Six weeks after exiting his showrunner gig on Starz’s American Godz, Bryan Fuller is back in the genre game. The veteran writer-producer has boarded The Vampire Chronicles, an adaptation of Anne Rice’s novel from Paramount Television and Anonymous Content.
His involvement in the project was confirmed in a Facebook post today by Christopher Rice, son of the author (read it in full below). After that, Fuller tweeted:
Par TV and Anonymous optioned the elder Rice’s popular 11-book series back in April, with plans to bring it to the small screen. Christopher Rice will write the series and serve as executive producer alongside Anne Rice and Anonymous Content’s David Kanter and Steve Golin.
The Vampire Chronicles began with 1976’s Interview with the Vampire, which introduced readers to Louis, a French colonial aristocrat in 18th century New Orleans who is turned into an undead bloodsucker by the charismatic and dangerous Lestat. The book’s sequel, 1985’s The Vampire Lestat, made the titular character the main protagonist, and subsequent books largely have centered on his further adventures, which include exploring the origins of vampires, an encounter with Satan and in the most recent installment, published on November 29, a trip to Atlantis.
Interview with the Vampire was turned into a popular 1994 movie starring Brad Pitt as Louis and Tom Cruise as Lestat, along with Christian Slater, Kirsten Dunst, Antonio Banderas, Thandie Newton, Stephen Rea and others.
Before his American Gods gig, Fuller was creator/executive/producer/showrunner on CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery. He exited abruptly in December 2016 before it went to production. He next will focus on the Amazing Stories reboot series for Apple. His long list of credits also includes Hannibal, Heroes, Pushing Daisies, Dead Like Me, Wonderfalls and Star Trek: Voyager.
Here is the text of Christopher Rice’s social media post announcing that Fuller has joined The Vampire Chronicles TV project, complete with an anecdote about his mom’s first contact with a then-teenage Fuller:
Christopher here, with an exciting announcement about our show. Sometime in the 1980’s, a young teenager from Washington State, who dreamed of working in Hollywood one day, decided it was his destiny to write a film adaptation of a novel called INTERVIEW WITH THE VAMPIRE. So that teenager did what any resourceful, gifted and determined young person would do in such an instance; he got a copy of the San Francisco phone book and checked to see if the novel’s author had a listed phone number.
It turns out she did. To his astonishment, the author, my mother Anne Rice, answered the phone herself when he called, and when this young man declared his intentions to adapt her book for the big screen, she gave him the number of the producer in Hollywood who owned the rights. Naturally, the producer’s response was something along the lines of, “You’re too young, kid. Go hone your talent. Maybe someday.”
Today I’m thrilled to inform you that the young man of which I speak is Bryan Fuller, who grew up to be one of television’s most innovative creative forces, responsible for such an amazing array of shows as HANNIBAL, DEAD LIKE ME and PUSHING DAISIES. Even better, the opportunity he asked for all those years ago has finally arrived.
It’s our great pleasure to officially announce that Bryan has become a member of the creative family working to bring the story of the vampire Lestat to television. For a year now, my mother and I have had the joy of working with creative partners at Paramount Television and Anonymous Content who share our vision for a prestigious, long-form, high quality and high production value television series focusing on the journey of the immortal Lestat as he travels the lengths of the vampire world detailed in The Vampire Chronicles. Almost instantly after we sold the rights last April, we knew we were working with some of the finest producers television had to offer. And those producers knew that Bryan would be a perfect addition to our creative team.
For months now, we’ve been developing written material that focuses Lestat’s story for television while also delivering on the promises Mom made to her fans last year when she first announced her intentions for the show. We’re confident this material will garner more exciting announcements in the months ahead. But for now, please help us welcome this brilliant and wildly talented force to Team Vampire Chronicles.
If you’d like to hear Bryan tell the story of his fateful, teenage phone call to his favorite author, I’ve included a clip from his interview with The Dinner Party Show in the comments below. Bryan and I will be together tonight, along with our friend and fellow writer, Eric Shaw Quinn, at the Hollywood premiere of THE ALIENIST, another eagerly anticipated adaptation of a popular novel, and a show that we’re sure will demonstrate to all why Paramount and Anonymous are the perfect home for Lestat and all of his fledglings, fellow vampires and rivals.
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