AMC is all-in on the Anne Rice business these days. Not only are they building a franchise out of her Vampire Chronicles novels (a franchise that began with the first season of their Interview with the Vampire series), they’re also set to bring us a series based on her Mayfair Witches novels. Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches is scheduled to have a two episode premiere on January 8th, and with that date just a month away a new trailer for the show has arrived online. You can watch it in the embed above.
AMC’s Mayfair Witches series is an exploration of female power and the mortal implications of our decisions. Mayfair Witches focuses 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.
Alexandra Daddario (We Summon the Darkness), Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire), Tongayi Chrisu (Palm Springs), Harry Hamlin (Mad Men), Annabeth Gish (Rim of the World), Beth Grant (No Country for Old Men), Erica Gimpel (God Friended Me), and Jen Richards (Her Story) star.
Daddario is playing Rowan, “a brilliant doctor who grapples with her fate as the heir to a family of powerful witches.” Huston’s character is Lasher, “a powerful, shape-shifting entity who has been bound to the Mayfair witches for hundreds of years.” Chrisu is series regular Ciprien Grieve, Hamlin is playing Cortland Mayfair, “current reigning patriarch of the Mayfair clan with a voracious appetite for more money, more power and more life”. Gish is taking on the recurring role of Diedre, Grant is the recurring Carlotta, Gimpel is the recurring Ellie, and Richards is Jojo. It’s not clear whether the Jojo role is regular or recurring.
Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) is overseeing the building of AMC’s Rice franchises. Esta Spaulding and Michelle Ashford, both of whom previously worked on Masters of Sex, are writers and executive producers on Mayfair Witches, with Ashford also serving as the showrunner.
Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches trilogy consists of the novels The Witching Hour (1990), Lasher (1993), and Taltos (1994). The first season of the AMC series will consist of eight episodes.
Are you looking forward to Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches? What did you think of the new trailer? Share your thoughts on this one by leaving a comment below. I am very familiar with several of the Vampire Chronicles books, but have never read a Mayfair Witches novel.