Luke Grimes Exits True Blood

Luke Grimes has exited True Bloodbefore its final season, TVGuide.com has confirmed.

The Brothers and Sistersalum, who will next co-star in Fifty Shades of Grey, joined the cast in Season 6 as James, the previously imprisoned vampire lover of Jessica (Deborah Ann Woll).  

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"The role of James is being recast due to the creative direction of the character," an HBO spokesperson said in a statement, first obtained by TVLine.com.

Grimes was part of a group of new vampires, which also included Amelia Rose Blaire and Karolina Wydra, and they all were bumped up to series regulars at the end of Season 6. "One of the things that we realized pretty early on is that as much as people complain sometimes that there are no humans left on True Blood, if you do the math, there aren't very many vampires left, so we needed to populate it more," showrunner Brian Buckner told TVGuide.com of the promotions. Additionally, Adina Porter and Bailey Nobel were also promoted to regulars.