AMC’s “Immortal Universe” of series based on the novels of Anne Rice is expanding. A new series based on the psychic order of scholars the Talamasca is coming next year. In Rice’s books, the Talamasca is an ancient and secret order that catalogs and studies the supernatural. The series has now added a very familiar name to its cast, as we’ve learned via Variety that former Downton Abbey matriarch, Elizabeth McGovern has joined the ensemble. She’ll play Helen, “a seasoned veteran of the Talamasca, and the leader of its New York Motherhouse.” Helen believes London’s Motherhouse has fallen to traitorous elements. When a mysterious death occurs, she recruits Guy Anatole, played by Nicholas Denton, who becomes her protégé.
McGovern is joined by another veteran actor who’s a familiar face to many—William Fichtner. Fans know him from decades of roles in films like The Dark Knight. He’ll be playing a character named Jasper, who Variety describes in the following way:
Jasper is 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.
He’ll be joining the previously mentioned Nicholas Denton (Dangerous Liaisons) who has been cast as the lead. Denton will play a character named Guy Anatole, who, like Jasper, seems to be created just for this series and not from the novels. Here’s the Talamasca character’s official description:
Guy Anatole is brilliant, handsome and sharp on the surface, but he’s always known his mind works a little differently. 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.
Production for the series begins next month in the UK. The six-episode season will focus on the people responsible for tracking and containing the witches, vampires, and other creatures scattered around the globe. Viewers have met members of the Talamasca already on Mayfair Witches and Interview with the Vampire. Although, they are a bigger presence on Mayfair Witches so far. John Lee Hancock (The Blind Side) and Mark Lafferty (Halt and Catch Fire) will be the series writers, co-showrunners, and executive producers. Hancock will also direct.
Unlike the previous two series inspired by Rice novels, there is no Talamasca series of books by the late author. Instead, she used them as seasoning throughout several of her supernatural novels. In the 2000s, when Rice “crossed over” her Witching Hour series and her vampire books, they played a significant role. Rice often teased a standalone Talamasca novel, but it never came to fruition. She finally revealed the origins of the organization in her 2014 novel Prince Lestat. She tied their beginnings more strongly to the vampires. The AMC shows change much of the mythology Rice created, so who knows if any of that will stick in Anne’s Rice’s The Talamasca series.
According to Dan McDermott, president of AMC Studios, a Talamasca spin-off series is something the studio has been thinking about since their Anne Rice Immortals Universe began. He said, “This is a story we’ve been developing and wanting to tell from the earliest moments of this franchise, focused on a fascinating and compelling secret society that has already appeared in both of our existing Anne Rice series.” Shooting starts this fall in Manchester, England. In the novels, the main Talamasca Motherhouse is in England, so this makes sense. Anne Rice’s The Talamasca series debuts on AMC and AMC+ in late 2025.
Originally published on September 4, 2024.
