The new thrilling series The Watchful Eye premieres tonight on Freeform. The series follows Elena Santos (Mariel Molino) as she skillfully puts herself in position to be hired as a live-in nanny for a rich widower (Warren Christie) living at The Greybourne, a landmark apartment complex in Manhattan. Elena has ulterior motives for wanting the position, but it turns out, she’s not the only one with secrets, and those hidden within the walls of the mysterious building could be deadly. 

The building is an important part of the series, a character in itself. “The first thing I was drawn to was the building.” showrunner Emily Fox told SciFi Vision during a recent press day, “The idea of writing about a world that's set inside of what appears to be a castle but that turns out to be a bit of a prison in a way, or a maze of lies, and this gorgeous sort of like confection of archways and marble and everything, but underneath it is this scary basement, just felt like a great allegory for the American dream, where it's like, ‘Oh, it looks really beautiful, but underneath is all this toil and pain and secrets and mysteries and and things like that.’ I love world building, and I love building a puzzle and a mystery and leaving trails of pebbles…and I've never really done anything like this before. So, I was excited by the challenge of that.” 

Tonight, Freeform premieres the new series The Watchful Eye. Mariel Molino stars as Elena Santos, a cunning young woman, who with the help of her boyfriend Scott Macedo (Jon-Michael Ecker), cons her way into the position of live-in nanny for a rich family at The Greybourne in Manhattan. Elena quickly discovers, however, that the history of the apartment complex is full of mysteries, and she’s not the only one with secrets.

For star Molino, it was the dark side of her character that made her want to be a part of the project. “For me, it was that duplicity with Elena,” the actress told SciFi Vision during a recent interview. “[It was] not knowing what her motivation was, and why she was being deceitful and kind of what this grift was, why was she, in a sense, conning this family? That was that was that was really interesting to me, because I love to play someone who is complicated like that.” 

***The following contains spoilers for 1.04***

On tonight’s all-new episode of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches, things come to a head when Carlotta (Beth Grant), after seeing Rowan (Alexandra Daddario) wearing the necklace and believing her to be lost to Lasher (Jack Huston), locks her in the dining room and sets it on fire. Lasher confirms her fears, telling her that Rowan is already his.

Grant knew right away that she was perfect for Carlotta and was excited to take on the role. “This is a character I related to immediately,” she told SciFi Vision during a recent interview. “I come from the Deep South. I come from a very strong matriarchal ancestry: my mother, my grandmother, my great grandmother, and from what I understand the great, great, great grandmothers, all these very strong women, and I just felt her in my bones. I had a visceral desire to play her, honestly. So, it's just a dream come true for me.” 

During the interview, the actress talked about her character’s downfall as she became fanatical, and how she sees her.  “[Carlotta]’s not just religious, she's a fanatic, and she loses herself,” Grant explained. “It's sad story. ‘Poor Carlotta’ is the way I feel about her. I love her. I know she's fun to hate, and that's okay with me. All the viewers that want to enjoy her in that way, that's fine, because that's part of storytelling, too. I think it's kind of delicious to have a character that's the bad guy, but not to me. To me, she's the good guy. She's trying to protect the family. She's trying to protect Rowan. And I think that when she meets Rowan…she thinks, ‘maybe this is the one who can change the curse.’

Gabe Russell (Adam Hampton, 90 Feet from Home) has been recently released from prison and wants to start a new life for himself and his estranged daughter (Hayley McFarland, Lie to Me), but that doesn’t stop him from going back to his old ways, and he and a group of men rob an armored car. The heist goes awry when his brother Wesley (Kyle Jacob Henry) shoots one of the guards, and the FBI, including Agent Brett Solomon (Ryan Merriman, Final Destination 3) work to hunt down the crew. The film, written and directed by Kyle Kauwika Harris, which came to theaters last week, is now available on digital and on demand.

Tonight, the third episode of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches premiered on AMC. In the episode, when Ciprien Grieve (Tongayi Chirisa) brings Rowan Fielding (Alexandra Daddario) to his place to help her understand some of what’s going on, he also reveals more about his own character when he talks aabout his powers of seeing the past via touch.

Ciprien is actually based on two different characters in Rice’s series of novels that showrunner Esta Spalding combined into one. “What I appreciate about what [she] did was that she pretty much took the the richness of both characters,” Chirisa told explained to SciFi Vision during a recent interview. “Michael [Curry] with his abilities, with his gift, Aaron [Lightner], obviously from the Talamasca and his dress sense, just pretty much that was the foundation to say, ‘Hey, this is what it is, but I want you to build off of that.’ So, with that springboard, it allowed me to just kind of really delve into how I saw this character. We had conversations with Esta about what [they’re] looking for in this world, because she was like, ‘Look, don't get too married to the material that you see, because we want something that's unique and different, paying homage to where it starts, the foundation.’ So, because of that, it allowed us to really explore, and that, for me, is the fun part of figuring out where we're going.

