‘Demascus,’ ‘Invitation to a Bonfire’ Land AMC Series Orders

The calendar just turned to February, but AMC Networks is already looking to next year.

The basic cable network on Tuesday announced series orders for half-hour entry Demascus and hourlong drama Invitation to a Bonfire. Both shows were first put in development in August under AMC’s script-to-series development model and earned speedy green lights based on their early creative strength.

Demascus is a character-driven exploration of life as an ordinary Black man in America today. It revolves around Demascus, a 33-year-old 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 as well as Demascus in his primary reality.

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Playwright Tearrance Arvelle Chisholm (Boomerang) created the series and penned the scripts. Kirk Moore (American Crime, For Life) serves as showrunner on the series, which is exec produced by AMC Studios-based Mark Johnson and his Gran Via Productions. Johnson’s long list of AMC credits includes Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, El Camino, Halt and Catch Fire and Rectify. He is also overseeing AMC’s Anne Rice franchise, which is already comprised of two series, Interview With the Vampire and Lives of the Mayfair Witches.

Invitation to a Bonfire, meanwhile, is based on the novel by Adrienne Celt and is described as a psychological thriller set in the 1930s at an all-girls boarding school in New Jersey. The series is inspired by Vladimir and Vera Nabokov’s co-dependent marriage, and revolves around Zoya, a young Russian immigrant who is drawn into a lethal love triangle with the school’s newest faculty member (an enigmatic novelist) — and his bewitching wife.

Rachel Caris Love (Physical, Blindspot) created the series, serves as showrunner and exec produces alongside Robin Schwartz and Kyle Laursen. Like Demascus, Bonfire is produced in-house at AMC Studios.

Both shows arrive as AMC is slated to say farewell to Better Call Saul, Killing Eve and The Walking Dead and Kevin Can F**k Himself in 2022. The cabler’s roster also includes multiple other Walking Dead shows,  Gangs of London, 61^st Street, Dark Winds and Moonhaven, among others.

“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, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “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.”