A planned series based on Anne Rice’s The Vampire Chronicles for Hulu is no longer being developed, according to Variety.
What’s Happening:
- The series, originally planned for Hulu, is once again being shopped by Rice, but this time as part of a larger package including a total buyout of the TV and film rights.
- The Vampire Chronicles is a book series, written by Rice, that follows the character Lestat De Lioncourt, who serves as the hero, antihero, and narrator of the series.
- Along with The Vampire Chronicles, the package will also include rights to Rice’s The Mayfair Witches, a series about a family of witches that began in 1990 with the novel The Witching Hour.
- The Mayfair Witches is currently set up at Warner Bros, with the asking price being roughly $30- $40 Million on top of $2.5 Million to buyout the Warner Bros. rights.
- Paramount and Anonymous Content were previously attached as part of the Hulu project, but their rights have expired, allowing Rice to shop the new, larger package that includes both properties. Paramount is said to be one of a few studios bidding on the new package.
- The notion of a Vampire Chronicles series dates back to 2016, when Rice regained theatrical rights to her novels, when she wanted to focus on television rather than films. By 2018, the project had landed at Hulu, where after working through numerous showrunners, production was finally set to begin in the fall of 2019, when updates fell silent.
What They’re Saying:
- Anne Rice, in a statement on The Vampire Chronicles’ Facebook Page: “To all the wonderful, loyal and steadfast supporters of this page and of this show. We realize it’s been some time since we’ve given you an update. Please allow me to assure you that magnificently exciting things are happening behind the scenes and we are dyyyyyyyyyying to talk to you about them. But in this particular moment, we are sworn to secrecy. The minute, and I assure you, the MINUTE, we are free to discuss the latest developments, many of them the most exciting since we began work on this, we will do so, and we will do so here. This page is not dead. Like Lestat, this project will live forever. We know you thirst, and we, Lestat and all the others who share the dark gift shall satisfy that thirst very soon.”