Mayfair Witches: Madison Wolfe Talks Tessa’s Fate (Exclusive)

After being kidnapped by a group of radical witch hunters at the end of last week’s episode, this week’s penultimate episode of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches, “Tessa”, reveals the fate of the titular character. Last fans saw of Tessa, her efforts to get Deirdre Mayfair’s heart back from the extremist group left her calling on Lasher, but despite being named the next designee in the transference ceremony after Rowan wanted to be free of the entity, Lasher doesn’t appear to answer Tessa’s call. Now, Madison Wolfe opens up about Tessa’s ultimate fate.

Warning: Spoilers for this week’s episode of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches, “Tessa”, beyond this point.

Lasher never comes for Tessa, who ends up caged by the witch hunters who plan to burn her alive on camera while getting her to confess being a witch. They very nearly succeed, but Rowan shows up to save Tessa. She kills off Tessa’s assailants one by one, getting shot herself in the process. Tessa gives her back the necklace, telling Rowan that it belongs to her. But while Rowan manages to free Tessa from being burned alive, one of the extremists manages to shoot Tessa and kill her. It prompts Rowan to put on the necklace call on Lasher.

Tessa’s death is a major turning point for Rowan, in that it draws her to reach back out to Lasher. For Wolfe, Tessa giving Rowan back the necklace is her way of encouraging Rowan to take back her power and, hopefully, do some good.

“I think that in the final seconds of Tessa’s life when she gives the necklace back to Rowan, I think that’s her kind of saying, ‘This is yours, This is your power.’ And underneath that, kind of subconsciously the communication is like, ‘Please use this for good. Please step into your power,” Wolfe told ComicBook.com. “And I think Tessa hopes that her death is a catalyst for positive change in her family and maybe even making that connection between her whole family grow and have them all be empowered by her actions.”

Wolfe also spoke about how Tessa remains loyal to her family and that she hopes people take away from Tessa her bravery and her determination to do what’s right.

“it is such a heavy episode and there are so many important themes and important moments throughout. But I think for me, it would have to be somewhere in that final sequence,” Wolfe said about her favorite moment in the episode.  “Maybe I think where the moment in that sequence where Tessa’s sort of tied up and she’s having this… I don’t want to say discussion, but she’s being harassed by these guys and really yelling and screaming and it’s super emotional. And she’s trying to defend herself but still stays loyal to her family and still won’t give it up, that she won’t admit that she’s a witch or that her family are witches even on the brink of death. I think that really just shows who Tessa is and it’s a really good representation of what I hope people take away from Tessa’s character, which is just her bravery and her loyalty to her family and standing up for others in what’s right.”

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