‘True Blood’ To End In 2014

After this past season, it's probably just as well.

HBO announced Tuesday that the vampire drama "True Blood" will end after its seventh season in 2014.

HBO president of programming Michael Lombardo issued a statement which read, “'True Blood' has been nothing short of a defining show for HBO. Alan Ball took the books by Charlaine Harris, assembled a brilliant cast led by the magnificent Anna Paquin in the role of Sookie Stackhouse, and crafted a show that has taken its many devoted fans on an Unforgettable journey. Alan passed the baton to Brian Buckner, who led our fantastic writers and crew in crafting a spectacular sixth season, and he will lead us through the seventh and final season of this amazing show. Together with its legions of fans, it will be hard to say goodbye to the residents of Bon Temps, but I look forward to what promises to be a fantastic final chapter of this incredible show."

Buckner, who took over as producer for show creator Alan Ball in season 6, also issued a statement: "I feel enormously proud to have been a part of the 'True Blood' family since the very beginning. "I guarantee that there’s not a more talented or harder-working cast and crew out there, and I’d like to extend a personal heartfelt thanks to them for their dedication and tenacity over the years, especially this past year, as I stepped into a larger role. Thank you also to HBO for their unwavering support and of course to Alan Ball, whose genius enabled all of us to share in this incredible journey. Finally, a huge thank you to the most passionate fans in television. As we take a final walk through Bon Temps together, we will do our very best to bring Sookie’s story to a close with heart, imagination and, of course, fun."

Buckner tells The Hollywood Reporter that fans can expect a more "back to basics" kind of story as the show plans to focus more on vampire-human relationships.

"It was my absolute goal and objective was to narrow the number of separate stories we're telling," said Buckner.That's why we're doing for every human, a vampire, for every vampire a human, because now we get to focus on the characters and the relationships. The original promise of the show was, if vampires exist, what do the relationships between humans and vampires look like? And that was Sookie and Bill. And now we have this whole town of characters we're invested in, and we get to look at how the pairings, and what those pairing will do to the relationships people are already in. All of it is about trying to get back to the more entangled romances and soapy-ness that the first season had."

Let's just hope that the final season is a vast improvement from what many consider a less-than-stellar sixth season.