AMC is looking to build franchises on the foundations of two properties created by author Anne Rice; the Vampire Chronicles and her three book series Lives of the Mayfair Witches. The vampire franchise has begun with a mini-series adaptation of Interview with the Vampire, and now Variety has broken the news that Alexandra Daddario has been cast as the lead in the Mayfair Witches series. Daddario will be playing Rowan, “a brilliant doctor who grapples with her fate as the heir to a family of powerful witches.”
Mayfair Witches has been given an eight-episode first season order. AMC is planning to launch the show on its linear channel and the AMC Plus streaming service later in 2022.
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. 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.
AMC’s Dan McDermott provided the following statement:
Alexandra is a singular talent who has lit up the screen in everything she’s been in and we couldn’t be happier to have her on board leading the cast of a series that will be a centerpiece of an expanding Anne Rice universe on AMC+ and AMC. We found our Rowan and can’t wait for her to meet viewers later this year in a series being brilliantly conceived and led by Esta, Michelle and Mark.”
I have been a fan of Daddario ever since seeing her in Texas Chainsaw 3D, where she reluctantly had to deliver the line, “Do your thing, cuz.” I’m not familiar with the Mayfair Witches source material, but I’m glad to see she’ll be starring in a genre show.