Raglan James made his enigmatic debut in Interview With the Vampire‘s second season. The Talamasca agent is performed by Justin Kirk, who shared his scenes with fellow Succession alum Eric Bogosian. As beforehand introduced, Bogosian will return as Daniel Molloy within the collection premiere of Talamasca: The Secret Order, premiering October 26. This week, AMC introduced that Kirk will likely be again as Raglan in Episode 4 of the supernatural spy thriller’s first season (get an unique look inside the brand new collection in our 2025 Fall Preview). He’ll even be in Interview With the Vampire Season 3, which is now being known as The Vampire Lestat.
TV Insider requested Interview boss Rolin Jones about Raglan’s introduction in April 2024 forward of the Season 2 premiere. What he shared offers some hints about Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Lestat’s (Sam Reid) roles in diversifications after The Vampire Lestat, assuming the collection continues to get renewed. With Raglan’s return on the horizon, we’re wanting again at this interview with Jones to get a learn on the present’s potential lengthy recreation.
Anne Rice readers know that Raglan is a crucial determine in The Vampire Chronicles. He’s the titular character of the fourth e-book, The Story of the Physique Thief. He’s nonetheless working for the company in Interview‘s second season, however he’s been kicked out of the Talamasca for frequent thievery in e-book 4. Physique Thief finds Lestat fighting loneliness and grieving Claudia. Raglan pops up and provides Lestat a “momentary” repair. He’s a gifted psychic who can swap our bodies and provides to change with Lestat for a day, however he steals it for for much longer than that. Lestat, in Raglan’s physique, units out to seek out the thief. Different vampires gained’t assist him, and neither will Louis when Lestat asks him to show his Raglan type right into a vampire. This can be a storyline that Anderson has expressed specific curiosity in bringing to life within the collection. Reid has additionally stated he’s excited by the concept of tackling Queen of the Damned (e-book three) and Physique Thief. And each have stated they will’t wait to do scenes with Gabrielle, Lestat’s mom, from The Vampire Lestat (Jennifer Ehle will play her in Season 3).
“Clearly, I’ve dropped in some stuff about Physique Thief [in Season 2], and Queen of the Damned has been dribbled in proper from the start of the present,” Jones advised us in 2024. “The onrush that’s coming is already seeded all through that.”
It’s true. Lestat’s “These Who Should Be Stored” point out in Season 1, the Akasha title drop and Daniel’s vampiric transformation in Season 2, and Ella Ballentine’s casting as Child Jenks in Season 3 are all Queen of the Damned bread-crumbing. That “onrush” Jones refers to is Akasha, the unique vampire/titular character of QOTD, whose arrival threatens all vampiric existence.
Jones has been serious about how he’d adapt extra TVC novels for the reason that present’s early days. A part of that thought course of was determining who would conform to play Raglan, a task that wouldn’t grow to be vital for years if/when the present will get renewed for Season 4 and past.
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“I knew these books, and I had a future for them [in mind],” Jones defined. “It’s actually arduous to get an actor of weight to decide to one thing that’s three or 4 years off, so I known as in an expensive good friend of mine. We go method again. And he’s been in one among my performs, so I like him. I believe he’s a extremely stunning, stunning actor.” Kirk and Jones labored collectively on HBO‘s Perry Mason and Showtime‘s Weeds.
“I stated, ‘Hey, we are able to’t pay you sh*t, simply blah, blah, blah, however right here it’s,’” he stated of his pitch to Kirk. “It’s all based mostly on, when you go deep into the books, there’s just one point out. It’s, like, one sentence the place it’s like, ‘Raglan James was once with the Talamasca.’ Should you have been working by it, you’d by no means get it. That, we simply seize on and we go, ‘Oh, I might work on two seasons of how do you begin there and the way do you get to The Physique Thief?’”
What Jones stated subsequent was an indication that Anderson would proceed to be a lead after Season 3. “I wanted an actor that will be capable of compete with Jacob and Sam by the point we do this, in order that’s what I can say about Justin Kirk,” Jones shared.
With that, Jones subtly hinted that Louis remains to be a lead in his thoughts shifting ahead together with Lestat. This will likely appear apparent, provided that AMC’s adaptation has put Louis and Lestat’s romance squarely on the heart for the reason that very first episode. However there have been fan considerations about Anderson’s function in Season 3 and past as a result of Lestat turns into TVC‘s major character after the primary novel. The forged and creators have repeatedly said that Louis isn’t disappearing or any much less necessary.
The Season 3 renewal announcement listed Louis, Armand (Assad Zaman), and Raglan, amongst others, as returning characters alongside Lestat, in order that they have been by no means not coming again. However the present confirmed Zaman’s return at San Diego Comedian-Con 2025 for good measure, they usually shocked followers with the information that Delainey Hayles can be coming again as nicely (her character, Claudia, died in Season 2). Jones advised us in our Season 2 finale interview that he’s “not placing Jacob Anderson in a nook” after the finale concluded the primary e-book’s plot.
“The subsequent flip, heart stage is Lestat, however I don’t assume we’re going to be pushing Louis to the aspect like he’s in these books,” Jones stated, including, “I don’t assume Louis, as we go away him, goes to be this man who’s struggling as a lot. Really, I believe he’s possibly starting his official vampire expertise there on the finish.” Government producer Mark Johnson stated that Louis’ closing line of the season, “I personal the evening,” was “not an exit line.” Anderson assured us in a Season 2 look-back and in SDCC 2025 interviews that Louis’s not going anyplace. They’ve been holding the brand new Louis plot a secret as a result of, nicely, why would they spoil their very own story, particularly when their model of him has been so thrilling and new for the reason that starting? (Watch our SDCC interview to see their entertaining makes an attempt to keep away from spoilers in response to our apparently spot-on Season 3 questions.)
Lestat and his backstory are within the highlight in Season 3. The collection altering the present’s title to The Vampire Lestat prompted some extra considerations for Anderson’s function shifting ahead, understandably so. However even again in 2024, earlier than Season 2 had even launched one episode, Jones was describing Anderson and Reid because the present’s now and future leads and was wanting ahead to them dealing with off with Kirk in a possible Physique Thief adaptation. Now, the query is, how a lot will Raglan’s Talamasca episode influence The Vampire Lestat?
Talamasca: The Secret Order, Sequence Premiere, Sunday, October 26, 9/8c, AMC
The Vampire Lestat, Season 3 Premiere, 2026, AMC