True Blood might be getting a big gay reboot
The cast of True Blood (HBO)
True Blood is getting a reboot, and that sound you hear is thousands of gays screaming in unison.
The horror series aired on HBO for seven seasons, kicking off in 2008 and ending in 2014, and proved a huge hit with LGBT+ audiences for its camp, over-the-top style.
The series, based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris, followed telepathic waitress Sookie Stackhouse in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, as she falls in love with vampire Bill Compton.
Now, the series is set to get the reboot treatment, with True Blood‘s queer creator Alan Ball set to return as executive producer, sources told TV Line.
HBO is set to bring True Blood back to screens with Riverdale creator Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa attached as executive producer. He is also set to write the pilot alongside Jami O’Brien.
Sadly, none of the show’s original cast is currently set to return, with the show likely to focus on a new raft of characters instead.
True Blood repeatedly broke new ground for LGBT+ representation throughout its seven season run, with more than a dozen queer characters.
Evan Rachel Wood starred as queer vampire Sophie Anne-Leclerq, who regularly took both male and female lovers, while Nelsan Ellis famously played gay medium Lafayette.
Denis O’Hare, Rutina Wesley, Kevin Alejandro, Theo Alexander and Kristin Bauer van Straten also played some of the show’s most iconic LGBT+ characters.
True Blood was HBO’s most-watched series in years when it aired in 2008
True Blood proved a huge hit for HBO when it hit television screens in 2008, becoming the channel’s most-watched show since The Sopranos.
The show starred Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgård, Sam Trannell, Ryan Kwanten, Rutina Wesley, Kristin Bauer van Straten, Lauren Bowles, Carrie Preston, Chris Bauer, Deborah Ann Woll and Joe Manganiello.
Ellis captured the hearts of queer audiences as Lafayette Reynolds. The actor tragically died in 2017, aged 39, from heart failure as a result of complications associated with alcohol addiction.
True Blood briefly found itself embroiled in controversy in 2014 when actor Luke Grimes quit the show amid rumours that he was unwilling to shoot same-sex love scenes with Ellis.
His role was subsequently recast for the show’s final season, and while Grimes’ publicist denied that he had quit over his character’s sexuality, Ellis was openly critical of the star.
Speaking to Vulture at the time, Ellis said: “I just think that, you’re an actor. We’re all sitting there going, ‘You quit your job because… really?’
“I’m just… I’m over him. You quit your job because you don’t want to play a gay part? As if it’s… You know what? I’m going to stop talking.”
