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Entertainment Now | January 7 - 13, 2023 By Dana Simpson TV Media E very now and then, a film or television adaptation comes along that makes you wonder why it hasn't been adapted sooner — such is the case with author Anne Rice's Lives of the Mayfair Witches novel trilogy. Following in the footsteps of the author's "Interview With the Vampire," "Mayfair Witches" pre - mieres Sunday, Jan. 8, on AMC Net- works. Both series are a part of Rice's Immortal Universe and (the books, at least) have seen some character crossovers. Originally scheduled to debut its first episode on Jan. 5, "Mayfair Witches'" had its premiere date pushed back by three days but makes up for the minor delay by offering viewers the first two epi - sodes at once, and with a five-net- work simulcast across AMC Net- works: AMC/AMC+, BBC America, IFC, SundanceTV and WEtv. The show will then air a new episode on AMC each Sunday thereafter for the remainder of the eight-episode season. Like most of Rice's stories, the Mayfair Witches franchise is set in New Orleans, where filming began in May 2022 and wrapped in Sep- tember. Set against a backdrop rife with weeping willows, presumably fragrant bougainvilleas and histor- ic homes, "Mayfair Witches" fol- lows a young neurosurgeon named Rowan Fielding (Alexandra Daddario, "The White Lotus") as she uncovers a series of mysteries linked to her family — a family of powerful New Orleans witches. Ac- cording to the official synopsis, "as she grapples with her newfound powers, she must contend with a sinister presence that has haunted her family for generations." The "sinister presence" in ques- tion is the enigmatic entity known as Lasher (Jack Huston, "American Hustle," 2013), for whom the sec- ond book in Rice's trilogy is named. Thanks to Lasher's foreboding presence throughout "The Witch- ing Hour," Rice's first novel of the series, New York Times writer Pat- rick McGrath described the charac- ter as "possibly … Satan" and not- ed that "he appears to members of the Mayfair family, mainly the women, as a slim, pale, elegant fig- ure with dark eyes and dark hair and a hypnotically seductive pow- er over any of them reckless enough to entertain him." This engaging charm will no doubt transfer well to the screen, thanks to Huston, whose other credits include Capt. Jasper in the 2020 psychological horror "Ante- bellum" and beat author Jack Ker- ouac in 2013's "Kill Your Darlings." Leading lady Daddario, mean- while, uses her wide-eyed blend of innocence and resilience to lend an onscreen balance to the series' un- settling, villainous energy. Known for her roles in Season 1 of HBO's "The White Lotus," the 2017 action comedy "Baywatch" and the 2013 horror spinoff "Texas Chainsaw," Daddario's final-girl energy lends well to the curious inheritor of the powerful Mayfair legacy. In fact, in the series' official trailer, Daddario's Rowan can be seen col- lecting information on the mysteri- ous Mayfairs and their family home before presumably getting dragged into the supernatural an- tics that include everything from ghosts and demons to coven con- gregations and possible murder. Also joining the cast is "Clash of the Titans" (1981) actor Harry Hamlin. Hamlin stars as Cortland Mayfair, the current patriarch of the Mayfair clan. Also a witch him- self, Cortland is driven to extreme and often dangerous depths to sat- isfy his rapacious appetite for wealth, power and control. Huston's "Antebellum" co-star Tongayi Chirisa rounds out the cast as Ciprien Grieve, a new name even to those familiar with the books. While the nature of Ciprien's involvement in the series has yet to be explicitly disclosed by AMC, the trailer alludes to his con- nection to the Telemask, a pre- sumed organization that "exists to investigate the unexplained." Lat- er in the trailer, Ciprien states that he has been "assigned to observe the Mayfairs" before noting that Rowan's "gift" is among the stron- gest he has ever felt. Among the "Mayfair Witches'" recurring cast members are Anna- beth Gish ("The Haunting of Hill House") as Deirdre Mayfair, Beth Grant ("Donnie Darko," 2001) as Carlotta Mayfair, Erica Gimpel ("God Friended Me") as Ellie May- fair, Jen Richards ("Better Things") as Jojo and Hannah Alline ("Doom Patrol") as Suzanne Mayfair, the first of the Mayfair women to call up Lasher. While much of the novel is set in the past, showrunner Esta Spald- ing and series co-writer/executive producer Michelle Ashford (both of "Masters of Sex") explained their decision to keep the majority of the AMC series in the present day, stat- ing their desire to acknowledge the power of women in present- day society. "The world of witches has fasci- nated and terrified for centuries," the pair said in a joint statement, "and yet Anne Rice's particular lens on witches explored some- thing new altogether: women who are powerful, and often brutal, and always committed to subverting our current power structures." And in speaking of powerful women who subvert the status quo, Rice, who died of a stroke at age 80 in December 2021, had pre- viously noted that seeing the Im- mortal Universe come to life was a lifelong dream of hers. "It's always been my dream to see the worlds of my two biggest series united under a single roof so that filmmakers could explore the expansive and interconnected uni- verse of my vampires and witch- es," Rice said before her death. "That dream is now a reality and the result is one of the most signifi- cant and thrilling deals of my long career." Take part in Rice's long-lived dream and tune in for the two-epi- sode premiere of "The Mayfair Witches," airing Sunday, Jan. 8 on AMC, BBC America, IFC, Sun- danceTV and WEtv, and streaming on AMC+. Harry Hamlin in "Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches" Witching hour: Time has come for Rice's 'Mayfair Witches' 2 | Cover story Grindstone Charlie's 1 x 4" Moore's Home Health 5 x 2"

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