"True Blood" executive producer Alan Ball recently discussed the allure behind his hit HBO series and the inclusion of more gay characters in Season 3.

Ball penned the Academy Award -winning screenplay for "American Beauty" and spearheaded HBO's Emmy-winning drama "Six Feet Under" before moving on to adapt Charlaine Harriss "Sookie Stackhouse" novels into the "True Blood" phenomenon.

The novels were an "impulse purchase and it was just so much fun," Ball said in an interview with Advocate.com. "The minute I finished the first book, I wanted the second one; it was like crack. I got addicted. I guess it was somewhere around the third or fourth book where I thought, 'This just really holds up, I think this could be a great TV show.'"

With the third season already in development, Ball promises the inclusion of more gay characters will continue.

"There are a lot of gay characters in the books as you get further and further into them," Ball said. "We'll be introducing some of those gay characters this new season.

"We'll be meeting the vampire king of Mississippi and his long, long-term companion -- and by long-term I mean really long-term -- Talbot. I think Lafayette may meet a love interest, and certainly Pam, who works with Eric, she's certainly got a lesbian vibe -- I don't know that that's all she is, but she certainly does seem to appreciate the women."

Another development on the horizon is the relationship between the vampire queen Sophie-Anne and Sookie.

"I think Sophie-Anne is definitely interested in Sookie," Ball said. "But I don't believe it's for sexual or romantic reasons but she is definitely interested in Sookie and whatever it is about Sookie that is special beyond the realm of what is human, and that's something that we definitely will learn more about in the upcoming season."

"True Blood" stars Anna Paquin, Stephen Moyer, Ryan Kwanten, Sam Trammell, Rutina Wesley and Alexander Skarsgard.