AMC is expanding its Anne Rice universe, having granted an eight-episode order for Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches, a series adaptation of the Lives of the Mayfair Witches book trilogy which the network has been quietly developing since picking up the rights last year alongside Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles.
Mayfair Witches will be written by Esta Spalding and Michelle Ashford, who will also executive produce alongside Mark Johnson. Spalding is set to serve as showrunner on the series, which “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.”
“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, and often brutal, and always committed to subverting our current power structures,” said Spalding and Ashford. “We are so excited to join our partners AMC and Gran Via Productions in making this mysterious and provocative world come to life.”
“My good fortune as an executive producer of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire’ has now been more than doubled with what Esta Spalding and Michelle Ashford are imagining with The Mayfair Witches,” added Johnson. “While both shows couldn’t be more different, they nevertheless find themselves bound under the same bewitching and engaging umbrella.”
“2022 will be the biggest year for original programming in the history of our company, and we are literally over the moon that it will now include the first two series in an expanding Anne Rice universe built around stories and characters that have captivated millions of fans around the world,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “We are also extremely fortunate to have such talented storytellers as Esta and Michelle guiding this adaptation, which will follow the first season of Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire late next year.”
