Lestat and his vampiric cohorts aren’t the only literary Anne Rice creations coming to TV. Rice’s other major supernatural creations, the Mayfair family of witches, have now officially joined them on AMC.
Here’s everything we know about this coven of powerful New Orleans spellcasters.
Title
The official title for the AMC series is Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches.
Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches‘ Plot
Here’s the official description from AMC for the eight-episode season:
The series will focus on an intuitive young neurosurgeon who discovers that she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches. As she grapples with her newfound powers, she must contend with a sinister presence that has haunted her family for generations.
So far, this sounds pretty in line with the books. The first book of the Mayfair Witches saga was the 1990’s The Witching Hour. The novel focused on a neurosurgeon named Rowan Mayfair, who discovers she is the latest designee in a family of powerful New Orleans witches. These witches commune and often control a powerful spirit named Lasher.
AMC also gave us our most in-depth look at the series yet. This newest look at Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches offers us a little more insight into the backstory and plot of the show.
And now, the series will also officially join Interview with the Vampire for an exciting milestone, a season two renewal. Yes, Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches will get a season two on AMC. It seemed likely, of course, but the current streaming landscape doesn’t offer much security for any show. Fans of Anne Rice’s world will be thrilled for the series to continue and explore its connections with Interview With the Vampire.
AMC Networks entertainment president and AMC Studios head Dan McDermott shares:
We are thrilled with the reaction to this series, especially in the wake of the incredibly strong reception to Interview, and can’t wait to bring the fans second seasons of both series in this rich, vibrant and expanding universe based on the works of Anne Rice.
In a business in which ‘nobody knows anything,’ we knew what we were hoping for in terms of building a television franchise around these remarkable characters and stories, and to see these shows arrive and captivate viewers in the way they have is so gratifying and energizing for everyone involved, and there is so much yet to come.
Behind the Scenes
Running the series are Masters of Sex’s Esta Spalding and Michelle Ashford. Spalding and Ashford said: “The world of witches has fascinated and terrified for centuries. And yet Anne Rice’s particular lens on witches explored something new altogether. Women who are powerful, often brutal, and always committed to subverting our current power structures. We are so excited to join our partners AMC and Gran Via Productions in making this mysterious and provocative world come to life.”
Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches‘ Cast
The White Lotus‘s Alexandra Daddario will also star in the series. According to Variety, which broke the news, Daddario plays Rowan “a brilliant doctor who grapples with her fate as the heir to a family of powerful witches.” And she’ll star opposite Harry Hamlin, who will play family patriarch Cortland Mayfair, a character that Deadline describes as someone “with a voracious appetite for more money, more power and more life.” Also joining the cast, per Deadline, are Tongayi Chirisa as Citroen; Annabeth Gish as Diedre; Beth Grant as Carlotta; Erica Gimpel as Ellie; and Jen Richards as Jojo.
Most recently, Jack Huston was tapped to join the series as Lasher. According to Deadline, “Lasher is one of Rice’s most mysterious and sensual characters — a powerful, shape-shifting entity who has been bound to the Mayfair witches for hundreds of years.” That certainly sounds like an intriguing role.
Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches’ Release Date
Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches released on January 8, 2023. It will air on AMC and AMC+.
Originally published on December 1, 2021.
