Mayfair Witches: Beth Grant Breaks Down That Shocking Ending of “Curiouser and Curiouser” (Exclusive)

While Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches has been a bit of a slow burn in the three episodes of the AMC series’ first season to date, that all changed this week. This week’s episode, “Curiouser and Curiouser”, saw Rowan finally meet the Mayfairs as she attended her biological mother Deirdre Mayfair’s funeral and wake and, for the first time, really get a sense of the complexity of the family dynamics — not to mention the shadow Lasher casts over everything. But while Rowan certain gets closer to her family, things take a dramatic turn between her and her great aunt Carlotta and speaking with ComicBook.com, Beth Grant breaks down that major shift and what it means.

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

In the episode, Rowan decides to go to the wake at the Mayfair House and ultimately elects to stay for dinner with Carlotta. As she’s exploring the house, Rowan finds herself led upstairs to Deirdre’s room where she finds the emerald pendant. Rowan discards the rosary Carlotta had given her for protection and puts the necklace on, something that Carlotta witnesses. It’s a moment that visibly devastates Carlotta and, soon after, we see the two women at dinner. As Rowan asks Carlotta questions, the older woman seems to be struggling with her thoughts and emotions before finally snapping. Carlotta tells Rowan that Deirdre was the bane of her existence and that she’s given everything to protect Rowan and the women in the family, but she’d done. The scene culminates in Carlotta offering up a final prayer and incantation for the women in the Mayfair family before setting the locked dining room on fire with them in it and while Ciprien manages to break in to rescue Rowan, Carlotta accidentally stabs him. The episode ends with Rowan and Ciprien heading for the door while Lasher appears to Carlotta to taunt her, telling the older woman that Rowan is already his.

For Grant, the entire series of events just shows how human and heartbreaking the situation is for Carlotta — someone she has said that she personally sees as neither a villain nor a victim, but as someone led astray by her own attempts at doing the right thing.

“I think she’s sort of excited. She’s brought her into the home and into the family and invited her to the funeral. And she’s shown up and I think when she comes to the funeral, she’s just so excited and she feels there’s hope. And [she] warned her, ‘Don’t believe everything that you hear, there are people that can’t be trusted.’ And I think she’s on my side and I let her have run of the house,” Grant said. “And then I go up there and that door cracks open and I see she’s putting on that necklace and my heart is broken as an aunt, as a maternal figure, my heart’s broken. I have to give Axelle Carolyn, director of that episode, she allowed me, she encouraged me to be vulnerable in that moment.”

She continued, “I don’t think she actually planned necessarily to burn the house down, but she is making the decision at the dinner table, and then through the prayer, through the incantation, through praying for Antha, praying for Stella, it happens. And she certainly didn’t mean to stab Ciprien … I think it’s a very spontaneous in the. moment and it’s a very sad moment for her. She’s heartbroken. She’s human.”

Grant also said that she understands that people are enjoying her portrayal of the very complex Carlotta and she can appreciate why people love to hate her.

“It feels great. I don’t see her as a bad guy at all,” she said. “So, I understand that there have to be complex characters in a story in [Rice’s] mythology. And she’s well-intentioned. She’s just misguided, and self will run riot. She’s trying to do what she thinks is best for everyone, but you can’t suppress your dark side. Unfortunately, she’s led astray, ironically, the one that’s trying to be good and save the family. But yes, I understand that people enjoy hating her.”

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