Surprising news today for True Blood fans which may be a worrisome sign for season 6: Showrunner Mark Hudis, who just started his gig, is leaving before the season even wraps filming.

“Mark Hudis has stepped down as showrunner of True Blood to focus on development under his overall deal with the network,” HBO said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter after it broke the story. Brian Bucker, who has served as the show’s co-executive producer since the beginning, is replacing Hudis as showrunner.

No other information was shared. Hudis replaced Alan Ball when the series creator left following the completion of season 5. Hudis had a two-year deal with HBO which would’ve allowed him to carry the show through season 7, but evidently he didn’t get too far into his contract.

It’s unclear whether Hudis left on his own accord or HBO asked him to go. Either way, it can’t be good news for the show that has had sinking ratings amongst a meandering set of plotlines in the more recent seasons of the vampire drama. It’ll be interesting to see if the truth behind his departure ever sees the light of day. The cast and crew may be asked to stay quiet on the reason for his leaving in order to avoid drawing negative attention to the show.

In an interview in January, Hudis made a few remarks that left us excited about the upcoming season. For example, he said that the show was going to move the plot focus back to Bon Temps and “focus on telling fewer stories with more characters.”

True Blood season 6 premieres this June. The first episode is directed by lead actor Stephen Moyer (Bill Compton).