"True Blood" to end after seventh season

"True Blood" is coming to an end next year.

HBO confirmed Tuesday that the vampire drama's upcoming seventh season will be its last.

"'True Blood' has been nothing short of a defining show for HBO," the network's president of programming, Michael Lombardo, said in a statement. "Alan Ball took the books by Charlaine Harris, assembled a brilliant cast led by the magnificent Anna Paquin in the role of Sookie Stackhouse, and crafted a show that has taken its many devoted fans on an unforgettable journey. Alan passed the baton to Brian Buckner, who led our fantastic writers and crew in crafting a spectacular sixth season, and he will lead us through the seventh and final season of this amazing show. 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."

"True Blood," starring Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer and Alexander Skarsgard, premiered on HBO in 2008. Its sixth season ended last month, averaging 10.6 million viewers per episode.

The 10-episode final season of "True Blood" will air in summer 2014.