the series prospects in even greater doubt.