Anne Rice plans to develop her bestselling "Vampire Chronicles" novels for television.

The author announced this afternoon on Facebook that she has regained the theatrical rights for the sprawling series, which includes "Interview with the Vampire" and "The Vampire Lestat," and will begin work on an adaptation with her son Christopher Rice, a bestselling author in his own right.

"A television series of the highest quality is now my dream for Lestat, Louis, Armand, Marius and the entire tribe," Anne Rice wrote. "In this the new Golden Age of television, such a series is THE way to let the entire story of the vampires unfold. My son Christopher Rice and I will be developing a pilot script and a detailed outline for an open ended series, faithfully presenting Lestat’s story as it is told in the books, complete with the many situations that readers expect to see. We will likely begin with 'The Vampire Lestat' and move on from there."

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Debuting in 1976 with "Interview with the Vampire," the "Vampire Chronicles" has spanned a dozen novels and four decades, telling the story of Lestat de Lioncourt, a French nobleman who was turned into a vampire in the 18th century, and the people with whom his life -- or afterlife -- intersects. The first novel was famously adapted in 1994 as a hit film starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. A loose, and far less successful, adaptation of Rice's 1988 book "The Queen of the Damned" followed in 2002.

Universal Pictures and Imagine Entertainment had acquired the film rights to the novels in 2014, but Rice explained that "though we had the pleasure of working with many fine people in connection with this plan, it did not work out."

"It is, more than ever, abundantly clear that television is where the vampires belong," Rice wrote. "Over the years you all have told me how much you want to see a 'Game of Thrones'-style faithful rendering of this material, and how much you want for the series to remain in my control. Well, I have heard you. I have always heard you. What you want is what I want. [...] I am filled with optimism this morning about the future for my beloved Brat Prince."

Rice and her son, author of "A Density of Souls" and "The Heavens Rise," will serve as executive producers of the planned television series.

The 12th novel in the "Vampire Chronicles" series, "Prince Lestat and the Realms of Atlantis," will be published next week.

(via The Hollywood Reporter)