Anne’ Rice’s The Talamasca Casts Major Hero Character (That Could Confirm Fan Suspicions)

Anne Rice’s The Talamasca has just cast Downton Abbey alum Elizabeth McGovern in a major role — and it may have just confirmed fan suspicions about another recent cast announcement. On Wednesday, AMC announced that McGovern has joined The Talamasca, the third series in the network’s Anne Rice Immortal Universe as Helen, the head of the secretive organization’s New York Motherhouse. According to the casting announcement, Helen has “long suspected that London’s Motherhouse has fallen under the influence of traitorous elements, and a mysterious death prompts her to recruit Guy Anatole (Nicholas Denton) who will become her protege.”

It’s the bit about Helen being suspicious of “the influence of traitorous elements” at the London Motherhouse that is the clue that may just confirm fan suspicions about the recent casting of William Fichtner as Jasper. When Fichtner was cast, his character was described as being “a mysterious American who has quietly assumed control and influence over the Talamasca’s London Motherhouse” with “his charm and righteous sense of purpose are as dangerous as the power he’s pursuing.” That description led many fans to speculate that Fichtner’s Jasper may be The Talamasca’s villain — or at least primary antagonist. Now that McGovern has been cast as Helen and with that character being suspicious of what’s going on in London, it seems that Helen may be the hero or protagonist in this story — and that Denton’s Guy could be a character very much caught in the middle.

Currently, we know very little about the overall plot of The Talamasca. The series, which is the first in AMC’s Immortal Universe to not be directly based one of Rice’s novels, has been described by the network as focusing “on the men and women responsible for tracking and containing the witches, vampires, and other creatures scattered around the globe.” Fans of the two existing Immortal Universe series — Interview With the Vampire and Mayfair Witches — have already been given a little taste of the secret organization with Mayfair Witches‘ Ciprien Grieve, the Talamasca agent tasked with keeping tabs on Rowan Fielding and with Raglan James, an agent of the Talamasca introduced in the second season of Interview With the Vampire.

“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,” Dan McDermott, president of entertainment and AMC Studios for AMC Networks said previously. “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.”

Anne Rice’s The Talamasca is tentatively expected to premiere in 2025 on AMC. Season 2 of Anne Rice’s Mayfair Witches is set to return in early 2025. A third season of Anne Rice’s Interview With the Vampire is currently in the works.