HBO announced today the renewal of their hit series True Blood for a fifth season.

Production on the 12-episode Season 5 will begin later this year in Los Angeles with a debut scheduled for Summer 2012.

The series, created by executive producer Alan Ball based on the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris, stars Anna Paquin as Sookie, a waitress who can hear people’s thoughts (and has other special abilities), and Stephen Moyer as Bill, her centuries-old vampire love.

True Blood is currently in its fourth season, which began this June. Season 3 was released on DVD and Blu-ray at the end of May.

This is great news for fans of the show (including me!). While it’s in its fourth season, I find that the episodes are still fresh and entertaining and I think there’s more stories to be told. So far, each season has been based on one of the Sookie books; the fifth book is Dead as a Doornail, which centers around the shifters and were-animals, though no word yet if Season 5 will follow the plot of that book.

If you’re a fan of the series, be sure to check our coverage of the True Blood panel from this year’s San Diego Comic-Con (complete with video).