Review: 'Anne Rice’s Talamasca: The Secret Order' Sinks Its Teeth Into the Lore But Barely Leaves a Mark

After the success of Interview With the Vampire and the flop that is Mayfair Witches, I went in ready to screen Talamasca with an open mind and while I hoped for a breakout entry into the growing Immortal Universe, what I found was a series that struggles to define itself, never quite hitting the highs of Interview With the Vampire, but thankfully avoiding the lows of Mayfair Witches. This spoiler-free review covers the full six episode season.

Let’s start with the positives, I enjoy anything Lady Grantham, I mean Elizabeth Mcgovern is in. She plays Helen, a high-ranking figure in the secretive Talamasca order, with a sense of cool control and deliberate mystery. There’s something compelling about her presence on screen. However, fans of Downton Abbey will remember the flack she caught for her inconsistent British accent and unfortunately, that issue carries over here. On Downton, the excuse was that her character had lived in London most of her life despite being American. In Talamasca, her character is meant to be fully English, yet her accent switches on and off, which becomes a noticeable distraction. Despite that, McGovern brings just enough intrigue to make Helen one of the more engaging parts of the show.

Courtesy of AMC Networks

A standout that needed more screen time is Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Olive. She is positioned largely on the periphery of the narrative, almost watching the main events unfold from the outside. Her character clearly has more to give, and Richardson-Sellers brings quiet intensity to every moment she appears. I found myself wishing the show had done more with her. That said, based on how the season wraps up, it’s likely she’s being positioned for a larger role in a potential second season.

The same can’t be said for the show’s main villain. William Fichtner plays Jasper, a character that should serve as a sinister counterpoint to the Talamasca’s moral rigidity. Fichtner is a seasoned actor who usually does well in roles with a hint of moral ambiguity, and he tries here, but the material lets him down. Even when Jasper leans into more vampiric behavior, he never feels threatening. The stakes never feel urgent. The villain is just too subdued to generate real tension.

Then there's Nicholas Denton as Guy, the story’s reluctant hero. Denton’s performance is, frankly, mid. The character is written with some complexity, he’s caught between skepticism and belief, trust and betrayal, but Denton doesn’t rise to meet the emotional demands of the role. He misses too many key beats, and without a strong lead performance anchoring the show, it becomes easy to tune out and wait for the next scene to bring something more compelling. I kept hoping he would grow into the role as the season progressed, but that never quite happened.

The biggest issue with Talamasca is that it doesn’t seem to know exactly what kind of show it wants to be. It’s billed as a supernatural spy thriller, but the espionage elements are undercooked and the supernatural world it teases never fully takes hold. There are moments of promise, secret societies, hidden histories, dangerous magic but they’re often pushed aside in favor of melodrama or pacing that never builds momentum.

The show connects directly to the existing universe, Eric Bogosian appears, reprising his role as Daniel Molloy from Interview With the Vampire, letting the audience know that all this exists in the same universe or a clever ploy to get people to tune in, let me know your thoughts about that in the comments. Jason Schwartzman also shows up in a small role as a vampire named Burton, and of course name drops to readers familiar with Anne Rice’s novels. These moments of crossover hint at the larger world, but they’re fleeting and don’t do much to elevate the series as a whole.

Perhaps Interview With the Vampire has spoiled me. That series managed to be atmospheric, emotionally rich, and daring. Talamasca, by contrast, feels safe and unfinished, a show with potential that never quite steps into its own power. It’s not a total failure, but it is a disappointment.

Behind the scenes, Talamasca comes from creators John Lee Hancock and Mark Lafferty, who both serve as co-showrunners. Hancock also directs. The show was filmed primarily in Manchester, England, beginning production in the fall of 2024. AMC announced the series as part of its broader effort to build a shared Anne Rice Immortal Universe, with Talamasca serving as its third installment after Interview With the Vampire and Mayfair Witches. It premieres October 26, 2025, on AMC and AMC+, with a two-episode debut before moving to weekly releases.

AMC is clearly committed to the Anne Rice universe, and that’s commendable. The mythology is deep, the source material is beloved, and the pieces for great television are all on the table. But Talamasca: The Secret Order is not the win the franchise needed. It’s a step up from Mayfair Witches, but still a step behind where this universe should be heading.

AMC, get it together, for all our sakes.