If you’re craving more of the Anne Rice world that brought us this year’s stellar (and oh-so-queer) Interview with the Vampire, then get ready to be very excited. The trailer for The Mayfair Witches is here and the show is heading to your screen very soon.
The series, which takes place in the same fictional world as Interview with the Vampire, is based on the late author’s best-selling trilogy Lives of the Mayfair Witches, and is centered around the story of Rowan Fielding (Alexandra Daddario), a young neurosurgeon who learns — much to her surprise — that she’s the heir to a family of witches. Complicating matters are her newfound powers which she struggles to control, along with a sinister presence that has long haunted her family. The series also stars Annabeth Gish, Jack Huston, Tongayi Chirisa, and Harry Hamlin.
While the trailer isn’t tipping its hat to any queer-specific content, fans of the books know that queerness was intrinsic and unapologetic in everything Rice wrote. Add to that how AMC has not (thank gawd) shied away from centering queer love and passion in IWTV and it’s a fair bet that this series is about to become the next queer must-watch.
Courtesy of AMC
In fact, queer inclusion in the show was a priority for showrunner Esta Spaulding who previously told PRIDE, during the Television Critics Association summer press tour. “It was a complete and total priority for us, and we want, you know, our audience to look at this show and look at all of the characters in the show and feel that they see themselves, whoever they are; that the show is inviting and inclusive of every point of view and ... everybody who watches it,” she says.
This was confirmed by executive producer Michelle Ashford who added that creating a world that was queer-inclusive was essential to adapting the novels by Anne Rice. “We do feel that that’s the best way to honor Anne and how she felt about the world and people and life,” Ashford told PRIDE. ”We really feel we do it both because it makes for great television but also it’s the best way we can pay tribute to her.”
Courtesy of AMC
This show, along with IWTV, arose as part of a major acquisition of Rice’s work back in 2020 which included the rights to the entirety of The Vampire Chronicles as well as The Mayfair Witches. That indicates a serious level of commitment to bringing Rice’s greatest works to life in all their queer-loving glory.
“AMC Studios is responsible for creating some of the most iconic television series of the modern era and has, at times, single-handedly defined this era we call ‘peak TV,’” Christopher Rice, her son, said at the time. “All the members of Team Anne, including my long-term producing partner, New York Times bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, are both thrilled and comforted to know that some of our most cherished kin, from the vampire Lestat and the witch Rowan Mayfair, to the paranormal investigators at the Order of the Talamasca and the powerful spirit Lasher, are now safely in the hands of these vastly accomplished innovators who possess both global reach and deep reservoirs of experience.”
