AMC Networks announced today that it has entered into an agreement to acquire Anne Rice's major literary works, The Vampire Chronicles series and The Lives of the Mayfair Witches series, encompassing 18 titles, including such beloved and celebrated works as Interview With The Vampire, The Vampire Lestat, The Queen of the Damned, and The Witching Hour.

AMC Networks will hold the comprehensive rights for this world-renowned and globally coveted intellectual property to develop for its own television networks and streaming services under the AMC Studios umbrella, as well as external partner licensing, with Anne Rice and son Christopher Rice serving as executive producers on all series and films. Together, The Vampire Chronicles and The Lives of the Mayfair Witches series have sold more than 150 million copies worldwide.

Rolin Jones (Friday Night Lights, Weeds), who recently signed an overall development deal with AMC Studios, will be directly involved in developing projects based on the Anne Rice catalog for television.

"There is no shortage of content in today's competitive environment, but proven IP that has captivated millions of fans around the world is something very special and rare, and that is what Anne Rice has created," Sarah Barnett, president of AMC Networks Entertainment Group and AMC Studios, said in a statement. "These remarkable stories and characters are massive in their appeal and we are privileged to take over stewardship of these legendary works and collaborate with a talent like Rolin Jones to find ways for new generations of fans to experience these worlds."

Added Anne Rice in a statement: "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. That dream is now a reality, and the result is one of the most significant and thrilling deals of my long career."

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.

"AMC Studios is responsible for creating some of the most iconic television series of the modern era and has, at times, single-handedly defined this era we call 'peak TV,'" Christopher Rice said in a statement. "All the members of Team Anne, including my long-term producing partner, New York Times Bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, are both thrilled and comforted to know that some of our most cherished kin, from the vampire Lestat and the witch Rowan Mayfair, to the paranormal investigators at the Order of the Talamasca and the powerful spirit Lasher, are now safely in the hands of these vastly accomplished innovators who possess both global reach and deep reservoirs of experience."

Anne Rice is a New York Times bestselling author of over 30 novels. Her first novel Interview with the Vampire was published in 1976 and has become one of bestselling novels worldwide and was the basis for the internationally acclaimed 1994 motion picture, Interview with the Vampire, starring Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt, Kirsten Dunst and Antonio Banderas.

A New York Times bestselling and award-winning novelist, Christopher Rice has collaborated with Anne Rice on multiple novels. Together with his producing partner, the New York Times bestselling novelist Eric Shaw Quinn, he runs the podcast and video network, TDPS.

AMC Networks, the company that made "walkers" a worldwide phenomenon, is amping up its supernatural arsenal with the addition of the iconic witches and vampires of Anne Rice. The acquisition marks the company's latest investment in independently owned intellectual property, including The Walking Dead, where the company holds the rights related to the wildly popular TV series, which is the #1 show on cable television, as well as a majority stake in Agatha Christie Limited through Acorn TV, which manages the IP and publishing rights to Christie's famed mystery fiction, including Miss Marple and Poirot.

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