True Blood Shakeup: Luke Grimes Leaving The Show—Find Out What Will Happen

There will be a new vampire James in town when the HBO series returns for season seven

By Chris Harnick Dec 30, 2013 10:03 PMTags
Luke GrimesHBO

There will be a new face on True Blood when the HBO drama returns for its seventh and final season. Luke Grimes will not return to the show as James, the vampire lover of Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll). His role will be recast, E! News has confirmed.

TVLine first reported the news of Grimes' exit and said the actor asked to be let out of his contact because he was disappointed in the direction his storyline was heading in. Grimes joined the show based on Charlaine Harris' book series during its sixth season. His character met Woll's in a vampire detainment facility where humans experimented on them.

Grimes' other TV credits includes Brothers & Sisters and the FX pilot Outlaw Country. He's appeared on the big screen in Taken 2 and will be seen in Fifty Shades of Grey as Elliot Grey, Christian Grey's brother.

True Blood will end its seven-year run on HBO this summer with a 10-episode season.

"True Blood has been nothing short of a defining show for HBO," Michael Lombardo, president of HBO Programming, said in a statement when the show's end was announced. "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."

Besides Woll and Paquin, the cast of True Blood also includes Stephen Moyer, Carrie Preston, Rutina Wesley and Kristin Bauer van Straten.

Last season of the show ended with Alexander Skarsgård's vampire Eric reading in the nude atop a mountain when his special powers bestowed by blood wore off and he began to burn up. Talk about a cliffhanger!

True Blood returns to HBO with new episodes summer 2014.