As we reported last year, Anne Rice was shopping around a massive television and film package for both The Vampire Chronicles and The Lives of the Mayfair Witches, and Variety reports today that AMC Networks has acquired the package and therefore landed the rights to all novels in both series’.
Variety explains, “AMC now holds the comprehensive rights for the much sought-after intellectual property and will develop film and television projects for its own television networks and streaming services under the AMC Studios umbrella as well as external partner licensing. Anne Rice and her son Christopher Rice will serve as executive producers on all series and films developed under the deal.”
“The deal encompasses 18 titles between the two book series, which together have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide,” the site adds.
“It’s always been my dream to see the worlds of my two biggest series united under a single roof so that filmmakers could explore the expansive and interconnected universe of my vampires and witches,” said Anne Rice. “That dream is now a reality, and the result is one of the most significant and thrilling deals of my long career.”
Rolin Jones (“Friday Night Lights”) is on board to develop these projects for AMC.
The Anne Rice catalog that AMC Networks is acquiring features The Vampire Chronicles series: Interview with the Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, The Tale of the Body Thief, Memnoch The Devil, The Vampire Armand, Pandora, Vittorio the Vampire, Blood and Gold, Prince Lestat, Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis, and Blood Communion: A Tale of Prince Lestat; The Lives of The Mayfair Witches series: The Witching Hour, Lasher, Taltos; and The Vampire Chronicles/The Lives Of The Mayfair Witches crossover novels: Merrick, Blackwood Farm and Blood Canticle.