‘True Blood’ will end in 2014

HBO is finally putting a wooden stake in heart of its vampire show. “True Blood” is set to end in 2014 at the conclusion of its seventh season.

The network made the announcement on Tuesday with a statement from HBO President of Programming Michael Lombardo, who said, “Together with its legions of fans, it will be hard to say goodbye to the residents of Bon Temps, but I look forward to what promises to be a fantastic final chapter of this incredible show.”

Though the adventures of Sookie Stackhouse and the various vampires, werewolves, witches and other creatures that populated her backwoods Louisiana home are still popular (the recently concluded sixth season average 10.6 million viewers per episode), there seems to be a sense among its creators that it’s time to move on.

INTERACTIVE: Fall 2013 TV preview

Series creator Alan Ball stepped down from his show runner duties at the end of the fifth season and author Charlaine Harris, whose novels were the basis for the show, published her 13th and final Sookie Stackhouse novel in May.

One final book, called “After Dead: What Came Next in the World of Sookie Stackhouse,” will be published in October and serve as a kind of epilogue to Stackhouse’s literary adventures.

As for the HBO incarnation of the character, she’s got 10 more episodes, under the guidance of new show runner Brian Buckner, to wrap up her adventures.

The final season of the show will debut sometime next summer.

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