Mad Men Star Harry Hamlin Cast in Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches Series at AMC

03/23/2022 08:50 pm EDT

Mad Men star Harry Hamlin is returning to AMC as a series regular in Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches, the new series based on Rice's Lives of the Mayfair Witches trilogy. Emmy-nominated for his recurring role as Jim Cutler on AMC's Mad Men, Hamlin will play Cortland Mayfair, described by Deadline as "the current reigning patriarch of the Mayfair clan with a voracious appetite for more money, more power, and more life." The second series in the expanding Anne Rice universe at AMC and AMC+, the eight-episode first season of AMC Studios' Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches will premiere in late 2022. 

"From Mad Men to Mayfair, we're delighted to have Harry back at AMC joining a cast that will bring to life the captivating world and cast of characters that Esta, Michelle and Mark have beautifully adapted for our second series in the Anne Rice universe," said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks (via Deadline). "Harry is an immensely talented and seasoned pro and we can't wait to see what he'll bring to the intricate role of Cortland Mayfair."

Last week, AMC announced Alexandra Daddario (True Detective) will lead the series as Rowan Mayfair, an intuitive young neurosurgeon 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.

AMC Networks greenlit Mayfair Witches in December, setting it as the second series in the Anne Rice Universe after Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire. Produced by AMC Studios, Mayfair Witches adapts Rice's trilogy of The Witching Hour, Lasher, and Taltos. 

Producer Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul) is overseeing the development of AMC's acquisition of 18 of Rice's works across a streaming and television universe. Esta Spalding (Masters of Sex, On Becoming a God in Central Florida) serves as showrunner and executive producer with executive producer and co-writer Michelle Ashford (The Pacific, John Adams). 

"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, and often brutal, and always committed to subverting our current power structures," Spalding and Ashford said in a statement last year. "We are so excited to join our partners AMC and Gran Via Productions in making this mysterious and provocative world come to life."

The first seasons of Anne Rice's Interview with the Vampire and Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches are set to premiere later this year on AMC and AMC+. 

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