TALAMASCA’s Revenant Zombie Vampires Are Anne Rice Canon

In the midsection of Interview with the Vampire, the vampires Louis and Claudia (seemingly) murder Lestat and flee New Orleans. They first go to Eastern Europe, the birthplace of vampire lore, hoping to find others of their kind. They soon discover shambling, bloodthirsty corpses, which have the local villagers in fear. These are mindless beings, also far more akin to modern zombies than the rest of Rice’s vampires. They have no real language and act on their instinct for blood alone. They even attack Louis and Claudia as if they were human. This makes the pair despair that they are unique in the world. The 1994 film adaptation removes this section entirely, but it appears in the second season of the AMC series. Louis and Claudia encounter these mindless zombie-like vampires that can’t really communicate or have awareness other than to feed in Interview with the Vampire, season two, episode one.

The Revenant Vampires in Interview with the Vampire Season 2

When the pair arrives in Paris, they finally find a tribe of vampires who are like them in appearance and powers. These immortals live and operate in the Thétre des Vampires, led by the 400-year-old Armand. It is Armand who explains these zombie vampires as “revenants.” He says their blood is “different, vile.” He explains further, saying, “They increase their numbers as we do, but without skill or care.” Not fully drained of human blood, and without enough vampire blood in them after burial, they return as brand-new damaged beasts. The term revenant is simply another Eastern European term for vampire.

Anne Rice never really revisits these revenants again in the series. It seems she used that section of  Interview with the Vampire to explain away the old folklore, but had no need or desire to write about them ever again. It stands to reason that in her universe, by the mid-20th century, the more classical vampires simply eliminated the revenants, as they were a liability to the undead’s anonymity in the world. But AMC’s Talamasca: The Secret Order has found a use for them, it seems.

How Is Jasper Making These Zombie Revenant Vampires in Talamasca?

So just how is Jasper making his “own breed” of zombie revenant vampires? That’s an excellent question. The process of making a zombie revenant vampire seems to involve a vampire biting a human, then giving them blood to drink—but not fresh blood as we’ve seen in other vampire turnings, blood that appears to have been sitting for a minute. Additionally, it does not appear the human is drained of all their own blood, as is the practice of making a vampire in Interview with the Vampire‘s world. We also don’t know whose blood these revenant zombies are drinking before they turn, but we bet it’s the “different, vile” blood Armand spoke of in Interview with the Vampire season two, and the human blood to vampire blood ratio that occurs because the victim not drained. After that, the turned human is buried, and, well, a revenant zombie vampire emerges.

More About the Talamasca and Its Zombie Vampires

As mentioned, in the Talamasca series, the vampire Jasper makes several revenant vampires on purpose, which he keeps imprisoned in the Talamasca dungeons. The idea here is that he can turn these constantly hungry, mindless beings on his enemies like attack dogs. These are far more like the creatures in AMC’s The Walking Dead than almost anything in 95% of Rice’s books, but they are canon to her lore. Even if it’s a canon she herself tossed away fairly quickly. While we don’t expect them to turn up in The Vampire Lestat, we have a feeling we’re not done with these vampire revenants on Talamasca: The Secret Order.

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