'True Blood' Creator Alan Ball Leaving Series

The next "True Blood" showrunner will be filling some big shoes.

Creator and showrunner Alan Ball has announced that he'll be leaving his position with the hit HBO series after five hit seasons, reports Entertainment Weekly. The news comes with the fifth-season "True Blood" premiere just a few short months away.

A statement released by HBO explains that the plan when Ball extended his network deal last July was always that Ball would run the show through the fifth season, then take up a "supervisory" role instead should the bayou-based vampire drama proceed with a sixth round. Indeed, Ball will remain an executive producer, consultant and advisor if there is indeed a "next season." In the meantime, the statement indicates his dealings with the network aren't by any means through. In fact, it references his developing the first in-house series in the Cinemax network's history, "Banshee," and its planned Spring 2012 production-start.

The network statement calls the arrangement "the best possible world for HBO and Alan Ball."

"'True Blood' has been, and will continue to be, a highlight of not only my career but my life," the "American Beauty" Academy Award-winner said via his own statement. "Because of the fantastic cast, writers, producers and crew, with whom I have been lucky enough to work these past five years, I know I could step back and the show will continued to thrive as I look forward to new and exciting ventures."

Indeed, five years seems about a standard tenure for Ball. Before "True Blood," Ball executive produced HBO's similarly acclaimed "Six Feet Under," which ran from 2001-2005 and became somewhat of a career jumping-off point for future "Dexter" star and Emmy-winner Michael C. Hall. Based on Charlaine Harris' popular series of novels starring heroine Sookie Stackhouse (portrayed on the show by fellow Oscar honoree Anna Paquin), EW.com refers to "True Blood" as "HBO's most popular series since 'The Sopranos'."