Mayfair Witches Showrunners Tease What’s Next For Rowan (Exclusive)

The first season of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches concluded Sunday night on AMC, but a second season of the Immortal Universe series has already been ordered by the network. While the first season generally followed the framework of The Witching Hour, the first novel in Anne Rice’s The Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy, there were some changes — particularly with finale. According to series creators Esta Spalding and Michelle Ashford, as the series heads into Season 2, they are trying to work from the books and will draw from the second book, Lasher, but the series will also continue to be Rowan’s story in Season 2.

Warning: spoilers for the season finale of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches beyond this point.

The first season of Mayfair Witches ends with Rowan (Alexandra Daddario) fulfilling the prophecy, giving birth to Lasher via her own child and claiming her full power by accepting him. Ciprien (Tongayi Grieve) tries to intervene and take the child from her, but Rowan refuses, telling him that he cannot control her before walking away. It’s a bit of a difference from the ending of The Witching Hour, which saw Rowan give birth to a child that quickly became a full-grown Lasher who then abducted her, but according to Spalding, the series’ change to the ending allows for the series to make Rowan an active force in her own story going forward.

“We are really trying to work from the books, but you’re right. Rowan is not the active driving force in that second book and in our show, we want her to be, to put it frankly,” Spalding told ComicBook.com. “It’s exciting to watch her. We’re asking questions about her, about what will power do to her, what will she do with it? Will she use it well and wisely and so on. So, we really want to follow through on her relationship with Lasher and what this kind of deal with the devil, this deal with power means in the second season, but in a way that empowers that character to make the discoveries for herself and not just be taken along on a journey. So yes, there’s a shift there for sure as we go into this in the journey forward because it is very much a show about Rowan.”

Ashford added that it was important to update the story for the times to take account for the way the world has changed since Rice wrote The Witching Hour.

“Those books were written a fair bit ago,” she said. “If you’re making a television series now you have to take into account what has changed in terms of what does an audience expect and know and understand about how the world is now. And so, a really passive woman is just not going to fly.”

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