"True Blood" executive producer Alan Ball will continue as series' showrunner through Season 4.

Signed with HBO for more vampire mayhem, Ball recently discussed his creative philosophy moving forward during an interview with Buzzy Multimedia. He touched on the similarities between "True Blood" and Charlaine Harris' books, and how much the popular series will cling to her tale.

The main story is the same; we diverge mostly in the secondary characters," Ball explained. "The books are sort of Sookies story, what happens to her. The other characters disappear if theyre not in a scene with her. And so we have diverged, certainly in the storylines for Tara [Rutina Wesley] and Lafayette [Nelsan Ellis], but weve tried to remain very true to the spirit of the world.

I think were always going to use the books as sort of a foundation, but I just dont see how, as time goes on, you cant diverge from them a little bit more each season," Ball said in an interview with True Blood Net. "I dont know, though. Were starting to work on Season 3 and we actually are really, really sticking to the books, at the beginning at least.

Lafayette is one character Ball felt compelled to change, however. In the second book Lafayette was killed, yet is still on the show.

"Lafayette is very small in the book, but Nelsan Ellis, the actor we cast, channeled something from somewhere that is kind of amazing," he said. "I think all the major characters I knew were going to be really, really strong and really, really compelling, but I think Nelsan is the one [who was most surprising] -- I had no idea that that would happen."

Unlike characters, don't expect "True Blood" to emphasis elaborate effects. Ball seeks to avoid derailing the story with needless distractions.

The effects are just the shorthand to get us from one stage to another," he explained. "But we will never be about the effects. I mean, its less interesting to me how [Bill's] face might change or what exactly are the mechanics of the fangs coming down -although we have really thought about that -than the fact that hes been alive for a hundred and seventy years, most of them as a vampire, and his wife and children, whom he loved deeply, he outlived them. Hes outlived everybody. Hes in a changing world and hes given up on the idea of having any sort of love in his life until he meets this girl. That to me is way more interesting than what [growing fangs] looks like.

See more of Ball's interview at Buzzy Multimedia and True Blood Net.

"True Blood" returns in June, and stars Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Alexander Skarsgård and Ryan Kwanten.