Mayfair Witches

Alexandra Daddario stars as Dr. Rowan Fielding, a brilliant scientist with commitment issues and untapped magical potential.

The twisted character tells her that the baby she’s carrying will change her life, and he asks Dierdre if she’ll take him to be hers forever. He first pees in front of her (what even?!), then tells her to choose which patient she’d like her mother to replace in the trial. An increasingly desperate Dierdre attempts to take her own life months later by jumping from the balcony, but she’s stopped by a man named Lasher (Jack Huston). Rowan then applies to work at Revenia, the company responsible for the aforementioned stem cell trial, but she and her new boss don’t exactly get off on the right foot. She’s desperate to find out if something has “changed” about her daughter, and she’s assured that an agent is being sent to investigate. [Alexandra Daddario](http://www.tvline.com/tag/alexandra-daddario)), a brilliant surgeon with commitment issues and untapped magical potential.

Mayfair Witches pops the veins of the patriarchy as the series opens the season of the witch.

The first magical working of the series isn’t done by the witches, but by an expert in The Order of the Talamasca, a secret society introduced in Rice’s The Queen of the Damned. By the middle of the run, we get the sense the mansion may house ghosts of previous owners. The first season starts where the book starts, in the ghost story of the old Mayfair House in New Orleans. The Mayfair house is a character, with the same emotional architecture as Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, or Daphne du Maurier’s Rebecca (1938). They take the ethos of the witches and The Witching Hour, and brew it like a midwife’s potion, making sure it simmers. Harry Hamlin looks like he is having fun as Cortland Mayfair, the patriarch of the Mayfair family who lost his footing because he’s “an old softy, but don’t tell anybody.” He brings spirits to the funerals, and wears reconciliation on his lapel. One of the things which trigger the neuroscientist is the flippant condescension of her male co-workers, and don’t get her started on mansplaining. And she’s the most religious. The approach is very subtle, the magic comes across in slow increments, and ever-full cartons of eggs. She sees it as an academic challenge, and uses all her knowledge of the inner workings of the human brain to cause internal bleeding at precise junctions. Her gifts frighten her, the big changes are overwhelming, and she does not have the option of giving in to dark thoughts. [Mayfair Witches](https://www.denofgeek.com/tv/mayfair-witches-anne-rices-most-complex-characters/) invites them to come out of the shadows.

Neurosurgeon Rowan Fielding starts killing people with her mind and hopes to find answers about her secret biological family in Mayfair Witches Episode 1.

He tells her he doesn’t intend to give her the Thorazine because he wants to know who she is without the drugs and to learn more about Deirdre Mayfair. And as Rowan sleeps on her boat drifting at sea that night, she gets her first visit from Lasher. Upon receiving Rowan, Carlotta told Ellie that Rowan can never know who she really is or it could be dangerous for her and all of the Mayfairs. Deirdre realizes he’s scared of the Mayfair family, just like everyone else, and screams at him to leave. Ciprien contacts Ellie and tells her that the man isn’t here, but he can feel his presence nearby. She contacts an agency that apparently knows everything about the Mayfairs and speaks to the receptionist, Mawbel (Melissa Chambers). Again Rowan goes to Ellie to tell her what happened, and Ellie comforts her. While inside the house, the doctor notices a strange man talking to Rowan and questions her maid as to who he is. However, she still doesn’t tell her the truth: The Mayfairs gave Rowan to Ellie when she was a baby. Then he tells Rowan to pick one of the 30 trial participants to kick out and replace with her mother, but Rowan refuses. He criticizes her, and Rowan grows increasingly frustrated until suddenly, he falls to the ground. Rowan was adopted at a young age by Ellie Mayfair (Erica Gimpel), although we don’t learn that Ellie is a Mayfair until the end of the episode.

AMC's new series 'Mayfair Witches' is based on books by Anne Rice — how the show connects to 'Interview With the Vampire'

[White Lotus](https://www.usmagazine.com/shows/white-lotus/) alum told [The A.V. “This show really stands on its own, while also being vaguely in the same world in order to be potentially combined in the future.” Chirisa’s character, Ciprien, is a combination of the book characters Aaron and Michael. Club](https://www.avclub.com/alexandra-daddario-on-adapting-anne-rices-mayfair-witch-1849954032) earlier this month, adding that she ultimately read Lives of the Mayfair Witches before and during filming. Paul tells her there are “plenty of brooms down the street at the Mayfair sisters’ home,” which gets a laugh from Louis ( The cast also includes [Harry Hamlin](https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrities/harry-hamlin/) as patriarch Cortland Mayfair, Jack Huston as the sinister spirit Lasher and Tongayi Chirisa as Ciprien Grieve, a new character created for the show.

