It’s official: AMC has ordered a third show in its so-called Anne Rice Immortal Universe.
More than a year after AMC announced it was developing The Talamasca, the basic cable network has handed out a series order for the drama from co-showrunners Mark Lafferty and John Lee Hancock. AMC has slated the six-episode show for a 2025 premiere, with production starting in the fall in Manchester, England.
“This is a story we’ve been developing and wanting to tell from the earliest moments of this franchise, focused on a fascinating and compelling secret society that has already appeared in both of our existing Anne Rice series, The Talamasca,” said Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks. “As with all of these shows, we are thrilled to have such a high level of talent involved, represented here by John Lee Hancock and Mark Lafferty, and of course working closely with producer Mark Johnson as the creative head of our Anne Rice Immortal Universe.”
The Talamasca revolves around the men and women responsible for tracking and containing the witches, vampires, werewolves and other creatures scattered around the globe. Members of the secret society have already been introduced in AMC’s Interview With the Vampire and Mayfair Witches, which are the first two shows in the cabler’s Anne Rice franchise. Interview is currently in the midst of airing its second season, while production on Mayfair’s sophomore run is in production in Dublin.
“This all started for me with a call from Mark Johnson, who asked if I’d ever heard of The Talamasca. I was intrigued by the idea of an organization that, to me, had more than a passing resemblance to the CIA or MI6, which are necessary but not always necessarily transparent. An organization with its own secrets. Thankfully, Dan McDermott liked the take and so did Mark Lafferty, who is so talented and accomplished in the world of television,” Hancock said. “Many thanks to everyone from Gran Via to Mark Lafferty, to our talented writers and everyone at AMC, who have been supporters, advocates and cheerleaders from day one. I couldn’t be more thrilled to be involved and look forward to presenting a third series in the Anne Rice Immortal Universe.”
Lafferty was not attached to the project when AMC put The Talamasca in development a year ago as only Hancock was slated to serve as showrunner at the time.
“When John told me about a clandestine organization in the Immortal Universe with its own hidden agendas, I was immediately hooked,” Lafferty said. “I’ve admired his writing and directing for so long, and to be working with him is a true honor and thrill. Many thanks to Dan McDermott and all the incredibly talented people at AMC for their tireless support and talent, and to Mark Johnson — there is no better producer to learn from and work beside than him.”
For his part, Johnson was selected to captain the Anne Rice Immortal Universe for AMC after collaborating with the cabler on such series as Lucky Hank, Breaking Bad, Better Call Saul, Halt and Catch Fire and Rectify, among others. He previously worked with Lafferty when the duo were on Halt and Catch Fire together. Lafferty’s credits also include The Right Stuff, Tales From the Loop, Castle Rock, White Collar and Manhattan.
“With the second season of Interview with the Vampire currently receiving the best reviews of any show on television and with the production of Mayfair Witches about to wrap in Ireland, promising an even more compelling and unnerving second season, the question is what do we now add to the Immortal Universe of Anne Rice? The answer is a completely different show from the first two, but a show that nevertheless belongs under the Anne Rice umbrella. The Talamasca marries the procedural spy thriller with the supernatural and expands the thrills and the pleasures of our franchise’s ambitions,” Johnson said.
The Talamasca joins an AMC scripted roster that also includes The Walking Dead franchise’s Daryl Dixon, Dead City and The Ones Who Live, the latter of which was billed as a limited series but could still be renewed should AMC opt to move forward. Other shows at the network include the third season of anthology The Terror and the new take on Orphan Black, called Echoes, among others.
