10 Jun 2012 02:49 PM EST

-by Vania Andre, Senior Staff Writer; Image: True Blood vamps return tonight in “Turn, Turn, Turn” (Image Source: HBO)

HBO’s hit series True Blood returns for a new season with its premiere tonight, Sunday, June 10. This is the show’s fifth season.

“A lot of this season is about vampire politics and vampire religion, and how a mixture of politics and religion is never a really good idea,” Executive producer Alan Ball told PopcornBizn in a recent interview.

The writers began working on the plot for this season around the same time of the Republican primaries.

“You [had] such powerful characters like Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum and their sort of desire to create a theocratic state,” Ball said. “And we sort of thought, well, what would a vampire theocratic state look like? And let’s explore that.”

“It’s a great Bill/Eric season, because for two characters who’ve always been at odds to find themselves on the same side and to have to depend on each other,” Ball added.

In season four vampires Bill Compton and Eric Northman found themselves at odds over their mutual love for Sookie Stackhouse.

“Eric and Bill get themselves into a pretty dark situation, and I think they decide instead of fighting, as they always do, and being at each other’s throats, that they’ll actually do something together, put their heads together,” Stephen Moyer, who plays Bill Compton, said.

“I get to work with incredible actors, writers, directors. Our crew is extraordinary. There’s not one single person who doesn’t give 2000 percent every single day,” Anna Paquin, who plays Sookie Stackhouse, said. “It’s an unbelievable show to get to be a part of, and I think a lot of that shows up on screen.”

Season 5 of True Blood premieres Sunday, June 10, at 9 p.m. EST on HBO.