US network AMC has announced it has acquired the rights to Anne Rice’s ‘The Vampire Chronicles’ and ‘The Lives of the Mayfair Witches’ series, encompassing 18 titles, including such beloved and celebrated works as Interview With The Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, and The Witching Hour.
The deal will see AMC Networks hold the comprehensive rights to develop series based on Anne Rice’s work for its own television networks and streaming services under the AMC Studios umbrella, as well as external partner licensing, with Anne Rice and son Christopher Rice serving as executive producers on all series and films.
This is an interesting new twist to the long-running saga of the ‘Vampire Chronicles’ tv series. Way back in November 2017, Anne announced she has regained control of the screen rights to her massively successful book series and was working on a pilot script with her son, Christopher Rice, for a tv adaptation. Those rights were subsequently optioned by Paramount TV & Anonymous Content – the companies behind ‘Mr. Robot’, ‘13 Reasons Why’ and ‘The OA’. Bryan Fuller, the ‘Littlest Hobo’ of tv producers, was attached to the project for a short time, before moving on to other things, as he tends to do. Then in July 2018, it was announced that Hulu was developing a series. However, that is pre-Disney acquiring the service, and things went quiet again. Now it seems they have moved over to AMC. Rolin Jones (‘Friday Night Lights’, ‘Weeds’), who recently signed an overall development deal with AMC Studios, will be directly involved in developing projects based on the Anne Rice catalogue for television.
“It’s always been my dream to see the worlds of my two biggest series united under a single roof so that filmmakers could explore the expansive and interconnected universe of my vampires and witches,” commented author Anne Rice. “That dream is now a reality, and the result is one of the most significant and thrilling deals of my long career.”
Anne Rice is a New York Times bestselling author of over 30 novels. Her first novel Interview with the Vampire was published in 1976 and has become one of the bestselling novels worldwide and was the basis for the internationally acclaimed 1994 motion picture, Interview with the Vampire, starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst and Antonio Banderas. Together, The Vampire Chronicles and The Lives of the Mayfair Witches series have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.
“There is no shortage of content in today’s competitive environment, but proven IP that has captivated millions of fans around the world is something very special and rare, and that is what Anne Rice has created,” Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks Entertainment Group and AMC Studios, adds in a statement. “These remarkable stories and characters are massive in their appeal and we are privileged to take over stewardship of these legendary works and collaborate with a talent like Rolin Jones to find ways for new generations of fans to experience these worlds.”
For those of you that don’t know the series, The Vampire Chronicles consists of Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief, Memnoch The Devil, The Vampire Armand, Pandora, Vittorio the Vampire, Blood and Gold, Prince Lestat, Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, and Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat. The series starts with Louis, an 18th-century French colonial aristocrat, who is turned into the world’s whiniest vampire by the extremely charismatic Lestat. The series continues, mainly focusing on Lestat (I’m sure Louis would whine about that too), as he continues his exploits across the ages.
The Lives of the Mayfair Witches series includes The Witching Hour, Lasher and Taltos, along with The Vampire Chronicles/The Lives Of The Mayfair Witches crossover novels, Merrick, Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle. They follow a great dynasty of witches – a family given to poetry and incest, to murder and philosophy, a family that over the ages is itself haunted by a powerful, dangerous, and seductive being.
“AMC Studios is responsible for creating some of the most iconic television series of the modern era and has, at times, single-handedly defined this era we call ‘peak TV,’” commented Christopher Rice. “All the members of Team Anne, including my long-term producing partner, New York Times Bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, are both thrilled and comforted to know that some of our most cherished kin, from the vampire Lestat and the witch Rowan Mayfair, to the paranormal investigators at the Order of the Talamasca and the powerful spirit Lasher, are now safely in the hands of these vastly accomplished innovators who possess both global reach and deep reservoirs of experience.”
A New York Times bestselling and award-winning novelist, Christopher Rice has collaborated with Anne Rice on multiple novels. Together with his producing partner, the New York Times bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, he runs the podcast and video network, TDPS.
After years of being bounced around from network to network, it seems Anne and Christopher have finally found a home at AMC. No news yet on what or when we may see something on screen, but we’ll let you know when we hear more.