Lives of the Mayfair Witches TV series: Anne Rice show finds writers

AMC is looking to build a franchise on the foundation of author Anne Rice’s Vampire Chronicles novels, starting with a mini-series adaptation of Interview with the Vampire – and we just recently heard that Sam Reid will be playing the vampire Lestat on that show. But that’s not the only Rice property they have the rights to: they’re also developing a project based on Rice’s three book series Lives of the Mayfair Witches, and they just opened a writers room for that adaptation. Esta Spaulding and Michelle Ashford, both of whom previously worked on Masters of Sex, have signed on as writers and executive producers, with Ashford also set to be the showrunner if Lives of the Mayfair Witches is ordered to series.

The Mayfair Witches books center 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.

First published in 1990 with The Witching Hour, the Mayfair Witches trilogy also includes sequels Lasher (1993) and Taltos (1994).

Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) is overseeing AMC’s Rice franchise endeavors.

AMC’s Dan McDermott had this to say about Lives of the Mayfair Witches:

We have an enormous amount of ambition for these iconic works, which have captivated and entertained millions of fans around the world, so it is gratifying to be moving so quickly from the Interview greenlight to exploring a second series with such talented and accomplished writers and creators as Esta and Michelle. We take our responsibility to deliver compelling television to both existing and new fans of this material incredibly seriously, as we move deliberately to develop these titles into a new franchise and universe for AMC+ and AMC.”

If the vampire and witch shows prove successful enough, we may eventually get to crossovers: Rice mixed her Vampire Chronicles and Mayfair Witches stories together in the novels Merrick, Blackwood Farm, and Blood Canticle.

While I have read several of Rice’s vampire novels, I have never dug into the witch books, so I have no idea what to expect from Lives of the Mayfair Witches.