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.

Almost Famous and The Piano actress Anna Paquin has signed on to the lead role in a new series for HBO from Alan Ball. That name should ring a bell for all fans of Six Feet Under (Ball also wrote American Beauty).

This time around, Ball is diving into the world of vampires. His new series, appropriately called True Blood, is based on the "Southern Vampire" series of novels by Charlaine Harris. In the story, vampires don't have to kill humans for their blood because the Japanese were kind enough to invent a synthetic blood that does the trick. Paquin will play a non-vampire waitress who hooks up with a vampire.

Paquin is also appearing in an HBO mini-series about the displacement of Native Americans, called Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee.