‘Talamasca: The Secret Order’ (2025) Series Review - Finally, a Good Spin-Off to IWTV

AMC has struck gold with Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire, which is unparalleled in quality with anything else on our screens, but news of another spin-off was met with mixed feelings following two awful seasons of the original spin-off, Mayfair Witches. The difference in quality between the two is glaring and makes it seem they are not from the same brilliant mind of Anne Rice. Without a book of its own to follow, Talamasca: The Secret Order is in a unique situation. It’s free of the restraints of a direct adaptation but could have easily been weighed down with the positive reputation of Interview and the abysmal one of Mayfair. However, Talamasca makes its own space with original characters that don’t just fill in gaps from the already mentioned secret order introduced in season 2 of the flagship show, but make sure that it can be watched outside of the other series with enough mixed in to make it a seamless addition to the universe.

There’s some hesitation from fans of Anne Rice, some hoping that the new spin-off will defy expectations, and others worried that it will be another disappointment with Mayfair, which seemed to take bits and pieces of the source material and leave out the majority. Thankfully, Talamasca doesn’t do that completely. 

Talamasca: The Secret Order promised to be a spy-thriller about an organisation that monitors and protects against the supernatural world, but who also take an interest in gifted people to help with this mission. We enter the world with Guy Anatole (Nicholas Denton), a telepath with little use of his abilities who recently graduated from law school, who is trying to get a high-paying job, but a meeting with Helen (Elizabeth McGovern) changes the course of his life. It’s not the money that drives Guy, but the revelation that his mother, Anna Leamas, was a Talamasca agent, so he must work with the organisation to uncover what really happened to her while trying to infiltrate the London Motherhouse without being caught or killed.

There’s a cat-and-mouse element with Helen and Jasper (William Fichtner), who are both after the same thing but working against each other. Although they, interestingly, never share a scene, it's clear that the two have different motivations and levels of influence that make for compelling viewing. Jasper is a vampire with a few hundred years of life, angry with the entire Talamasca and trying to find the 752, a millennium's worth of information that documents all vampires and is described as a “Pandora’s Box” that will determine life for mortals and immortals alike. And that’s what Guy has been hired, off the books, to find. Things shift, for the better, whenever Guy takes charge. He never lets the plot go stale and is constantly moving forward and using his non-supernatural gifts to manoeuvre his way through this new world and all the death and betrayal that surrounds him.  When he takes charge of the game, there’s a much-needed energy and excitement that’s almost chaotic but controlled in its nature from him, and what he could do makes him a great character for the series. The dynamic between Guy/Helen and Guy/Jasper is the more interesting aspect of the show, never making it clear who has the upper hand despite the gifts and abilities each one has. There is manipulation and a charismatic draw from each character played in different ways that the series doesn’t shy from exploring, and it seems as if that will go further should there be a second season.

Since it is a spin-off, there are some nice hints from the flagship series, Interview with the Vampire, which has Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) to warn Guy of the Talamasca and plays a part in setting him up on his journey to uncover the truth about his mother. Then, there’s Raglan James (Justin Kirk), who works with Guy in episode 4 on a blood drug deal that brings a lot of humour even in a scene filled with guns, blood, and violence. Even when shot, Raglan brings causes laughter, but there’s clearly a setup for future seasons (of both shows, perhaps) as Raglan’s actions cause Guy to embrace his telepathic abilities in a scene that draws you into a calm, mesmerising moment that takes all characters in the scene by surprise and hints that Guy is stronger than he believes. To tie in the upcoming season of Interview with the Vampire, fans will hear Long Face played in the background of a scene near the end of the series that jolts excitement through and even gives hints at the timeline for the next season of the parent series.

Talamasca: The Secret Order almost pulls it off without any errors akin to Mayfair Witches, but there are some frustrating moments with Doris (Céline Buckens) that, if you’re a book reader, will infuriate you. Without giving specifics, there are elements of a big and long-awaited character that the series takes bits and pieces of, only to change their mind, but keeping vital plot points. It would be fine if this series were a standalone, but since it is part of an extended universe, taking big moments of some characters will undoubtedly cheapen any future reveals for book characters we’ve yet to be introduced to. It comes across like it's done to draw book fans in more, to get people to search out details they’ve purposefully laid out, only to dismiss it to subvert expectations and to elevate their original characters, but using canon book characters to do it in a choppy way that takes you back to the worries everyone had over Mayfair Witches.

Despite this, the show is fantastic and revels in the hidden details that you’d expect from something in the spy genre. On its own, it works with the mysteries it laid out and never lets you take a break from the heaviness that adds to the pressure of Guy’s mission. There are elements of the plot that you can tell have been done in collaboration with IWTV, but it doesn’t hinder the series; it’s clearly going to bring something extra to it.

So, is Talamasca: The Secret Order worth watching? Absolutely. Even when it loses the pace and slows down, it has enough strength to be a show worthy of the Immortal Universe and could even have some character crossovers in the future, but on its own, it does a good job as a thriller and keeps the intrigue running throughout the seven-episode run. It's not the same quality as IWTV, which is to be expected given the different genre, but it's a good show and made with respect and love for the world that it's based on, while making it enjoyable for seasoned book fans and show-only fans. 

Final Score- [7.5/10]
Reviewed by - Leigh Doyle
Publisher at Midgard Times
Premiere Date: October 26, 2025, on AMC and AMC+ with the first two episodes.
Note: All six episodes of Talamasca: The Secret Order were screened for this review.