[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Interview With the Vampire Season 2 finale.]
Downton Abbey star Elizabeth McGovern has joined the cast of Anne Rice’s The Talamasca (working title), the third series in AMC‘s Immortal Universe. McGovern will be a series regular alongside previously announced stars Nicholas Denton and William Fichtner.
The Talamasca is about the mysterious group of supernatural watchdogs referenced in Interview With the Vampire and Mayfair Witches. Here’s a breakdown of everything there is to know about The Talamasca so far, from its slated premiere date to character descriptions and more production updates.
What is The Talamasca about?
The Talamasca Season 1 will be a six-episode season focusing on the men and women responsible for tracking and containing the witches, vampires, and other creatures scattered around the globe. Justin Kirk‘s Raglan James, seen in Interview With the Vampire Season 2, and Tongayi Chirisa‘s Ciprien Grieve, seen in Mayfair Witches Season 1, are both Talamasca agents. The series will presumably be set in the present day, but that has yet to be confirmed by AMC.
Who is in The Talamasca cast?
Character details reveal more about The Talamasca plot. Both Denton and Fichtner will play series-regular characters made for the show rather than ones pulled from Anne Rice’s extensive book catalog (the Talamasca is woven throughout both The Vampire Chronicles and Lives of the Mayfair Witches literary series — Kirk’s Raglan James is a main character from TVC‘s Tale of the Body Thief).
Known for Starz‘s Dangerous Liaisons, Denton plays Guy Anatole described as “brilliant, handsome, and sharp on the surface, but he’s always known his mind works a little differently,” AMC shares.
The description continues: “On the cusp of graduating law school, he is approached by a representative of the Talamasca, a secretive agency that monitors and protects us from the supernatural world. When Guy learns that the Talamasca has been tracking him since his childhood, he falls headlong into a world of secret agents and immortal beings who, up to now, have maintained a fragile balance with the mortal world. But for that balance to hold, and for Guy to survive, he will have to learn to embrace the dark, treacherous depths of his true and singular self.”
Known for roles in The Dark Knight, Armageddon, Crash, Mom, and more, Fichtner plays Jasper, “a mysterious American who has quietly assumed control and influence over the Talamasca’s London Motherhouse. Though his motives and methods are cloaked in shadow, his charm and righteous sense of purpose are as dangerous as the power he’s pursuing.”
McGovern plays Helen, a seasoned veteran of the Talamasca and the leader of its New York Motherhouse. She has long suspected that London’s Motherhouse has fallen under the influence of traitorous elements, and a mysterious death prompts her to recruit Guy Anatole (Denton), who will become her protégé.
Is Real Rashid in The Talamasca?
Larry Horricks / AMC
Fans on social media have wanted Bally Gill‘s “Real Rashid” from Interview With the Vampire Season 2 to be part of The Talamasca. The character got his “Real Rashid” nickname from Eric Bogosian‘s Daniel Molloy because Armand (Assad Zaman) pretended to be him in Season 1 of the show.
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Gill’s character was revealed to be a Talamasca agent undercover in Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Armand’s Dubai apartment in Interview With the Vampire‘s Season 2 finale. His deadpan delivery and secret identity made him a beloved supporting character, and fans want to see more of him. He covertly fled the Dubai apartment before Louis and Armand learned he was a spy, and his whereabouts in the plot are currently unknown. AMC has not revealed if Gill will be in The Talamasca. In the absence of a clear time period for the spinoff, however, it’s not clear if the plot will even allow for Rashid to be included.
The other secret Talamasca agent from Season 2, the vampire Sam Barclay (Chris Geary), could also be added into the mix. But notably, Sam and Raglan are both listed as characters returning for Interview With the Vampire Season 3, whereas Rashid is not. That also made fans question if Rashid is being saved for The Talamasca. Either way, there’s clear fan desire to see this character again.
Will The Talamasca cross over with Interview With the Vampire and Mayfair Witches?
Plot details are scarce for this spinoff right now, but provided that Felix — a vampire introduced in 2022 New Orleans in the IWTV Season 2 finale — appears in the Mayfair Witches Season 2 trailer, the Immortal Universe is clearly starting to converge to some degree.
This is pure speculation, but it seems that a crossover between the three shows isn’t out of the picture. There’s certainly basis for crossover from the books; characters hop between stories all the time in Rice’s supernatural fictional tales. The books even include a brief romantic fling between Lestat (Sam Reid in IWTV) and Rowan (Alexandra Daddario in Mayfair), but that’s way further down the road from where the current plots of IWTV and Mayfair Witches stand.
When does The Talamasca come out?
AMC says that The Talamasca will premiere in 2025 on the linear network and on AMC+. Mayfair Witches Season 2 premieres in early 2025. There has not been an official start of production date announcement for Interview With the Vampire Season 3.
Has The Talamasca started filming?
Production on Season 1 begins in October 2024 in Manchester, England.
The series is executive produced by Oscar-nominated John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) and Mark Lafferty (The Right Stuff, Halt and Catch Fire), who also serve co-showrunners, and award-winning producer Mark Johnson, who oversees the Anne Rice Immortal Universe. Hancock will also direct.
Is there a trailer for The Talamasca?
Nope! They haven’t started filming, so there’s no footage to be seen. But stay tuned as we continue to report the latest on the newest show in AMC’s Immortal Universe.
The Talamasca, Series Premiere, 2025, AMC, Streaming on AMC+
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