The Walking Dead’s zombies are going to be joined by a whole new group of undead companions on AMC. The network announced on Thursday that a brand-new Interview With the Vampire TV series has been greenlit. The development comes just over a year after AMC announced that it had bought the rights to two of Anne Rice’s bestselling book series: the Vampire Chronicles and the Mayfair Witches, both of which have 18 volumes in total.
While this isn’t the first time Rice’s work has been adapted—Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, and Kirsten Dunst starred as a trio of bloodsuckers in Neil Jordan’s 1994 adaptation of Interview With the Vampire; its 2002 sequel, Queen of the Damned, was far less well-received—it does hopefully mark the end of a long road for her works to be adapted for the small screen. Rice and her son Christopher stated in 2016 that they will be working on a television series after years of watching the rights float around. Bryan Fuller of Hannibal was attached to a potential Hulu series in early 2018. Anne and Christopher Rice will continue to act as executive producers, while Rolin Jones, a playwright-turned-screenwriter, will serve as the show’s creator, showrunner, and executive producer.
“In 1973, a grieving mother and extraordinary writer began what would become the finest Vampire novel ever written (all respects to Mr. Stoker),” Jones, who was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2006 for his play The Intelligent Design of Jenny Chow, said in a statement. “Nearly 50 years later we know what’s expected of us. We know how much this book and the ones that follow mean to their massive fan base. We feel you over our shoulders as we tend the Savage Garden. Louis and Lestat are coming out of hiding and we can’t wait to re-unite them with you.”
An initial order for an eight-episode first season has been placed, with a start date set for 2022.
