Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches is set to fly again after being renewed for a second season at AMC.
The cable network is bringing back the series, which along with Interview with a Vampire is part of its extended Anne Rice universe, after becoming its number one new series premiere on its streaming service AMC+.
This comes despite a plethora of recent cancelations at AMC Networks. The company pulled Demascus and Invitation to a Bonfire as well as second seasons of Pantheon, Moonhaven and 61st Street, which were in various stages of completion and production, as part of a major cost-cutting drive.
Mayfair Witches, which is based on Rice’s trilogy of books, focuses on an intuitive young neurosurgeon, Rowan Fielding, played by Alexandra Daddario, 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.
It also stars Jack Huston, Tongayi Chirisa and Harry Hamlin.
It is produced by AMC Studios and exec produced by showrunner Esta Spalding, Johnson, Michelle Ashford, Michael Uppendahl, and Jeff Freilich,
The eight-part first season premiered last month and the network said that based on the first 30 days of viewership, it was delivering the most-viewed season of any series ever on AMC+, ahead of Interview with a Vampire and the final season of The Walking Dead.
Production on season two is set to begin later this year in New Orleans.
There are also plans to put together a crossover with Interview with a Vampire, as revealed by exec producer Mark Johnson at AMC’s recent TCA press tour.
However, the move comes after AMC decided to scrap five shows as part of a one-time write down that was designed to find around $400M in content savings.
Dan McDermott, President of Entertainment and AMC Studios, said this had been a “difficult but important process” and blamed factors including rising inflation, a challenging ad market and “too many shows”.
“We are thrilled with the reaction to this series, especially in the wake of the incredibly strong reception to Interview, and can’t wait to bring the fans second seasons of both series in this rich, vibrant and expanding universe based on the works of Anne Rice,” he McDermott added. “In a business in which ‘nobody knows anything,’ we knew what we were hoping for in terms of building a television franchise around these remarkable characters and stories, and to see these shows arrive and captivate viewers in the way they have is so gratifying and energizing for everyone involved, and there is so much yet to come.”
“The success of both Mayfair Witches and Interview with the Vampire once again illustrates the strength and mastery of Anne Rice’s work,” said Mark Johnson. “The fact that these first two shows are performing so splendidly with a TV audience gives us much pride in what we’ve already done and great anticipation for the storytelling opportunities yet to come.”
“Anne Rice’s Lives of the Mayfair Witches is a sumptuous epic tale that we’ve only begun to explore,” added showrunner and executive producer Esta Spalding. “I’m so grateful to the fans and viewers of the show who’ve given us the chance to continue telling this story.”
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