Mayfair Witches Showrunners Talk Exploring Power, Family, and the Talamasca in Season 2 (Exclusive)

By Nicole Drum

With the first season of Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches concluded and a second season confirmed, fans are wondering what is next for Rowan and the rest of the Mayfair family. With the series ending in a similar fashion to the first book in Rice's series, The Witching Hour, a lot has changed for everyone involved in the story and as fans of the novels know, the second book, Lasher, goes even deeper into the family's story and history. Now, series creators Esta Spalding and Michelle Ashford discuss where things go from here with the AMC series, especially in terms of exploring Rowan's power and the family dynamic going forward.

Warning: spoilers for the Season 1 finale of Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches beyond this point.

In the finale, Rowan fulfills the prophecy by giving birth to Lasher via her own child and, in the process, fully comes into her own power. This puts her at odds with Ciprien, who now knows that the Talamasca has been wanting the prophecy fulfilled so they can observe and, to protect Rowan, agrees to try to take the infant Lasher from Rowan. On top of that, it was also revealed that Cortland has been playing a long game of his own. It's discovered that Cortland raped Deirdre decades before and is actually Rowan's father, that he facilitated Deirdre's murder to facilitate Rowan becoming the designee and fulfilling the prophecy and that he planned to take the power of Lasher once he was born, though Rowan thwarted that by accepting Lasher and turning Cortland to stone. It's a situation that changes everything for Rowan and the family and according to Esta Spalding, power and family will be major factors in Season 2.

"I loved the second book and so many of the big set pieces in it are amongst the family, many generations of family and just in the living rooms and it feels like it's set there, and I think when we started talking about this series, Michelle and Mark and I at the very beginning, we talked about the first season is really about Rowan's individual power," Spalding said. "'Will I become a witch or not? Will I take it on? Will I own this power that Lasher offers?' And if that's the first season, the second season is like, 'and how will I use it inside this family?' And so, it's very much about her mode of operating as a de facto leader of the family now with this very strange creature as part of her life, her child, but who they also know. And the family, we're going to explore it in the family in New Orleans, but there's also echoes in the book of the family in Scotland and other places that we want to delve into as well."

The finale also sees Jojo (Jen Richards) recognizing that something has to change within the family as her father's secrets come to light and that's also something that Spalding said will be explored in Season 2, along with the conspiracy of the Talamsaca.

"I think Cortland's been the head of the family and that illusions about who he was and how he operated are kind of crumbling and that means the family's going to readjust," Spalding said. "I think Jojo's sensing the power that's coming to Rowan and asking what that's going to mean for all of them. And we really in that just wanted to nod in that scene to the family acknowledging a big change is coming."

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"We're working from the books and there's a huge role for the Talamasca in the second and third books and very much a conspiracy that evolves in the second and third books," she continued. "So, I think we're so early in the breaking of the second season, I don't want to be specific or tease things that. might end up not happening, but I do feel like we want to honor that part of the story and the way that the Talamasca and the Talamasca conspiracy grows in those books."

Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches is now streaming on AMC+.

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