Is there a Season 5 for True Blood?

Rumors are stirring about True Blood and if there's a fifth season. Well, according to the series showrunner, Alan Ball, it is:

Ball said Thursday during HBO’s presentation at the summer Television Critics’ Association tour stop that he has inked a deal for another year on the series, effectively tipping the network’s hand that a fifth-season renewal could be imminent.

“There will be an end for me at some point but I just closed a deal to do another season,” he said. “I don’t have any desire to leave because I’m having more fun than I ever had in my life.”

Ball later told The Hollywood Reporter that his deal is exclusive to HBO, where he has a "couple pilots" in development.

True Blood is currently airing its fourth season and HBO hasn’t officially announced its renewal.
Ball told The Hollywood Reporter in June that he was negotiating for a new contract for a fifth season but was unclear what his status would be afterward.

Ball added that writers on the Anna Paquin-Stephen Moyer series were breaking stories for Season 5, including “how a vampire is made.”

Sounds interesting. I'm sure there's a fifth season. Why wouldn't it be?

source