Mayfair Witches Plays Talk Demon Babies and Mind Wipes in Season 1 Finale

The Witches of Mayfair stars Tongai Chirisa, Harry Hamlin and Jack Huston discuss the season 1 finale and where their characters are after their wild ride.

It's a good thing that Anne Rice's Witches of Mayfair has been renewed for season 2, because tonight's finale left the fate of the Mayfair legacy (not to mention the world) hanging in the balance. The fantasy series based on Anne Rice's "The Witches of Mayfair" trilogy has so far taken up half of AMC's Immortal Universe. Along with its predecessor Interview with the Vampire, the show expanded on Rice's version of New Orleans and the rich supernatural mythology she created.

Mayfair Witches Season 1 ends with "What Rough Beast", an episode that sees protagonist Rowan (played by Alexandra Daddario) welcome the spirit Lasher (Jack Huston) back into her heart and unknowingly back into her Uterus. As his form fleshes out inside her, she comes to learn that her uncle Cortland (Harry Hamlin) is her biological father and has been plotting to take Lasher's power. Meanwhile, Ciprien (Tongayi Chirisa) discovered the dark side of Talamasca and despite their love for Rowan, failed to bring Rowan back to the light.

Screen Rant talks to Chirisa, Hamlin and Huston about their thoughts on the season 1 finale of The Witches of Mayfair. actors share How they handle some of the emotional reveals in the episode, their thoughts on the family legacy, and their dizzying love triangle with Rowan.

Tongayi Chirisa, Harry Hamlin & Jack Huston on Mayfair Witches

Screen Rant: Tongayi, Ciprien really just figured out how twisted some of the branches of Talamasca are in this episode. How have his perceptions and motivations changed towards the end of the season?

Tongayi Chirisa: Oh, a lot. It's the ultimate betrayal when you find out your esteemed father figure and mentor, the person that raised you up and showed you the ropes, is not who he says he is. That's my whole life just crashing down. I think you start to see Ciprien now operating from a place of self-preservation; we get to see him really opening up and instinctually moving at his own pace. You start to see that blossoming happening, and now he's no longer being governed by the rules of the Talamasca. As somebody that's always been very covered and very distanced, it'll be nice to see what happens when he starts to take initiative of his own life; taking care of Rowan but at the same time wanting to find the skeletons behind the Talamasca. He can't trust anyone, and that's a big problem. Ciprien comes from a past where nobody believed him, and he couldn't trust anybody with his powers. Now the people that he thought knew him have betrayed him, so it's about to get crazy up in here.

Of course, this is a rough process. When it comes to betrayal, Courtland has a lot to say. In the final episode, we see him interact with his two daughters, who both discover the depths of his depravity. Obviously, he's stone now, but what was that final confrontation with Rowan like at that moment?

Harry Hamlin: You know, I only found out that I was her father when I read the episode where it was revealed. But she's Cortland's daughter and, at the same time, she's the 13th witch. She carries not only my DNA, but also the family heritage, and that's something that I'm going to need to protect. That's why I tried to take the baby. But at the same time, I'm totally terrified. Not only of Rowan but also of this infant Lasher. I don't know what's gonna happen next season, but he's my nemesis for the moment. By the way, I absolutely love working with Jen [Richards, who plays Jojo]. She's the one person went out and did investigate the whole New Orleans witch umbrella that's going on there. She got deep into it; I did not. But I think I obviously have totally different relationships with Rowan and Jojo. And I'll kind of leave it at that.

About the baby, Jack, how does it feel to be a whole baby now?

Jack Huston: It's wacky! The whole thing was just insane. I'm as surprised as everybody else, and I will hopefully continue to be surprised in that same way.

Do you know how long it will take you to reach your true form again, into next season?

Jack Huston: No idea. That's the best thing about this. It's amazing I wasn't someone who actually read the book, and I decided to take some artistic license. Understanding that it obviously is a great novel, when we were taking it to screen, I wanted to learn in real time what was happening and what we were doing. It gave us a bit of freedom to play with these characters and make them into our own. I really enjoyed not knowing and discovering that story, almost like an audience member. So, next season? Your guess is as good as mine.

I was so stressed out with Odette this episode, it makes me wonder how much you discuss their backstories and their relationship to Keyara Milliner or the showrunners. What would she do if something happened to Ciprien? Do we expect that family moving forward?

Tongayi Chirisa: We haven't discussed anything yet, but she was out here in LA, and we had a brief chat. We were wondering what the plotline would be, the fact that my boss has got her, and what's going to happen if she makes it to season 2. Does she also have interesting powers that haven't manifested yet? Does she get roped into the Talamasca? I'm just really excited because I think there's something to be said about the Grieves. Her connection to it thus far is obviously something that's very tantalizing for me. How involved is she? Is there something that may have happened to her, now that we know that my boss can eradicate memory? Did the same thing happen to her that happened to me? Maybe it might be a Grieve tag team at the Talamasca, out here just whipping butt! Wouldn't it be awesome if we had a brother-sister duo going on?

Harry, Rowan accuses Cortland of only doing things for selfish gain and not really caring about the family legacy. How do you see his place in the family, does he really believe in what's best for Mayfair?

Harry Hamlin: Yeah, absolutely. He's the patriarch, and he feels that it's his obligation to maintain all of the family heritage. However, he's diagnosed with ALS in the midst of all of that, which is an instant death sentence. Self-preservation takes over, so he does some things that are probably untypically selfish in order to get make a deal with the devil, you could say, and escape his death sentence. But I feel, as Courtland, that I am there to corral these cats.

This is a hypothetical question, but I was very surprised when Rowan didn't ask Raschel to save Tessa or bring her back to life. Do you think this is something Lasher can do? Because he did say later that if she wanted to heal people, it would be better from here. Is helping others something Lasher even wants to do?

Jack Huston: Interesting, that's a good question. I think he could do it. He can do anything. But I think it's all a discovery of powers. The resurrection thing is interesting. I wonder if there could be something in that for next season. Who knows?

Tongayi, Rowan is really easily seduced by Lasher. From Ciprien's perspective, what is the state of this love triangle as we wrap up the season?

Tongayi Chirisa: It's always that thing, isn't it? When you start to discover something new and unique, and it's empowering, it kind of gives you the freedom to express yourself and become anything you want. I think, for anybody who gets into something like that, you probably want to experience that for a little bit for selfish reasons. I think I would too. Knowing what she's being enticed by, and that Lasher is offering her this type of power, you'd hope that everything that we've been trying to teach her and show her would cause her to use her better judgment. You want her to be like, "Listen, I can't have that, because I'm not capable of maintaining or controlling it. It will be my demise after all." But then you have ol' Lashy Lasher telling her all the sweet stuff, pretending that it's going to be all right, and we all know why he's doing it. Don't we, Jack? Jack Huston: There's always ulterior motives, but I think we enjoyed it nonetheless.

Lasher certainly enjoyed his time with Rowan, both as his mother and as his lover.

Jack Huston: My grandfather was in the movie Chinatown, and we were laughing because there's that famous line. ["“She’s my sister AND my daughter!”] He's her father; he's her lover. And suddenly, we find ourselves in a very similar circle. It's very strange.

About Anne Rice's Mayfair Witches

The series will focus on an intuitive young neurosurgeon who discovers that she is an unlikely heir to a family of witches. As she struggles to gain new powers, she must battle the forces of evil that have plagued her family for generations.

See our other Mayfair Witch interview here: