Interview With The Vampire‘s two excellent seasons prove that the formula to succeed isn’t to simply translate Rice’s story, hoping it will flourish in the episodic medium. Instead, Jones uses the book as a bedrock for a trenchant tale about the undead lovers. He achieves this partly by making Louis a Black man (in The Vampire Chronicles, he’s a wealthy 18th-century plantation owner) whose experiences in the South in 1910 bring IWTV a fresh cultural and historical poignancy. It’s one of the many significant shifts to give the show gravitas and make it a visual treat, whether it takes place in New Orleans, Paris, or Dubai. As IWTV progresses, it raises questions about the other inexplicable entities that populate this world, thus acting as a natural gateway to set up the Immortal Universe, which also includes 2023’s Mayfair Witches and Talamasca: The Secret Order.
Based on the trilogy Lives Of The Mayfair Witches, the Esta Spalding-created, New Orleans-set series premiered months after IWTV. In it, neurosurgeon Rowan Fielding (Alexandra Daddario) learns about her witchy lineage and slowly comes to terms with her own power. Along the way, she battles sinister spirit Lasher (Jack Huston), who has haunted the women in her family for generations due to a curse. As an adaptation, it’s mediocre at best, stripping itself of the freakiness that made Rice’s writing land—at least until the very end of season two. It’s driven by a dull plot and choppy pacing, with little cast chemistry to boot. The show is a stumbling block instead of a worthy expansion, ineffectively connecting the worlds with forgettable crossovers.
The latest entrant doesn’t fare much better. Created by The Blind Side‘s John Lee Hancock, who showruns alongside Mark Lafferty (Halt And Catch Fire), it has the makings of a breezy spy drama. Guy gets recruited by the mysterious Helen (Elizabeth McGovern) to work for Talamasca, a secret society that monitors, researches, and observes all things paranormal. (Side note: Talamasca agents sporadically appear in IWTV and play a crucial role in Mayfair Witches.) Helen views Guy’s mind-reading abilities as a potential weapon, while he accepts her offer to find his missing mother. Once he moves to London on a mission, Guy crosses paths with a vengeance-seeking vamp, Jasper (William Fichtner), and questions his loyalties to the organization as everybody hunts for an object—potentially a book—called the 752. Despite engaging performances, the rote narrative doesn’t have much urgency or stakes. Chances are you’ll end every episode by asking, “Who cares about that damn 752…or anything?”
It’s not that every show of a franchise has to have an equal level of impact. The A.V. Club‘s review of this series even notes that the “mid-tier” Talamasca‘s strength is that it’s “quenching the thirst of famished diehards between seasons.” This achievement is limited to guest appearances from IWTV‘s Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) and Raglan James (Justin Kirk). Beyond that, Talamasca doesn’t possess an intriguing structure, characters, or relationships, nor does it properly fill in the blanks of the lore ITWV and MW set up. A similar problem plagued AMC’s ongoing TWD franchise. After the original series’ massive success, the universe welcomed prequels, an anthology, and several spin-offs. But these lackluster programs were as stale as the zombies, despite being set in different locations and trying to connect timelines. Newer offshoots like Daryl Dixon, Dead City, and The Ones Who Live are particularly egregious, spinning boring yarns with some of TWD‘s beloved faces.
Pulling off a stable TV franchise isn’t easy. Not even bigwigs like the Marvel Cinematic Universe or HBO’s Game Of Thrones have accomplished that, as seen with the inconsistency in tones and/or quality of their respective shows. But it’s clear that, as TWD finally looks to wind down, AMC’s placing all its bets on the Immortal Universe. Producer Mark Johnson confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that the plan is to add at least three or four titles to the mix. Perhaps Talamasca‘s season-one finale (it hasn’t been renewed as of this writing), along with The Vampire Lestat in 2026, will help turn the corner for a franchise that, without IWTV, feels a bit lifeless.