Alexandra Daddario talks Mayfair Witches, joining the Anne Rice Immortal Universe, & the fun of exploring human nature through a magical lens.

What is this?” I tried to relate it to that and the fear of that, and then not understanding it, and then going through the process of learning how to harness those kinds of powers or skills. DADDARIO: When you’re a kid and you’re fantasizing about the kinds of things you’ll do with your life, in a lot of that, you’re using the idea of magic or superheroes to understand your relationship with the world and what you’re capable of. It depends on the project, but I try to relate things back to what it is to be human. I can use this person to help me harness my powers, so how do I use that person? What was it like to explore that kind of relationship? I wanted to know who she was and why she wrote them, and where it all came from, so it was a really interesting opportunity to learn something new and play a new character, and be part of something that I hadn’t done before. I built the character in a way that I hope people see Rowan in her, and of course, there’s pressure to that, but we do it because we love it. The Anne Rice of it all aside, what was it that made you want to take this on? Were there a lot of conversations about how to have that come across? There was a part of me that said, “Okay, I’m playing a doctor,” and I felt like I understood that. Was there anything you were particularly nervous about taking on, as far as the witchcraft of it or the surgery side of it? DADDARIO: I put pressure on myself anytime I go do a role, because people are going to see it and I take what I do very seriously, as much as I also try to have a sense of humor about it.

Plus: Jason Momoa's survival series, a PBS favorite returns, and a new FOX crime drama.

[Never Have I Ever](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/never-have-i-ever-2020) and [The Sex Lives Of College Girls](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/the-sex-lives-of-college-girls-2021), Mindy Kaling returns to onscreen work (sort of) for the HBO Max animated dramedy [Velma](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/velma-2023). [Koala Man](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/koala-man-2023) is an animated comedy about middle-aged dad Kevin and his titular not-so-secret identity. [Alert: Missing Persons Unit](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/alert-2023) is a cop drama set in Philadelphia. [Japanese series The Makanai ](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/the-makanai-cooking-for-the-maiko-house-2023)is based on Koyama Aiko’s manga, Maiko In Kyoto: From The Maiko House. [All Creatures Great And Small](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/all-creatures-great-and-small-2020) returns for a six-episode third season in the U.S., after previously airing in the U.K. [11% off](https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08S473TPS?asc_campaign=kinjaavclubpromo-20&asc_refurl=https://www.avclub.com/whats-on-tv-8-to-12-mayfair-witches-velma-golden-globes-1849949335&asc_source=&tag=kinjaavclubpromo-20) [Interview With The Vampire](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/anne-rice-s-interview-with-the-vampire-2022), AMC expands (not entirely successfully) its Anne Rice Universe with [Mayfair Witches](https://www.avclub.com/tv/reviews/anne-rice-s-mayfair-witches-2023). [Here’s the complete list of this year’s nominations](https://www.avclub.com/here-are-the-nominees-for-the-2023-golden-globes-1849879441). When officer Nikki’s (Dania Ramirez) son goes missing, she joins a special unit to help others in a similarly tragic situation. [Hollywood Foreign Press Association faced its fair share of scandal](https://www.avclub.com/hfpa-promises-transformational-change-for-golden-glob-1846426930), in part for its lack of diversity (and for [reaping the benefits of Emily In Paris’ budget](https://www.avclub.com/emily-in-paris-writer-agrees-with-you-that-i-may-destro-1846194750)). Club’s review here.](https://www.avclub.com/tv-review-anne-rice-mayfair-witches-is-a-dull-adaptatio-1849943627) The awards ceremony run by the

AMC Networks' new supernatural drama "Mayfair Witches" explores a family of witches in New Orleans. We've created a guide to the key characters and what we know ...

But there's a catch: Rowan has to remove another patient from the trial for her mother to take their place. After Dierdre gives birth to Rowan, Carlotta keeps her in a drugged, catatonic state for decades. Ellie has looked after Rowan almost since birth, when she and Carlotta Mayfair struck a deal. When Rowan asks him to put in a good word with Daniel Lemle, one of the hospital's largest donors, to increase her chances of landing a part-time job at Lemle's company, Dr. He tells Rowan what he actually thinks of her and suddenly suffers an aneurysm. But when a freak medical accident occurs to her boss, Dr.