Yes, it’s true – AMC’s long-running hit The Walking Dead will end this year. But the network is making big plans for new shows to keep fans tuning in, greenlighting two series today.

Original shows Demascus and Invitation to a Bonfire will each receive six-episode first seasons in 2023. Both shows were developed as part of AMC’s “scripts-to-series” model, which has writers’ rooms develop prospective series that – if approved by the network – go straight to series.

“These are two unique, different and highly emotional series we can’t wait to share with viewers next year, both with compelling characters at the center driving the storytelling in distinct and very personal ways,” said Dan McDermott, AMC president of entertainment. “Demascus is a real and engaging exploration of being a Black man in America, with a rich and full character as our guide. Bonfire gives us a world of love, loss, identity and complication that we know viewers will find themselves lost in.”

Check out what we know about each of these new shows below.

Demascus

The series is a character-driven exploration of life as an ordinary Black man in America today. It focuses on Demascus, a 33-year-old Black man who goes on a journey of self-discovery using an innovative new technology that allows him to experience different versions of his own life. The series follows these vivid psychological explorations and also Demascus in his primary reality. 

The half-hour series comes from executive producer Mark Johnson (Breaking Bad) and creator/writer Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm (Boomerang). Kirk Moore (American Crime, For Life) will serve as the showrunner.

Invitation to a Bonfire

Based on the novel by Adrienne Celt, Invitation to a Bonfire is a psychological thriller set in the 1930s at an all-girls boarding school in New Jersey. Inspired by Vladimir and Vera Nabokov’s codependent marriage, our story revolves around Zoya, a young Russian immigrant and groundskeeper, who is drawn into a lethal love triangle with the school’s newest faculty member (an enigmatic novelist)—and his bewitching wife.

Invitation to a Bonfire comes from creator, showrunner, and executive producer Rachel Caris Love (Blindspot). Robin Schwartz and Kyle Laursen also executive produce.

What’s next for AMC?

AMC will wrap some of its biggest shows this year; 2022 will see the final season of hits like The Walking Dead, Killing Eve, and Better Call Saul. So, it’s no surprise the network is making big plans to fill out its upcoming slate. In addition to Demascus and Invitation to a Bonfire, AMC previously announced plans to venture into the Anne Rice universe. Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches series are in development now.

For more updates on titles headed to AMC, check back to THS.

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