Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches: New Featurette Explores the Power of Women and Magic

By Nicole Drum

Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches will debut on January 8th on AMC and AMC+ and now, a new behind-the-scenes look at the upcoming adaptation of Rice's iconic The Lives of the Mayfair Witches book series is delving into women, magic, and how the story examines the ways powerful women interact and exist in the world around them. A recently-released featurette sees the series' cast as well as executive producer Esta Spalding talk about the power of women and its timeliness— especially in how it is expressed in the story of Rowan (Alexandra Daddario).

"I thought it was such an interesting choice that Anne Rice chose to make her lead character, her protagonist, a doctor. There was this real history of midwives and healers in the Middle Ages in Europe being massacred, being put to death because of their powerful healing abilities," Spalding said. "The idea that women can't help each other and that women can't control their own bodies is a very provocative idea that's very much of the now."

"I think throughout Anne Rice's work, deep, deep feminism. Not just the feminism of modern day, but real religious goddess kind of power," Annabeth Gish, who plays Deirdre said. "What's so seductive about our adaptation is it really tracks what happens to women's power and what women do to make magic and how frightening it can be to have that power."

What is Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches about?

The series is based on Anne Rice's trilogy of novels, Lives of The Mayfair Witches. The series synopsis is as follows: "Based on Anne Rice's Lives of the Mayfair Witches, Mayfair Witches is an exploration of female power and the mortal implications of our decisions.  Mayfair Witches focuses on an intuitive young neurosurgeon (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."

"The first season starts where the book starts, in that mood of New Orleans and the sort of ghost story of this house," Spalding previously said about the series. "We meet really quickly Rowan Fielding who's the main character of the first book and through the series."

She continued, "The middle section is about 300 or 400 pages of 13 generations of witches going all the way back to Scotland. We used a piece of that, and then we feel like we're gonna save some of that great story and saga of all the different generations for later seasons, should we be so lucky."

Who stars in Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches?

In addition to Daddario, the series stars Harry Hamlin as Cortland Mayfair, Jack Huston as Lasher, Tongayi Chirisa as Ciprien Grieve, Annabeth Gish as Diedre, Beth Grant as Carlotta, Erica Gimpel as Ellie, and Jen Richards as Jojo.

Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches is set to debut on Sunday, January 8th on both AMC, and AMC+.

Trending Now: