In a surprising move, HBO recently announced that True Blood was being rebooted at the network, just six years after the original series ended. But the strange thing is that no one seemed to know it was happening — not the original cast or even Charlaine Harris, the author of the series that acted as the source material for the show. The announcement frankly seemed to come out of left field, but why?
The original series chronicled a world in which vampires and humans live side-by-side with one another. Thanks to the creation of synthetic blood called Tru Blood, vampires feel comfortable coming out in the open and campaign for vampire rights. Because of that, anti-vampire organizations quickly begin to spring up. Despite all of that, psychic human waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin) meets and falls in love with a 173-year-old vampire named Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer) in the fictional town of Bon Temps, Louisiana, a place that’s crawling with different types of supernatural beings, including vampires.
The original True Blood series garnered a cult following during its seven-year run. Because of this, fans were surprised to see that show was being rebooted so quickly. The secrecy surrounding that reboot means one of two things, and both of those outcomes aren’t faring well for the upcoming horror series.
Keeping the news of the reboot so under wraps likely comes from one of two motivations. Most likely, the creators of the new show were going for some kind of a surprise announcement. They clearly intended said surprise reaction to elicit positive responses, and perhaps even go viral on social media. Instead, the reactions were more so reflecting surprise that a reboot was happening so quickly. It was far from the positive reactions they were hoping for.
The other option is for the secrecy behind the announcement of the reboot is that the True Blood team isn’t fully confident in the upcoming show. That’s concerning for a number of reasons. It should go without saying that the confidence of a cast and crew of an upcoming show is crucial to its success. But by taking a slightly under-the-radar approach to announcing the show, the team behind the upcoming True Blood reboot can quietly fade away, should something happen that stops the show from seeing the light of day.
No matter the reason behind keeping the upcoming reboot a secret from those previously involved with True Blood, it doesn’t fare well for the upcoming HBO horror show. The lack of a pleasantly surprised reaction from fans about the upcoming show points to the fact that not enough time has passed to get the excitement they were hoping for — reboots often rely on nostalgia, and heavy fan interest in seeing a once-beloved show return after going without for so long. Given the circumstances of this announcement, it wouldn’t be a surprise if the True Blood reboot faded into oblivion before it actually happens, but time will tell as more details emerge on the project.
