Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum Inspired True Blood Season 5

True Blood show runner Alan Ball reveals he found inspiration for season 5 of the HBO supernatural hit while watching Michelle Bachmann and Rick Santorum during the Republican primaries, in an interview with The Wrap.

While the program is based on the series of Sookie Stackhouse novels written by Charlaine Harris, Ball often deviates from the plots in the books. In the latest season new cast member Christopher Meloni portrays Roman, a member of The Authority, a clandestine council of the seven most politically powerful vampires.

"For me the jumping-off point was watching the Republican primaries, watching Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and asking what would it be like to have a theocracy in America - which is way more terrifying than any fictional monster could ever be," Ball says. "Our jumping-off point was 'OK, what is a vampire theocracy?' You don't really see vampires being religious creatures. They are excluded from God. But what if there was a vampire bible? A religion? Theocracy? How would that impact our human characters, or vampire characters? I haven't really seen that before."

Ball finds the influence of Santorum frightening. "What's terrifying is how many people agree with him," he tells The Wrap. "Chris Meloni comes in, he is the guardian of the blood. Supposedly they have a vial of blood of the first vampire - like a Catholic icon. The governing body of vampires is like the Catholic Church plus the Supreme Court for vampires. But it's a very secret organization."