HBO announces True Blood final season premiere date

Fans of the HBO vampire drama True Blood knew that Season 7 would be the show's last, but now they can officially start the countdown clock to the end of the series as the network has announced the date of the final season premiere.

The network announced Thursday that True Blood will begin its final 10 episodes on Sunday, June 22 at 9 p.m. Eastern.

And it seems as though we'll be seeing some new characters along the way. The following piece from the "Ask Ausiello" column at TVLine reveals that a mysterious new character could appear as early as the premiere episode:

"Will we meet any new villains during True Blood's final season? -Tom
Ausiello: Funny you should ask. Last week, the show put out a casting call for the cryptic-sounding menace, 'The Figure.' He's described as 'scary, hulking, ugly, mean and crafty... like Leatherface or Jason Voorhees, but this guy talks.' Curiously, this Figure dude will appear in the season premiere - an episode that (presumably) finished shooting more than two months ago."

In other final season news, it looks like Arlene might get a new love interest during these final 10 episodes. The "Spoiler Chat" column at E! Online reports the following from Carrie Preston, who plays Arlene on the show:

"Give me something to sink my teeth into on True Blood, please?
Have you heard about Arlene's new vampire 'friend?'  'I haven't met Riley Smith yet, but he is certainly very talented and I'm really looking forward to working with him and seeing what the writers do with that storyline,' Carrie Preston told us. The vamp may be enamored with her, but will Arlene fall under his spell? 'We do know that Arlene has not been the most open-minded person throughout the series, so I myself am curious to see how open she lets her mind go.'"

What do you expect from True Blood's final season? Let us know in the comments below.