Mayfair Witches Star Harry Hamlin Doesn’t Think Cortland Can Be Redeemed

January 5, 2025, 7:24pm

Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches returns with its second season Sunday night on AMC, bringing with it answers to the question of “what happens next” when it comes to the story of Rowan (Alexandra Daddario), the Mayfair family designee who, at the end of last season served as the door for the demon Lasher (Jack Huston) to enter the world when she — literally — gave birth to him. But the end of the first season also saw some big changes for other members of the Mayfair family, namely Cortland. Played by Harry Hamlin, the last time viewers saw Cortland, not only had his dark deeds been revealed but he was turned to stone as punishment for them. While previews and teasers for Season 2 reveal we’re not done with Cortland just yet, exactly what’s in store for the character remains a mystery, but if there’s one thing that fans can expect it’s that Cortland isn’t necessarily going to find redemption.

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Speaking with ComicBook, Hamlin teased what was to come for Cortland Mayfair and revealed that while he thinks Cortland wants to be a better man after the events of Season 1, which saw it revealed that he was actually Rowan’s father, a product of his assault of Deirdre Mayfair decades before in furtherance of Lasher’s endgame, there is no redeeming the character.

“I think he’s trying to get redemption,” Hamlin said. “He wants to be contrite. He wants to somehow be a better man in Season 2 because of how he had to go into himself and take a good look at himself, given how he was dressed down by his father. So, yeah, he wants to be redeemed, but it’s not going to happen. I don’t think it’s going to happen.”

Season 1 of the series lightly established a complicated relationship between Cortland and his father, Julien Mayfair and with Silence of the Lambs star Ted Levine joining the cast in Season 2 playing the patriarch, fans can anticipate getting a bit more into that dynamic. Hamlin has previously teased that things would get “crazy” when Levin’s Julien enters the story but for Hamlin, working with the actor was more than just the “crazy” scenes. Hamlin said it was his favorite aspect of Season 2 calling it “phenomenal.”

“If they come out anything like the way I felt while we were doing them, it’s going to be kind of cathartic for me to see,” Hamlin said of his scenes with Levine. “Working with him was phenomenal. And those are my favorite scenes from Season 2.”

In addition to Hamlin and Levine, Season 2 of Mayfair Witches stars Alyssa Jirrels, Alexandra Daddario, Jack Huston, Tongayi Chirisa, and Ben Feldman. The season will also feature an appearance by Gabriel Freilich as Felix, Lestat de Lioncourt’s fledgling vampire from Season 2 of Interview With the Vampire — giving fans of AMC’s Immortal Universe their most direct crossover between the two series to date.

Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches Season 2 premieres Sunday, January 5th on AMC and AMC+.