Alan Ball, creator of Six Feet Under, is coming back to HBO with the new series True Blood, based on the Southern Vampire books by Charlaine Harris.

It's been a couple years since we've mentioned the series, but Variety recently reported that the series was officially picked up by HBO. Both the books and the TV adaptation take place in a time when human beings and vampires live together, thanks to the creation of synthetic blood. A pilot starring Anna Paquin, Ryan Kwanten, Sam Trammell, Stephen Moyer and Brook Kerr was shot earlier this summer. Paquin plays the Louisiana waitress Sookie Stackhouse, who becomes romantically involved with Moyer's Bill Compton, a vampire.