“Talamasca: The Secret Order” wrapped its first season on Sunday with several satisfying reveals, the introduction of a nightmarish new villain, and one mother of a cliffhanger for fans of the latest addition to Anne Rice’s Immortal Universe.
TVLine spoke with co-showrunners John Lee Hancock and Mark Lafferty about the finale’s biggest developments, but first, here’s a quick recap of the game-changing reveals:
For starters, “The 752” isn’t a book at all, it’s actually Doris. As a child with incredible powers of perception and retention, she served as a human back-up system for the Talamasca. And that’s not all we learned about Doris. She’s also a vampire… and Helen’s sister!
Speaking of Helen, her investigation into her sister’s disappearance has made her an enemy of the Talamasca, so she turned herself into the authorities as the safer option. A strand of Doris’ hair got on Archie at the crime scene, so DNA evidence currently points to her estranged sister, even if Ridge has her doubts about Helen’s supposed guilt.
The episode ended with Guy and Doris ferrying off to safety, with Doris taking the opportunity to reveal that she might know where Guy’s mother is! Little do they realize they’re being watched by an agent working for Houseman, a capital-B bad guy who’s now secretly forcing Jasper to create more vampires in the bowels of the Talamasca’s Amsterdam Motherhouse.
Read on for TVLine’s full Q&A with Hancock and Lafferty about what this all means for a potential second season of “Talamasca: The Secret Order.” When you’re finished reading, grade the finale and show in our polls below and drop a comment with your full review.
Inside Doris’ Reveal About Guy’s Mom
TVLINE | Let’s start right at the end, with Doris’ reveal about Guy’s mom. Was this a eureka moment, or has Doris known where she is all along?
HANCOCK | It wasn’t necessarily a eureka moment. Guy and his mother have different last names, so she does not immediately put together precisely who Guy is. In Episode 5, Doris asks Guy what his mother’s name is, and that’s the first moment that Doris actually knows. You wouldn’t be mistaken to assume that Doris, somebody who’s been on the run, somebody who has a strong distrust of the Talamasca and has probably been burned several times in the past, even with Guy, there’s probably a reluctance and a suspicion about giving him that kind of information.
LAFFERTY | It’s been less than 24 hours since she learned Guy’s mom’s name, and now that they have just the smallest amount of burgeoning safety, this is the moment she decides to tell him. And as we know from that last moment too, there’s somebody else on the boat watching them, so perhaps there’s more to that story than just them going right to mom.
What Are Houseman’s Plans For Jasper?
TVLINE | Yeah, about that guy watching them… who is he?
LAFFERTY | [Laughs] Well, we don’t know who that agent is yet. But he’s somebody working for Houseman.
TVLINE | Since you mentioned Houseman, what can you tell us about his motivations?
HANCOCK | The way that we’re introduced to him is a mirror. The first scene with him and the last scene with him are two variations on a theme. This man is methodical, he uses leverage over people he wants to extract something out of, he is incredibly transactional, and he knows how to use a quid pro quo.
LAFFERTY | It’s no accident that this is all happening in the bowels of the Amsterdam Mother House. You don’t see a lot of people. Whatever he’s doing with Jasper, this creation of a score of vampires, isn’t necessarily something that is above board.
Guy And Doris’ Next Steps
TVLINE | Guy and Doris were potentially going their separate ways after this ferry ride, but given her revelation at the end of the episode, is it fair to say they’ll go on this new adventure together?
HANCOCK | They might just! There’s a world of opportunity there, and we’re excited for the possibility to be able to tell it. We’ve got lots of ideas. We really hope that we get to continue telling the story. Those two characters, Guy and Doris, and actors, Celine Buckens and Nicholas Denton, are just so wonderful together. It would be any writer’s dream to keep writing for those two and for all of our characters.
Helen In Hot Water
TVLine | Let’s talk about Helen, who ended the finale in police custody. Without the Talamasca to use as a resource now, is she just like anyone else who gets arrested? How is she going to get out of this?
HANCOCK | We’re not sure exactly. Obviously the Talamasca was interested in her at the train station, as are the local authorities. And Ridge, who is investigating a double murder, is kind of after her. They have a scene in the car that lets you know that Ridge is a little bit on her side in terms of the facts. So we’re gonna find her in jail, you know, if we get a second season. That’s the starting point, she’s in jail. How long she stays there, I don’t know.
Detective Ridge, Future Talamasca Agent?
TVLine | I loved that scene between Helen and Ridge in the car, especially when Helen said Ridge has great potential that’s gone overlooked. Any chance Ridge might be a future Talamasca recruit?
HANCOCK | We love the actress and love the character of Ridge. From the very start, I wanted a kind of a terrestrial, grounded approach in terms of the Talamasca. I wanted to think that it actually existed alongside the CIA and MI6 and all these other organizations. She’s so dogged in her investigation, I think it’s just a nice other piece of the puzzle to come together that the supernatural don’t exist on a planet far, far away. They walk among us.
What Did Doris Mean By… That?
TVLINE | One line that’s rattling around in my brain is Doris’ comment about how it’s almost like Guy and Helen are family. It felt deliberate. Am I crazy for reading into that?
HANCOCK | I hope it’s worth thinking about and rattling around in brains. This is a show that’s very much about broken families. Everybody comes from a broken family, even Jasper. It’s very much about families trying to heal, so that’s the broad, nebulous answer.
LAFFERTY | Something that John put from the very start in writing the pilot is this great relationship between Helen and Guy. It’s kind of a magic trick, both how John wrote it and how Elizabeth and Nicholas performed it, but you feel from their first meeting in the Talamasca library, this is almost like a teenage son and his mother. Even though they’re not, there’s just a maternal, matriarchal feeling coming from Helen, and there’s this wounded kid in Guy. Their relationship has developed into this quasi-familial thing, and as John said from the start, spy stories are like family stories. Anne Rice has stories like this too, of people who have lost their families, who are loners, and who are trying to find something. I think he’s found something like a mother figure in Helen, and she’s found something like a son in him.