MD Bastek
AMC has cast Jack Huston in its upcoming series, Mayfair Witches. Huston will play Lasher, a shape-shifting entity who has served the Mayfair witches for centuries. Huston is best known for his roles in House of Gucci and Boardwalk Empire.
The cast will also include Annabeth Gish (The Haunting of Hill House, Midnight Mass), Alexandra Daddario (We Summon the Darkness, Texas Chainsaw Massacre 3D, Percy Jackson), Tongayi Chirisa (Crusoe), Erica Gimpel (Fame, Profiler), Beth Grant (The Mindy Project), Harry Hamlin (Mad Men), and Jen Richards (Her Story).
Esta Spalding and Michelle Ashford, who both worked on the Showtime series Masters of Sex, will serve as writers and executive producers. Spalding will serve as showrunner for the first season.
Mayfair Witches is based on author Anne Rice’s trilogy, Lives of the Mayfair Witches, which includes the novels The Witching Hour (1990), Lasher (1993), and Taltos (1994). The stories are about a family of witches who are haunted by a mysterious entity for centuries called Lasher.
The story “focuses on intuitive young neurosurgeon Dr. Rowan Fielding (Alexandra Daddario) who discovers that she is the unlikely heir to a family of witches. As she grapples with her newfound powers, she must contend with a sinister presence that has haunted her family for generations.”
The Nerdist quotes Spalding and Ashford: “The world of witches has fascinated and terrified for centuries. And yet, Anne Rice’s particular lens on witches explored something new altogether. Women who are powerful, often brutal, and always committed to subverting our current power structures. We are so excited to join our partners AMC and Gran Via Productions in making this mysterious and provocative world come to life.”
AMC picked the series up for an eight-episode first season in late 2021. AMC is also producing a series based on Anne Rice’s novel, Interview with the Vampire, which will premiere in the fall of 2022. The late author, who passed away in December 2021, was involved in the project as a producer, along with her son, author Christopher Rice.
Yahoo News reports that AMC acquired the rights to both of Rice’s book series, The Vampire Chronicles and Lives of the Mayfair Witches, which includes 18 titles. Mayfair Witches is currently in production in New Orleans and is set to premiere on AMC and AMC+ later this year.
