Bloys’ statement on the cancelation of the reboot is remarkably brief given the way “True Blood” once held the premium TV landscape by the throat. When “True Blood” premiered in 2008, the medium was in a bit of a creative rut. Juggernauts like “The Wire,” “The West Wing,” and “The Sopranos” had all come to an end within the past two to three years. “Mad Men” had already begun its meteoric rise on the AMC network, and “Breaking Bad” was about to chart the same trajectory, but no series had yet stepped up to fill the campy side of the TV void.
Shows like “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Charmed” earned legions of fans for combining sex with silliness and supernatural-tinged darkness with parodic, camp lightness, and neither sacrificed good writing to deliver the fun. Plus, where so much “prestige TV” not only centers on male protagonists but utilizes a grim, rational, and humorlessly masculine aesthetic, “True Blood” was like an oasis of sexy pulp in a desert of Very Serious Men. And because it was a product of Alan Ball, the mastermind behind “Six Feet Under,” one of the new millennium’s greatest TV shows, it never felt like just a delectable trifle. There were thrilling character arcs, intriguing political analogues, and some truly fabulous world-building.
Maybe it was too soon for a reboot. Maybe the time of the vampire has truly come and gone. I hope at least that “True Blood” gets the laurels it deserves in some way, eventually — reboot or no reboot.