‘Mayfair Witches’ Season 2 Adds ‘Hocus Pocus’ Star Thora Birch, Ted Levine & Alyssa Jirrels

Thora Birch is going back to her witchy roots.

The Hocus Pocus star has joined Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches Season 2 as a guest star, AMC announced Tuesday, February 6. Joining her as a Season 2 guest star is Monk star Ted Levine. Fatal Attraction‘s Alyssa Jirrels has joined the cast as a series regular.

Mayfair Witches Season 2 has begun production on an eight-episode second season in New Orleans. The series stars Alexandra Daddario as Dr. Rowan Fielding, a neurosurgeon who in Season 1 learns she’s part of a powerful family of witches whose occult powers date back centuries thanks to a tempestuous relationship with a mysterious and dangerous magical being named Lasher (Jack Huston). Season 2 will premiere in 2024 on AMC and AMC+. The cast announcement was made at the Television Critics Association Winter 2024 press tour in Pasadena, California, on February 6.

In Mayfair Witches Season 2, Jirrels stars as Moira Mayfair, Rowan’s cousin and a mind reader, who blames the family and Lasher for the death of her sister Tessa (Madison Wolfe). Levine stars as Julien Mayfair, Cortland’s (Harry Hamlin) father, a master manipulator and diabolical presence that haunts the family. Birch stars as Gifford Mayfair, a self-deprecating tarot card reader and wannabe-bohemian who spends much time at her lake house lately.

Season 2 will see Rowan continue to grapple with her newfound powers and contend with Lasher, whose sinister presence has haunted her family for generations. The series also stars Tongayi Chirisa as Ciprien Grieve, a Talamasca agent and Rowan’s lover.

Mayfair Witches is based on Anne Rice‘s Lives of the Mayfair Witches novels. Season 1 was based on the first book in the trilogy, The Witching Hour. The second book is titled Lasher. The AMC series was the second addition to the network’s expanding Anne Rice Immortal Universe. Interview With the Vampire was the first of the franchise. As announced at AMC’s TCA presentation on Tuesday, Season 2 of the vampire drama will premiere on May 12 on AMC and AMC+.

Additionally, AMC is actively developing a potential third series in the franchise, written and executive produced by Oscar-nominated John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side), based on the intriguing secret society, The Talamasca, featured in several of Rice’s iconic novels.

“The beloved world created by Anne Rice continues to be a vast and exciting source of story and character for us to explore, develop and bring to life on screen,” Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios at AMC Networks, said in a statement. “We look forward to sharing second seasons of both Interview and Mayfair, two visually stunning productions that feature exciting new elements from Rice’s novels, with an audience and fanbase that have embraced these series and unforgettable characters from the beginning. Beyond the existing shows, we’re actively developing a potential third series in this expanding franchise, with the incomparable John Lee Hancock crafting a story based on Rice’s captivating Talamasca society.”

Both Interview and its Mayfair Witches debuted in 2022 and 2023, respectively, as two of the top new series premieres on AMC+ and ranked among the top 10 basic cable dramas in the 2022/2023 television season in Nielsen live+3 ratings among adults 25-54 and adults 18-49.

Mayfair Witches is executive produced by award-winning producer Mark Johnson (also an EP on Interview), showrunner Esta Spalding, Michelle Ashford, and Tom Williams with Christopher Rice and the late Anne Rice.

Mayfair Witches, Season 2, 2024, AMC and AMC+