AMC Greenlights Anne Rice’s ‘Mayfair Witches’ TV Series

With The Walking Dead, Better Call Saul and Killing Eve all set to end in 2022, AMC is wasting little time in building out its next franchise.

THR reports that the basic cable network has handed out a series order for Anne Rice’s Lives of the Mayfair Witches, which joins Interview With the Vampire at AMC. The formal green light comes three months after AMC announced it was developing Mayfair as the next show in its Rice universe.

The eight-episode series will be written and exec produced by Masters of Sex duo Esta Spalding and Michelle Ashford. Spalding — who has an overall deal with AMC — will serve as showrunner on Mayfair, which is produced internally at AMC Studios.

“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. We are so excited to join our partners AMC and Gran Via Productions in making this mysterious and provocative world come to life,” Spalding and Ashford said in a joint statement announcing the news Wednesday.

Mayfair will revolve around 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 also contend with a sinister presence that has haunted her family for generations.

The full statement about the project reads:

“Esta Spalding (Masters of Sex, On Becoming a God in Central Florida) and Michelle Ashford (Masters of Sex, The Pacific, John Adams) are both executive producers and writers of the series. Spalding, who has an overall deal with AMC Studios, will serve as showrunner. 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.”

AMC Networks last year acquired the rights to an expansive collection of Rice’s iconic works, encompassing 18 titles including The Vampire Chronicles and The Lives of the Mayfair Witches series, which have delighted fans around the world. Acclaimed and award-winning film and television producer Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Halt and Catch Fire, Rectify), who also has an overall agreement with AMC Studios, is overseeing development of the full Anne Rice collection into a streaming and television universe, with Anne Rice and son Christopher Rice serving as executive producers on all series and films. Together, The Vampire Chronicles and The Lives of the Mayfair Witches series have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.”

President of Entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks Dan McDermott commented, “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. 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.”