Angela Robinson

If you didn’t hear, True Blood has been renewed for a seventh season, which will make it the first ever HBO drama series to reach that mark. Rather than putting all their eggs into the Game of Thrones + new original series baskets, HBO has given its vampire hit the benefit of the doubt based on ratings, which HBO claims is upwards of 10 million including repeat and online viewing. Up until Sunday night’s episode, it would have been very appropriate to roll your eyes at this news.

Love it, hate it or stand somewhere in between, True Blood has ventured into almost royal territory. The only other two HBO dramas that have made it to a sixth season have been The Sopranos (widely considered the first or second best TV show of all time alongside HBO brethren The Wire) and Oz (the utterly spectacular predecessor to The Sopranos that made the latter show possible). While Game of Thrones has caught up with True Blood in terms of viewership and will likely keep surpassing it in the coming year, True Blood still has a huge fanbase for a show that airs on a pay-to-view channel.