Recently, Britbox premiered the three-part drama, Stonehouse. The series is based on the almost unbelievable life of MP John Stonehouse (Matthew Macfadyen). Seemingly a devoted father and husband with a perfect life, he started spiraling out of control when he was accused of fraud and espionage, which culminated in him faking his own death. The series also stars Keeley Hawes as Stonehouse’s wife Barbara and Emer Heatley as his secretary Sheila Buckley.

Writer of the series, John Preston, was somewhat familiar with the story from the beginning, as he lived through it, but at the time it didn’t make a big impression. “There was a lot about the story that I didn't know,” Preston revealed to SciFi Vision during a recent press junket. “But for me, having been brought up to believe that our rulers tended to behave in a kind of level headed and dignified way, it was the first inkling that I had that that might not necessarily be the case. So, it was a kind of eye opener for me. But it was really not until I went back and started researching it, that I realized just how rich a story it was.”

Based on the best-selling trilogy, Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches premiered last week on AMC. The series follows Rowan Fielding (Alexandria Daddario), a neurosurgeon who discovers that she comes from a family of powerful witches.

Annabeth Gish plays the role of Deidre Mayfair, Rowan’s biological mother. The actress was very familiar with the book series, having read them when they first were released. “I just was so fascinated and intrigued by this particular world of Anne Rice in The Witching Hour, that I even wanted to option it to play Rowan,” the actress told SciFi Vision during a recent interview. “…It was mystical and ethereal, but also [had] female empowerment and intellect. So, it had all of these elements that I was fascinated by and still am.”

The role came with a lot of physical challenges, as for a lot of it, Deidre is catatonic and confined to a wheelchair. Gish also had to wear contacts that were hard to see through.  

When it came to what she connected to with the character, it was the fact that Deirdre, like Gish, is a mother. “At the beginning, she is a victim, but then she's reawakened with her power through a monstrous force,” she explained. “So, yes, there are lots of things to get through with Deirdre, but the goal of seeking her daughter and the empowerment of finding Rowan is the motivating factor, and as a mother, I certainly can relate to that.”

Friday, the second and final season of Hunters premiered on Prime Video. On the series, Greg Austin plays the villain Travis Leich. As part of the show, the character commits many heinous acts. The actor talked to SciFi Vision during a recent interview about connecting with and getting into the dark side of the character. One of the ways for him is music. “I've been listening to a lot of heavy metal, metal core, rhythmic technical guitars, screaming stuff over the pandemic, very angsty, clearly,” Austin told the site. “Going onto set, stepping from who I am as a person, putting the mask on and becoming Travis, that's a real good hook for me, finding something that embodies the emotion that evokes that in me, and that sort of music really does for me. It really gets me into the mindset I need for Travis.”

“But ultimately, to be able to play a role like this, you just you need to be able to empathize,” the actor added. “Even though he is a character that cannot empathize by the nature of his psychopathy, I as an actor must be able to empathize even with the worst character, the worst human being in the world.”

Today, the second and final season of Hunters comes to Prime Video. On the series, Josh Radnor plays the character Lonny Flash, an actor and master of disguise. SciFi Vision recently caught up with the star to talk about his costumes, which are important to a character like Flash. “I think a lot of how I found the character of Lonny was through the the costume,” revealed the actor. “Once I found the facial hair, and once I got on the outfits and the heels, it just changed my walk; it changed the way I spoke. It just changed everything and informed everything…They call him the master of disguise. Even when he's not technically in disguise, he's still wearing some sort of disguise. I mean, he's kind of peacocking through life. He loves to be looked at, he wears flashy things, very different than me in that regard, and that was all really fun to play. In the second season, his career has taken off, even though his demons have kind of got a hold of him again. So, his wardrobe is a little more upscale. He's wearing more suits and cravats and things like that, but he's still, he's still dressing to impress.”

Hunters returns today to Prime Video for the second and final season. In season two, the Hunters come together to hunt down a hiding Adolf Hitler. Meanwhile, through flashbacks, secrets are revealed about Meyer Offerman (Al Pacino)’s past.

During a recent press day, SciFi Vision spoke with creator David Weil about how far the ending veered from his initial plans. “I didn't have a clear vision in mind for the ending,” revealed Weil. “I knew sort of what I wanted, and obviously, when people watch the series, they'll see a very, I think, clear conclusion to the show. But the question of the show is really one of justice or revenge. So, one of the great sort of conflicts in writing was, what do I want to express? What is the thesis of the show, ultimately, and ultimately, to me, I think the path of justice, won out. So, you definitely see that in the ending.”