Anne Rice (novels) & John Lee Hancock (creator)

CAST
Nicholas Denton
Céline Buckens
Maisie Richardson-Sellers
William Fichtner
Elizabeth McGovern

Review

With Interview With the Vampire and Mayfair Witches, AMC is building a small supernatural empire out of Anne Rice’s gothic universe. This particular show the Talamasca: The Secret Order is a spin-off that shifts the focus from vampires and witches to the people who watch them for the secretive organization known as the Talamasca.

The premise has an X-Files meets The Da Vinci Code vibe, but with an Anne Rice spin. Guy Anatole (Nicholas Denton) joins the mysterious order as he searches for answers about his family’s past, and soon finds himself knee-deep in the supernatural world he thought he was only observing.

The pilot is slow; it doesn’t rush to show its hand, and that’s kind of the point. Talamasca is more about setting the mood than opening with fireworks. The pacing feels deliberate, and the atmosphere is rich. The mystery unfolds slowly, almost teasingly, to the point that an acquaintance told me, “It’s not as good as Interview With the Vampire, but not as bad as Mayfair Witches.” And honestly? That’s pretty accurate but for me, it’s much better than Mayfair Witches so far. It has a secret-society vibe that actually works in this setting. The good news is, even without fireworks, the episode held my attention all the way through.

Denton gives off the right amount of curious-but-guarded energy as Guy, he’s our way into this world. William Fichtner as Jasper is mysterious, slightly intimidating, and definitely hiding something, but I’m not quite sure he’s the villain. And Elizabeth McGovern’s Helen is instantly intriguing; she has that mentor you can’t quite trust down!

The cast feels strong, even if we haven’t seen all their layers yet. There’s clearly something brewing beneath the surface.

The Talamasca pilot doesn’t grab you by the throat the way Interview With the Vampire does, but it does lure you in with its atmosphere, strong performances, and promise of secrets worth uncovering. It’s intriguing, a little slow, and clearly setting up something bigger. And I think it’ll be fascinating to see how the Talamasca operates.

It’s not great yet, but I can feel a build-up to something. What that is, I don’t know, but it could be juicy. The Talamasca: The Secret Order is mysterious, moody, and just the right amount of eerie.

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