Mayfair Witches: Beth Grant Explains Carlotta’s Justifications and Rowan’s “Hero’s Journey” in “Curiouser and Curiouser” (Exclusive)

To say that things have gotten complicated for Rowan (Alexandra Daddario) in AMC’s Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches would be an understatement. Over the course of the series’ first three episodes, the young neurosurgeon has had to contend with the death of her adoptive mother, the realization that she has supernatural powers, and the discovery of her biological family and its mysteries — not to mention the murder of her biological mother. This week Rowan finally gets some answers as she gets closer to the family thanks to her mother’s funeral — including her Aunt Carlotta (Beth Grant). As viewers have seen, Carlotta has gone to some extraordinary measures when it comes to keeping Rowan away from the Mayfair family and, speaking with ComicBook.com, Grant explains how Carlotta justifies some of her more questionable choices and how they impact her “hero’s journey”.

Warning: spoilers for the fourth episode of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches, “Curiouser and Curiouser”, beyond this point.

In this week’s episode, Rowan attends Deirdre’s funeral and wake, events that bring her into the Mayfair family fold. It also brings her into the Mayfair House and gives Carlotta an opportunity to appeal to her great niece and attempt to explain her reasoning for why she took Rowan from Deirdre at birth and kept her from the family for her entire life. For viewers, that’s only part of what Carlotta’s done in the name of protecting Rowan and the family from Lasher, as previous episodes have shown her keeping Deirdre drugged and locked away — not to mention her horrific actions against Delphine last week that led to her horrific death. But while Carlotta’s actions are abhorrent, Grant says from the perspective of the character, it’s all for the greater good and speaks not only to the larger mythology that Anne Rice created, but the idea that anything suppressed manages to always find its way to the surface — in the case, that suppressed thing being Carlotta’s own darkness.

“It’s a great mythology and took a great Southern woman [Anne Rice] to create a world like this. Carlotta gets lost in trying to do what she thinks is best for everybody. And when I was playing it, of course, I didn’t see anything but the desire for good and to protect Rowan and to protect the family,” Grant said.

“I think that she has no problem. And I think anything that is suppressed is going to come out through the cracks and that’s one of the things about mythology that always happens,” she continued. “That’s why Rowan’s hero’s journey is that she must learn to control her power. She’s a sailor. She has to learn to tack against the wind or run free with the wind. She has to do the same thing with her power, this power that she’s inherited in her DNA, her intuitiveness. But it can be for good. It can be for healing. It can be for love.”

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.”

Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches airs Sundays at 9pm ET on AMC and AMC+.