One of the most delightful gifts that Talamasca: The Secret Order gave us was an episode one cameo by Interview with the Vampire‘s Daniel Molloy, played by Eric Bogosian. With the current state of the television landscape, we’d typically have to wait two years to see our favorite Interview with the Vampire characters again. But thanks to the beautifully interconnected Immortal Universe on AMC, we got to see Bogosian’s Daniel Molloy again WAY ahead of schedule. And we really missed him! In celebration of Talamasca‘s season one finale, Nerdist sat down with the series’ creators and had to ask about our favorite Interview with the Vampire cameo. If you’re still thinking about it like we are, here’s all the scoop on Daniel Molloy’s Talamasca appearance and how it fits into the world of Talamasca and of Interview with the Vampire/The Vampire Lestat.
In our interview with Talamasca showrunner John Lee Hancock, we chatted about how different Daniel Molloy was from the last time we saw him in the Interview with the Vampire season two finale, full of vampire swagger and bluster, and when we next saw him in episode one of Talamasca, when he was a good deal more lost and frightened.
Ultimately, we asked Hancock what he wanted to convey about Interview with the Vampire‘s Daniel Molloy in that quick bite of a scene in Talamasca, and here’s what he shared: “I think talking to Eric Bogosian and talking to Rolin Jones, the showrunner for Interview with the Vampire, and saying, ‘Where is Daniel now?’ Because we’re picking it up right after where that season left off, and his new vampirism, and how he’s dealing with that. And Eric Bogosian had a lot of ideas about, like “I’m still kind of hanging on an edge here.” So when he sees Guy in the alley, it’s kind of very much not only friend or foe, but is he dinner? So playing with all that and leaving it on an edge was kind of enticing. And so yeah, we wanted to let him flow right into the line that had been drawn by Interview with the Vampire.
Zeroing in on Daniel Molloy’s snarled line to Guy (“I have a thing with people messing around in my head without asking first), Hancock revealed he really wanted to nod at everything created by Interview with the Vampire in Talamasca. He noted, “I think anyone who watches Interview with the Vampire knows that people fish around in other people’s heads a lot in that show; and I think he had obviously experienced some of that and is quick to understand when it happens, especially now that he’s a vampire. And so it’s just a nod to the world. I think, a nod to what was created through Interview with the Vampire.”
We loved Daniel Molloy’s whole Interview with the Vampire cameo on Talamasca, but we especially loved the part where Eric Bogosian’s character read aloud from the in-universe version of Daniel’s book. Did the other vampires of Talamasca’s world enjoy the book’s appearance as much as we did, though? We know the vampire Burton did not. But we had to ask William Fichtner whether his Talamasca vampire, Jasper, had read Daniel Molloy’s Interview with the Vampire book, and, if so, whether he enjoyed it. In answer to the question, Fichtner chuckled loudly. “No.” He said. “No, I don’t think he read it.” Burn!
Now that the Talamasca has released in full, it’s the perfect time to go back to the beginning of the series and revisit Eric Bogosian’s Daniel Molloy cameo and all the meta-goodness of the Interview with the Vampire book’s appearance. Talamasca is streaming on AMC+. Interview with the Vampire seasons one and two are also streaming on AMC+ and Netflix. The Vampire Lestat (in all his glory) will release in 2026.