The late, great Anne Rice (1941-2021) was an incredibly creative writer. She brought us a whole immortal world in two connected parts. We have the vampire world of Lestat de Lioncourt (thirteen books long) and the world of the Mayfair witches (three books) which I believe is connected by David from Queen of the Damned. At least in the books. She of course wrote many more books but the focus of the panel at San Diego Comic-Con this year was the vampires and witches. The panel was moderated by Damian Holbrook and gave the audience a look into season three of Interview With A Vampire and season two of The Mayfair Witches.
The panelists for the Interview With A Vampire leg of the panel included Mark Johnson, who oversees the Anne Rice Immortal Universe, executive producer Rolin Jones, production designer Mara LePere-Schloop, and actors Sam Reid (Lestat), Assad Zaman (Armand), and Delainey Hayles (Claudia). The audience was treated to a first look at season three and a blooper reel of season two and I am jealous. I covered the first season, but it was moved to AMC+ and I, unfortunately, did not get to cover season two. However, if you are interested, I did cover the movie Interview with A Vampire as well as the book of the same name. I invite you to read and watch them too. I loved season one and enjoyed the differences and similarities between all three. It is interesting to see other’s interpretations of Anne’s work.
The Mayfair Witches panel included showrunner Esta Spalding and actors Alexandra Daddario (Rowan), Harry Hamlin (Cortland), Tongayi Chirisa (Ciprien), Ben Feldman (Lark), and Alyssa Jirrels (Moira). The audience viewed a teaser trailer for the second season of Mayfair Witches and first looks at images from the season which is coming out early next year. It was also revealed that Callan McAuliffe will join the cast as Abel Mayfair, with Franka Potente as Annamieke, and Ian Pirie as Ian Mayfair.
Are you an Anne Rice fan? Which of her books have you read? I have only read Interview With A Vampire and that was a struggle but I love the rich, inter-connected world she built. Lestat is a fascinating character in every iteration I have seen him. The whole series is centered around him. I just enjoy it more on the screen. Did you make it to her panel at SDCC? Let me know in the comments below. Until next time, have fun storming the castle!
