‘True Blood’ season 6: Mark Hudis out as showrunner

As we are finding out, it is not exactly easy to do Alan Ball’s job. The creator of “True Blood” stepped down from the HBO series after five years in order to focus more on development and have a little time to breathe, at the time the show plugged in Mark Hudis to fill his role.

However, midway during production of the new season, we are now finding out about another change behind the scenes. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Hudis has been replaced on the show by Brian Buckner as showrunner, and will focus more of his time on developing future projects for HBO as per his deal.

It is unusual for cable drama series to replace their showrunners during the season, and the only other notable example of this to happen in recent memory was Frank Darabont’s exit from “The Walking Dead” just mere days after the show held a panel at Comic-Con. While Hudis had been a part of the show since season 4, Buckner comes in with a plethora of experience as a writer and co-executive producer. He has also been a part of the “True Blood” universe since the very beginning of the series.

There has been no announced premiere date yet for season 6 of the series, but you have to know that HBO will do just about everything in their power to ensure success here. “True Blood” remains their highest-rated series upon live airings in the 18-49 demographic, and while the numbers have dropped somewhat since their season 3 peak, it still draws an enormous audience and presents a far different side to vampires than we get anywhere else.

What is your reaction to this change? If you want to see what Joe Manganiello has to say about his story moving forward on the show, all you have to do is visit the story over here.

Photo: HBO