We knew it was in the works, and now it’s official! Anne Rice’s upcoming television series, based on her bestselling novels—both entitled THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES—will be handled by Paramount Television. I’d never heard of this branch of the Paramount company, honestly, but they produce such shows as TRUE DETECTIVE and that controversial-as-hell, suicide-as-a-selling-point series 13 REASONS WHY. Paramount Television will be working with Anonymous Content on the news series. I’d never heard of the latter company, either, but it also counts among its productions those two shows I just mentioned. I don’t know that this shared pedigree actually means anything where the quality of the forthcoming series is concerned. I expect that will depend more on Ms. Rice, her son Christopher, and the team of creative talent they put together.
I hope this series doesn’t end up on Netflix, since I don’t stream. Maybe they should peddle it to FX. THE STRAIN will be coming to an end after its upcoming season, and the folks over at FX are gonna be hankering for a new vampire-themed entertainment property. Showtime is another possibility, as THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES could fill the void left by PENNY DREADFUL when its showrunner, John Logan, yanked the rug out from under his fans by canceling it on the spur of the moment. To see THE VAMPIRE CHRONICLES airing in the same time bracket as did PENNY DREADFUL would be a wonderful, poetic form of justice.