The supernatural universe is expanding! Mayfair Witches is the second installment in AMC’s Immortal Universe franchise — and it shares a few connections to the network’s Interview With the Vampire series.
Like Interview, Mayfair Witches is based on books by the late Anne Rice, who died at age 80 in December 2021. The show follows Dr. Rowan Fielding (Alexandra Daddario), a neurosurgeon who learns she is the heiress of a powerful family of witches. The cast also includes Harry Hamlin as patriarch Cortland Mayfair, Jack Huston as the sinister spirit Lasher and Tongayi Chirisa as Ciprien Grieve, a new character created for the show.
Daddario hadn’t read anything by Rice before taking on the role, but she knew that fans would have high expectations for the show. “I’ve been part of book adaptations and I’m well aware, as an avid reader myself, fans have a deep love of the story and characters and want it to be true to the books,” the White Lotus alum told The A.V. Club earlier this month, adding that she ultimately read Lives of the Mayfair Witches before and during filming. “The idea is to go in with the best intentions and try to be true to the story; it’s why they’re adapted in the first place. It’s how we approached it.”
The Baywatch actress went on to reveal that a crossover with Interview is an “intention,” but hinted that fans shouldn’t expect it in season 1. The first episode of Interview, however, included a brief nod to Mayfair.
In the premiere, Grace de Pointe du Lac (Kalyne Coleman) gets upset when her brother Paul (Steven Norfleet) teases her about engaging in the folk tradition of “jumping the broom” at her wedding. Paul tells her there are “plenty of brooms down the street at the Mayfair sisters’ home,” which gets a laugh from Louis (Jacob Anderson).
Both Interview and Mayfair are set in New Orleans, though they take place in different time periods: Louis’ story begins in the 1910s, while Rowan’s tale unfolds in the present day. Though Mayfair does not feature any cameos by Interview characters in its inaugural season, it will likely reference details first mentioned in Rice’s Vampire Chronicles book series.
Chirisa’s character, Ciprien, is a combination of the book characters Aaron and Michael. Aaron was a member of the Order of the Talamasca, a secret society founded to keep track of paranormal beings that was first introduced in The Queen of the Damned (book three of The Vampire Chronicles).
The first season of Interview ended midway through the action of the first book, but it’s already been renewed for season 2 — and the interview portions between Louis and Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) are already set in the present day.
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“I think that connection is the intention of the network and the creators of this world, but it’s one step at a time,” Daddario told Screen Rant earlier this month. “This show really stands on its own, while also being vaguely in the same world in order to be potentially combined in the future.”
Mayfair Witches premieres on AMC Sunday, January 8, at 9 p.m. ET.
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