Alan Ball Negotiating for True Blood Season 5

At last night’s red carpet premiere for True Blood season 4, executive producer Alan Ball told The Hollywood Reporter that he’s been negotiating with HBO for season 5. Given the show’s ratings bonanza for the network, it’s hard to imagine that a fifth season won’t happen, but it sounds like Alan may be trying to scale back his involvement.

Ball … said that Season 4 has been “really tough,” and while he’s happy with it, he’s “ready to take a big vacation right now.”

“I’ll play it by ear and see how it happens,” he said.

Ball first hinted at the series continuing on without him earlier this month in an interview with Rolling Stone in which he said, “I don’t believe True Blood is 100 percent dependent on my participation. It has a strong following and a really strong cast, and there could be a future where I step back and the show would continue.”

Alan also said he could see True Blood “going a few more seasons,” although if it goes for 13 (the number of books in the series), he might have to address why the vampires are aging.

“Maybe there would be a bad batch of Tru Blood. … With the supernatural thing you can always go places storywise that you couldn’t go on another show.”