‘Anne Rice’s The Talamasca’ Adds Maisie Richardson-Sellers in New Role — When Does It Premiere?

Kelli Boyle November 21, 2024, 2:30 pm

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Maisie Richardson-Sellers attends the 'Bullet Train' UK Gala Screening at Cineworld Leicester Square on July 20, 2022 in London, England. — Gareth Cattermole / Getty Images

Maisie Richardson-Sellers

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for the Interview With the Vampire Season 2 finale.]

The third series in AMC‘s Anne Rice Immortal Universe is currently filming in Manchester, England. Anne Rice’s The Talamasca (working title) kicked off production on Monday, October 7, and photos of stars Nicholas Denton and Downton Abbey‘s Elizabeth McGovern in character on set have already been making the rounds online. AMC announced on Thursday, November 20 that Maisie Richardson-Sellers has joined the cast in another role made for the series.

The Talamasca is about the mysterious group of supernatural watchdogs referenced in Interview With the Vampire and Mayfair Witches. William Fichtner will also star in the series alongside Denton and McGovern. Below is a breakdown of the characters, plot, and release date information for this six-episode season.

When does The Talamasca come out?

AMC

AMC says that The Talamasca will premiere in 2025 on the linear network and on AMC+. Mayfair Witches Season 2 premieres on Sunday, January 5, 2025. There has not been an official start of production or premiere date announcement for Interview With the Vampire Season 3.

There have been conflicting reports about when exactly the series will premiere. Deadline previously reported in June that The Talamasca would premiere in “late 2025,” but all releases from AMC regarding this series have just said it’s slated for a 2025 debut. More recently, various news outlets have said that it would premiere in 2025, others in late 2025. TV Insider has confirmed with AMC that 2025 is the only official premiere date detail.

“Anne Rice’s The Talamasca (wt) is slated for a 2025 premiere on AMC and AMC+,” a series rep tells us.

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?

Welcome to #TheTalamasca cast Maisie Richardson-Sellers as Olive, an ambitious agent and a master of disguises in the old tradition of spy craft. pic.twitter.com/2myhfaAQXS

— Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (@AnneRiceAMC) November 21, 2024

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.

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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.

The Talamasca is already basically a supernatural spy agency, but Richardson-Sellers’ character seems to be more like a traditional spy. Richardson-Sellers plays Olive, described as “a beguiling and ambitious agent of the Talamasca, assigned to be Guy Anatole’s (Denton) American handler. She is deft with information and a master of disguises in the old tradition of spy craft,” per Variety.

Richardson-Sellers has been seen in a New Orleans-set vampire series before. She played a witch named Eva Sinclair in The CW’s The Originals, a spinoff of The Vampire Diaries. Eva was at one point possessed by Rebekah Mikaelson (Claire Holt), one of the original vampires. Richardson-Sellers will soon be seen in the second seasons of Nine Perfect Strangers and Wolf Hall. She can also be seen in The CW’s Legends of Tomorrow, the second and third Kissing Booth films, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens, among other titles.

Is Real Rashid in The Talamasca?

Bally Gill as Rashid in 'Interview With the Vampire' Season 2 Episode 2

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.

Has The Talamasca started filming?

The investigation has begun. Anne Rice’s #TheTalamasca is now in production. pic.twitter.com/EM8vRRyOWP

— Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire (@Immortal_AMC) October 8, 2024

Production on Season 1 began on October 7 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.