TALAMASCA’s Revenant Zombie Vampires Are Anne Rice Canon

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The latest episode of AMC’s Talamasca: The Secret Order introduces vampires controlled by the enigmatic Jasper (William Fichtner). However, these vampires are unlike those typically seen in Anne Rice’s stories. They’re much more animalistic and appear unable to speak, resembling zombies—particularly those from films like 28 Days Later. Surprisingly, these zombie-like vampires are actually part of the established lore of Rice’s vampire universe, with roots stretching back to its origins. They are described as a unique type of ancient vampire.

The Zombie Revenant Vampires in AMC’s Talamasca Series

Okay, so Jasper, the vampire, is definitely the villain here. He’s after a really important book of knowledge – the Talamasca’s codex, known as the 752 – and he’s actively getting stronger to pull it off. But the really creepy part? He’s been working on a… side project. He’s breeding zombie-vampires! Apparently, they’re a twist on an older type of undead, but Jasper boasts these Talamasca-created versions are just as dangerous, only they’re completely obedient and under his control. And he’s got a whole group of them! He even introduces us to one he calls Checkers. Honestly, the guy has a disturbingly playful side – a really dark sense of humor, considering everything.

We first see this vampire, who can return from the dead, in action during season one, episode four of Talamasca. He follows orders without question, entering a dangerous situation to kill other vampires who are threatening Guy, and then returning as instructed.

Talamasca‘s Revenant Vampires Actually Come From Anne Rice’s Book Canon

Anne Rice’s vampires are often seen as beautiful, alluring, and almost genderless, living endlessly sensual lives, and that’s largely accurate. However, when Rice began writing Interview with the Vampire in 1973, she drew more inspiration from films like Dracula’s Daughter and the romantic, brooding vampire figure popular in 19th-century literature. Surprisingly, she found that this type of vampire wasn’t part of ancient folklore. Traditional Eastern European vampires were actually more like the terrifying ghouls in Night of the Living Dead – closer to the restless spirits described in her Talamasca series. Her novel was an attempt to blend these two very different ideas of what a vampire could be.

Around the middle of Interview with the Vampire, Louis and Claudia seemingly kill Lestat and escape New Orleans. They travel to Eastern Europe, the origin of vampire legends, hoping to find other vampires like themselves. Instead, they discover terrifying, decaying corpses that have the local villagers living in fear. These creatures are essentially mindless and act purely on instinct, resembling modern zombies more than the sophisticated vampires Rice usually portrays. They can’t communicate and only crave blood, even attacking Louis and Claudia as if they were human. This leads the pair to believe they might be the only ones of their kind. While the 1994 film omits this part of the story, it’s featured in the second season of the AMC series. In season two, episode one, Louis and Claudia encounter these primitive, zombie-like vampires who lack language and awareness, driven only by the need to feed.

The Revenant Vampires in Interview with the Vampire Season 2

Upon reaching Paris, the couple discovers a community of vampires who share their unique look and abilities. This group resides and functions within the Théâtre des Vampires, under the leadership of the 400-year-old Armand. Armand identifies these vampires as “revenants,” explaining that their blood is impure and inferior. He notes they reproduce like traditional vampires, but without the same finesse or control. These revenants are created when individuals aren’t fully drained of human blood before death and receive insufficient vampire blood after burial, resulting in their return as flawed, monstrous beings. Essentially, “revenant” is just another name for vampire, originating from Eastern European folklore.

Anne Rice doesn’t bring those older, less powerful vampires—the ‘revenants’—back into her stories after introducing them in Interview with the Vampire. She appears to have used them to address vampire history and then moved on. It’s logical to assume that, within her fictional world, the more traditional vampires eventually wiped out the revenants because they posed a risk to the vampires’ secrecy. However, the new AMC series, Talamasca: The Secret Order, seems to be giving them a role to play.

How Is Jasper Making These Zombie Revenant Vampires in Talamasca?

How exactly is Jasper creating his unique type of zombie-vampire? It’s a great question. The process seems to involve a vampire biting a human and giving them blood to drink, but it’s not fresh blood – it looks like it’s been sitting for a short time. Unlike traditional vampire transformations, the human isn’t fully drained of their blood. We don’t know where this blood comes from, but it’s likely the unusual, tainted blood Armand mentioned in season two of Interview with the Vampire. The incomplete draining also seems to affect the blood ratio during the turning process. After being bitten and given blood, the human is buried, and then… a zombie-vampire emerges.

More About the Talamasca and Its Zombie Vampires

As a longtime fan, I’ve always found the revenant vampires Jasper creates in the Talamasca books fascinating, even if Anne Rice seemed to move away from them later. He deliberately turns people into these essentially mindless, constantly-hungry creatures and keeps them locked up, intending to unleash them on his enemies – honestly, they’re much closer to the zombies in The Walking Dead than most of the vampires we see in Anne Rice’s other work! While I don’t anticipate them showing up in The Vampire Lestat, I have a strong feeling these revenants will play a role again in the Talamasca: The Secret Order series. I’m really hoping to see them explored further!

Anne Rice’s Talamasca: The Secret Order airs Sundays at 9 pm ET/PT on AMC and AMC+.

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2025-11-10 06:05