#talamasca asks

The writing on IWTV is unbelievable, of course, but I do think they also just managed to get the most unbelievable actors. I've rarely seen actors in anything, film or TV or theater, that I think are as extraordinary as Sam and Jacob are in these roles, and all the supporting actors in roles both large and small are fantastic (Delainey is such an incredible discovery, and I'm so excited to see Assad more fully unleashed now)

I enjoyed Helen's character, but I think that's largely because Elizabeth McGovern is a wonderful actress and was really elevating the material she was given, but yeah, Jasper was the clear standout otherwise (which also owes a lot to his actor in William Fichtner). I think you really hit the nail on the head with a big part of the issue being they couldn't figure out how to make people interested in the Talamasca, and without that, the entire series was always going to fall apart. I'd been hopeful that they could maybe do something interesting with the spy angle, but the more I've thought about it, the more I've thought it was a mistake. The 'in' really should've been the organisation as an archive, because that opens up so much vast history and pockets of time that the show could play around in, and it could've given more context to the main shows like why they have Armand's trial scripts, and why maintaining that parallel history of time in monitoring the supernatural s important. There are plenty of ways to make that thrilling without the need for secret plots and lost identities, y'know?

The Talamasca has a storied place within the Anne Rice Immortal Universe, and we expect to see at least some of these characters, and the organization itself, in future expressions of the franchise

which makes it sound like they're possibly going to create more original shows in that universe, so they might just be canceling one that didn't work for them. And since it's based on original material, not books, it's a lot easier to cancel. And I can see why, honestly. I didn't love it, and it didn't get really good reviews. And I feel bad for him, maybe he's great in other things, but the lead actor especially did not get particularly good reviews, so that's hard. And it seems like AMC loves that IWTV is such a critical favorite, and then Mayfair at least has viewers (though they did bring in a second showrunner with more of a prestige background, seemingly trying to make it more acclaimed).

So maybe this has nothing to do with IWTV's chances of getting another season or two. And I am more relaxed now that we at least got season 3 and TVL, though I would be really disappointed if we didn't get season 4, of course. But I think it's likely they're really planning on that, and canceling IWTV would be a much bigger deal than canceling Talamasca. I kind of doubt they're planning more than 5 seasons of IWTV anyway, based on what Rolin has said. Maybe I could see 6 but I think 5 might be more likely.

It's a shame because I do think the concept of a Talamasca show has legs, but I agree that what they did with it didn't really work, so I'm not terribly surprised it's been cancelled. I do feel a little bad for the lead actor too given they really hung the season on his shoulders and I just don't think the writing was strong enough to lift his performance, nor his performance strong enough to elevate the material, although I will say I feel a little less bad for him since finding out he's Jane Turner's son (she's literally an Australian comedy icon, he'll be fine, haha).

I don't think it really has any bearings on IWTV though. From Rolin saying that they're splitting TVL in two and this season being seven eps, I suspect that AMC has given them a 15-episode order to adapt the book like they did with IWTV. That would mean that s4 is already more or less greenlit, and I can't imagine that AMC wouldn't want Rolin's version of Queen of the Damned, not just because they're clearly investing a lot in their relationship with him, but that source material's iconic enough that it'll be buzzy no matter how it shakes out.

To counter that review, have a look at this one:

https://slate.com/culture/2025/10/talamasca-the-secret-order-anne-rice-amc-interview-with-the-vampire.html

It is awful with regard to what this person has to say about IWTV. It made my blood boil....

We now know that iron weakens vampires, but since Lestat has ancient blood in his veins, he will need more than just iron. We have seen how affected he is after using the mind gift, but Lestat is known for his physical strength. What if the coven drained him? Or Armand?

(x)

I figured he was imprisoned and likely tied up from the bruises we can see at the trial, but I'd been assuming they'd keep it similar to the book in Lestat being fed the corpse blood to keep him weak and generally unwell, so the lore about iron being introduced is super interesting! The Coven or Armand might drain him as well - as you said, Lestat really is very powerful - but I think in some ways a lot of it will depend on when he got there and how weakened he still was from being killed.

I do hope they'll keep the corpse blood in the mix though because I really do like that as a part of the vampiric lore and it feels like it could be adapted to screen in a way that's super visceral and terrifying in a way that iron shackles maybe wouldn't be so much? Although shackling Lestat in his rapist's tower brings it's own horror, of course. I think the corpse blood is also probably narratively important for the show to be clear about that as something Lestat didn't lie about in trying to teach Louis and Claudia vampirism in s1, and that seeing the result of it kind of circles us back to those themes around how they feed and who they can feed on.

Oh, I didn't realise that it had gone so quickly to Netflix! That is really interesting. It was a Stan Exclusive here, which is how I watched it, and that flagged a little for me too given both IWTV and Mayfair Witches aired on ABC, both on-TV and via their streaming app (Stan's just a streamer). It made me wonder if ABC had said no to it? Although AMC does seem to split their distribution in Australia between ABC and Stan - Stan gets all The Walking Dead spinoffs for instance. It does make me wonder if they were trying to position it differently though from Interview and Mayfair, because it feels odd to have those two shows with a broadcaster, and then Talamasca streaming only (and I love Stan, but it's definitely more commercial and less prestigious than ABC).

I hope I end up enjoying Talamasca a bit more than this person did, and that it does well at least with viewers (seems better for IWTV the better all the immortal universe shows do, I guess?), but I do love seeing Variety praise IWTV (and talk about TVL) that much in a review that's not even about IWTV lol

I love that IWTV is getting the praise it deserves too, anon, but honestly, reviews like this kind of bum me out. Not letting a story exist on its own within a broader universe (and honestly, the connections to IWTV so far in terms of both character and plot have been very light outside of Daniel's book signing) and using those comparisons as a barometer of quality when it's frankly clear that the shows are doing very different things I just don't think is very fair?

Look, you won't get any argument from me that IWTV is the better show by far, but Talamasca (and, honestly, Mayfair Witches) isn't trying to be IWTV, nor should it be. Talamasca is not a queer gothic melodrama, it's a pulpy spy thriller, and and to compare them I think is like comparing a younger sibling who just won an inter-school robotics competition to an older sibling that just got into like - - the national youth orchestra. It's not that you can't compare them - they're related, after all - but at the same time, what's the point? They're different creatures, with different interests, even if they've got the same parents.