It has been announced that True Blood will meet its end in 2014 as the next season will be its last. HBO declared that Season 7 will be the final season, finishing with ten episodes that will sufficiently tie up loose ends and subsequently leave True Blood fans feeling satisfied. In a statement released by HBO's Brian Buckner, he promises to "do our very best to bring Sookie's story to a close with heart, imagination and, of course, fun". After The Sopranos ended in 2007, HBO viewers needed and called for something to sink their teeth into and True Blood well and truly answered this call a year later. With Season 1 making its debut in 2008, True Blood has grown over the years and has flourished into one of HBO's most popular long-running shows. The show was unlike anything we had ever seen before, and the graphic and sexual nature of the programme combined with the squeaky clean and 'soapy' small town backdrop made for completely addictive viewing. For anybody thinking the whole 'vampire narrative' was strictly for spoilt teens reading their Twilight literature at summer camp, they would have been instantly shocked into becoming hooked on True Blood from the very first, very adult episode. Throughout the past six seasons, the cast has been fangtastically led by Anna Paquin playing Sooki Stackhouse. We have watched Sooki develop from shy, small town waitress with a special 'talent', to a fiery faerie who is firmly in touch with her sexuality and makes no apologies for who or what she is. It is so important to have character development in such a long running series, the viewers do not want to see the same Sooki from Season 1, in Season 7. We really have invested in Sooki as a character, we have followed her many love affairs from Bill, to Alcide to Eric, back to Bill and now, most recently back to Alcide again. I would love to see Sooki return to Bill in this final season, as their relationship from the beginning was captivating and I really would like both characters to live happily ever after. Of course there is the small problem of eternal life and how Sooki's lack of it, so logically it just could not work - I cannot see Sooki as an elderly woman with Bill who will never age past what he is now. There are so many ways the final season can go and I hope to see a substantial amount of raw that the show does so well. I need the dark humour, violence, death and of course nudity, all of which I hope True Blood will pull out all the stops to supply.
Fans of long-running television shows put a lot of pressure on final seasons - we need the writers to do the show justice, we need storylines to be rounded off sufficiently but in no way predictably and we yearn for game-changing surprises along the way. This isn't too much to ask for is it? I personally don't think so - after five years (will be six come 2014) worth of addictive Sunday evening viewing we need to reach some closure and feel satisfied with the finale of such a beloved series. There has been a lot of negativity surrounding the shows latest runner, Brian Buckner. When Alan Ball departed after Season 5 many fans felt the show had lost its way and the time is right for it to be rounded up and brought to an end. There is no doubt that fans and viewers have Alan Ball to thank for bringing the characters and Bon Temps to life in such a way that keeps us firmly embraced week after week. The element of darkness we have witnessed throughout the series is solely down to him. Ball also famously created HBO's Six Feet Under which is just as notoriously dark as True Blood and truly stares issues like sexuality, life, death and the theme of being 'different' confidently in the face. True Blood is Ball's baby, and when Buckner took over the reins the show seemed to lack its very essence. I am crazy about development in a long running series, but I believe a show can be developed and can grow without the very essence being lost along the way. During Season 6 we saw a few fleeting glimpses of Alan Ball's kahonas, and it takes a brave man to completely adapt a novel and to fully apply his own vision using highly explicit scenes and wild imagination. This originality and essence was the backbone for the series and it has begun to fade, so I hope the final season brings it back to its roots. It would be great to see it stripped back circa Season 1, but with the great addition of the now fully-developed characters of Season 6. I must comment on the underuse of Lafayette during Season 6 - he is one of the shows absolute treasures, a hilariously dynamic character who deserves to be fully utilised in the final season. His character has been a firm staple throughout the series and has developed beautifully, it would be great to see him go out at his full potential. As if I wasn't eagerly awaiting the next season enough already, knowing it will be the final season just makes it all the more exciting. I am confident that the fans will try to savour and embrace every episode and just hope the show goes out with a bang. So bring it on HBO, and please don't let us down!