The mega fans of Interview with the Vampire might already be well acquainted with another series of occult novels from the author Anne Rice.
The trilogy Mayfair Witches has been adapted into two eight-part seasons of TV, starring The White Lotus’s Alexandra Daddario, and the BBC has just added the second season to iPlayer.
Daddario plays the preternaturally gifted surgeon Rowan Fielding, an adoptee aching to connect with her birth family, who learns she can hurt people with the power of her mind.
Here comes the lore, because in Rowan’s mission to learn more about herself, she discovers she is heir to a lineage of numerous such powerful women.
But there’s a dark legacy attached to her family tree, as she comes to discover in a saga of sex, death and magic across the years.
Rowan is joined along the way by Lasher, a shapeshifter that has been bound to the family for generations, and is cryptically played in its most common form by Jack Huston.
‘Things don’t end well for the women in this family,’ Rowan is told during her quest for answers. And we start to get a sense why, with a smattering of flashbacks from the present New Orleans setting to a 17th-century Scottish village.
There, we see a past generation of Mayfairs grapple with being women with witchy reputations and the stigma attached in the eyes of religious authorities.
In amongst the secrets, murders and various dances, there are also gestures to Mayfairs even further back.
There might be some ropey Scottish accents along the way, but a strong contingent of fans have urged viewers not to judge the show against the books, given it’s not a wholly faithful adaptation of Rice’s trilogy.
What other thrillers can you stream now?
- Untamed. Eric Bana is a parks investigator at Yosemite on the case of a mysterious dead Jane Doe.
- Under Fire. A close-knit crew of firefighters are trying to balance their high-stress jobs with the chaos of their personal lives.
- The Assassin. Keeley Hawes as Julie, a retired former assassin living in Greece – her life is turned upside down when her estranged son turns up looking for answers.
Those existing outside the Mayfair book universe have praised the show as a spooky watch that’s worth giving a go, in spite of a fairly low Rotten Tomatoes rating (59%).
Taking to Google reviews, Leia Sadinsky wrote: ‘From the first episode, I was hooked—the storytelling unfolds in such an intriguing way, keeping me captivated as each new piece of the mystery falls into place.
‘If you’re on the fence about watching because of the reviews—give it a chance. You might just find yourself just as enchanted as I am.’
‘As someone who hasn’t read the novels & loves fantasy that takes hints from real life – I recommend it to all those who might have enjoyed series like Sabrina on Netflix,’ echoed Maha Zainab Ishtiaq.
Stephanie Lily added: ‘So many bad reviews from those who read the book, I guess I’m happy I didn’t because I am really captured by the story! I highly recommend!’
Mayfair Witches is available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
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