The showrunner of AMC’s recently scrapped Invitation to a Bonfire is hopeful that her psychological thriller will land elsewhere.
Rachel Caris Love says she’s already in conversations about finding “a partner who’s capable of giving us the support that we need.” Her team already completed four of the first six episodes when she received word before Christmas that AMC was killing the Boston-based project that stars Tatiana Maslany, Ngozi Anyanwu and Pilou Asbæ.
The series was given a six-episode order and was scheduled to launch this year on AMC and AMC+. But then Bonfire, along with the second season of 61st Street, were just dropped by AMC Networks after the company revealed it would take around $400M of content write downs.
“Everyone on the cast and crew is really crushed,” Love tells Deadline. “When they called me, they said this had absolutely nothing to do with the creative and everything to do with finance and accounting. That’s a very challenging thing to process when you’re making something really beautiful and special.”
“We made something one-of-a-kind … an erotic, suspenseful, and lush drama — told through the female gaze,” Love continues. “We made a nesting doll of surprises. At the core, deceit, infidelity, murder. Our entire cast gave stunning performances. Freya Mavor, Pilou Asbæk, Ngozi Anyanwu, and Emmy-winner Tatiana Maslany were breathtaking. They gave their souls, as did our whole cast and crew. Emmy-nominee Cherien Dabis directed the first two episodes, while the fabulous Lily Mariye directed episode 103 and 104, and the incomparable Helen Shaver was to helm our grand finale. I’m immensely proud of what we made together and eager to look toward the future of Bonfire.”
Invitation to a Bonfire is based on Adrienne Celt’s novel and is a psychological thriller set in the 1930s at an all-girls boarding school in New Jersey. Inspired by Vladimir and Vera Nabokov’s co-dependent marriage, the series follows 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.
This is Love’s first go at running and creating her own show. Her previous credits include Physical and Blindspot.
Besides Love, Robin Schwartz and Kyle Laursen are executive producers on Invitation while Carolyn Daucher is a producer.
