'True Blood': Alan Ball Inks New Deal, Talks Season 5

Kevin Winter/Getty Images

True Blood showrunner Alan Ball isn’t planning on leaving HBO’s hit vampire drama anytime soon.

Ball said Thursday during HBO’s presentation at the summer Television Critics’ Association tour stop that he has inked a deal for another year on the series, effectively tipping the network’s hand that a fifth-season renewal could be imminent.

“There will be an end for me at some point but I just closed a deal to do another season,” he said. “I don’t have any desire to leave because I’m having more fun than I ever had in my life.”

Ball later told The Hollywood Reporter that his deal is exclusive to HBO, where he has a "couple pilots" in development.

True Blood is currently airing its fourth season and HBO hasn’t officially announced its renewal.

Ball told The Hollywood Reporter in June that he was negotiating for a new contract for a fifth season but was unclear what his status would be afterward.

Ball added that writers on the Anna Paquin-Stephen Moyer series were breaking stories for Season 5, including “how a vampire is made.”

“We’re creating new characters for Season 5,” Ball said. The showrunner added that actors who have been involved in other vampire works played no part when it came to casting.

Ball, who signed on to direct a dark comedy pitch he developed with Elan Mastai that landed at Paramount, said in June that Season 4 has been “really tough,” and while he’s happy with it, he’s “ready to take a big vacation right now.”

Email: Lesley.Goldberg@thr.com; Twitter: @Snoodit