In 2008, the HBO series True Blood made its debut as an antidote to the relatively tame vampires of Twilight. Taking place in the fictional Southern town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, the show followed the drama unfolding in the town after the arrival of Vampire Bill and the evolving relationship between him and local waitress Sookie Stackhouse.
While the show drew some inevitable comparisons to Twilight before it aired, it quickly became clear this wasn't a sparkly, teen romance. It was more of a gore-soaked, sex-fuelled, murder mystery. The show ran until 2014 and brought more than just vampires into the small town of Bon Temps, so let's look back at the show and how it enhanced and changed the pre-existing vampire mythology.
Based on The Southern Vampire Mysteries series of books by Charlaine Harris, Six Feet Under creator and producer Alan Ball brought the idea to HBO. Author Harris already had several options for her series, but Ball won her over leading to one of HBO's biggest hits before Game of Thrones began in 2011. Starring Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse, Stephen Moyer as Bill Compton, Rutina Wesley as Tara Thornton, Ryan Kwanten as Jason Stackhouse, Sam Trammell as Sam Merlotte, and Alexander Skarsgard as Eric Northman, the show had a cast stacked with newcomers, and established names.
Sookie Stackhouse is a waitress at Merlotte's bar in Bon Temps. Seen as the local weirdo, Sookie is actually telepathic and is constantly being bombarded by the thoughts of others. In the world of True Blood, vampires have recently "come out of the coffin" and made themselves known to the human population. This revelation comes after the creation of True Blood, a synthetic blood substitute. When Bill Compton enters the bar for the first time, it's immediately clear he is a vampire, from his unnaturally pale skin to his outdated dress and haircut, Bon Temps has its first vampire.
When she is with him, Sookie can't hear his thoughts, a characteristic of all vampires, and so they begin an intense and tumultuous relationship that is on and off throughout the run of the series. From their meeting, an abundance of supernatural silliness began to spill into Bon Temps and the lives of its residents. The first season slowly introduced more vampires, including fan favorite Eric Northman (Alexander Skarsgard) Sheriff of Area 5, and his right-hand woman Pam (Kristin Bauer van Straten) and also dealt with a serial killer who was killing vampire groupies, called Fangbangers, and Jason Stackhouse's addiction to vampire blood.
All of these things were concurrent storylines in just the first season, and it never felt crowded. As the show went on shapeshifters, werewolves and fairies were also introduced into the world of the show, along with a string of other creatures from mythology. The show also didn't shy away from gore. Whereas shows like Buffy The Vampire Slayer and numerous other pieces of vampire media would see vampires turn to ash or simply become regular corpses when staked, in True Blood the vampires literally exploded into a pile of gore and organ remnants.
The show also didn't shy away from sex and frequently featured graphic sex scenes, orgies, and gratuitous nudity. In the second season, the story tackles religion and cults in 2 overarching stories. In Bon Temps, the mysterious Maryann has appeared, and her influence begins to send the town into a world of debauchery, while at the same time Jason is enraptured by the anti-vampire church, the Church of The Sun.
As True Blood progressed, it became more and more over the top which only made fans love it more. Sookie is apparently irresistible to many supernatural creatures. Her strange aura, and smell, draw vampires, werewolves, shifters, and numerous other beasts to her. It puts her in the path of danger constantly and also in the middle of love hexagons. Bill and Eric are constantly vying for her attention and then werewolf Alcide (Joe Manganiello), appears on the scene and also shows an interest in Sookie. Not to mention her boss Sam Merlotte's long-standing crush on her. In essence, True Blood is a souped-up supernatural soap opera that has all the sex and violence daytime soaps can't offer.
The introduction of faeries revealed that Sookie is part Fae, which is why supernatural creatures are so interested in her. This then influenced the show as she struggled to reconcile her human aspects with her Fae abilities. It also had her questioning whether any of the men in her life actually cared for her or if it was all the pull of her Fae blood.
Unfortunately, True Blood did succumb to the HBO finale curse, just as Game of Thrones did, with the finale episode leaving fans and critics alike unimpressed and wanting more. As a whole, the series is still held up as an example of excellent long-form television. The show accrued numerous awards over its 7 season run with performances from the cast constantly praised along with the script and look of the show. When it comes to the show's final episode, Sookie Stackhouse may have got her happy ending, but fans certainly didn't.
Despite this, True Blood revitalized a stale genre. Vampires had become boring, trite, and sparkly until True Blood came along and made vampires dangerous again. The show was darkly funny, tense, sexy, and bloody, everything vampires should be. It was also clearly canceled before its time as the finale still seems rushed upon watching now. The legacy of True Blood remains a high bar for vampire media and future vampire-themed projects could learn from the brazen and taboo-breaking nature of the show.