Popverse's top stories

• Discover (or Rediscover!) the origins of the Critical Role's Mighty Nein before Amazon's Prime Video TV series in a new boxed set coming this fall
• MEMBERS ONLY: Popverse Picks: The best Stephen King movie & TV (and more) adaptations, from one King fan to another
• Netflix's next big hit anime The Summer Hikaru Died goes hard into cosmic horror

In 2022, Sam Reid had a big task ahead. That's not just because the actor had been cast as Lestat de Lioncourt in AMC's then-new Interview with the Vampire series, a role Tom Cruise had put his indelible mark on in the 1994 film of the same name, but because the series itself would be a part of the interconnected Anne Rice Immortal Universe. As one of the most recognizable characters in that universe, Lestat would certainly be judged by discerning fans, and if the series did well, would perhaps be the first character to get a spinoff.

Three years later, however, there's no spinoff in sight for Reid or his famous bloodsucker, and according to the show's executive producer, there isn't going to be one.

That EP is Mark Johnson, who recently spoke to Deadline about where AMC was with the Anne Rice Immortal Universe as a whole. During the course of the discussion, Johnson was asked if Reid's character would be spinning off anytime soon, in a manner similar to AMC's other horror-themed connected TV universe, The Walking Dead.

"I haven’t thought about characters that are broken out," Johnson told his interviewer, "This is not a criticism of Walking Dead, but in a strange way, if a character is available to put into another world or his or her own show, then that means you haven’t successfully integrated them into their own franchise. The vampires Lestat and Louie are unique to Interview with a Vampire, and I don’t know how you would break them out of that world and that history."

Asked about the fact that Anne Rice herself gave the character Lestat his own spinoff in the novel The Vampire Lestat, Johnson points out that the direction of that the goal of AMC's Immortal Universe is more about drawing from the author's novels than following them beat-by-beat. A great example, he says, is upcoming series The Talamasca: The Secret Order, which is not taken from any one of Anne Rice's novels, but rather follows a secret society that appears in several of them. With options like that one, the Anne Rice Immortal Universe could conceivably cover a legion of original TV shows (even if a Lestat series is not one of them), but Johnson says there's a limit.

"I think we could do four or five," says the producer, "At some point, it becomes a little ridiculous, but I have a very small but incredibly gifted team, and we can keep tabs, certainly on the three we have now. I know that we could add a fourth and maybe go a little crazy with a fifth."

Interview with the Vampire and Mayfair Witches are streaming now on Netflix and AMC+. The Talamasca: The Secret Order will arrive on AMC in October of this year.

Immerse yourself in the night with Popverse's Anne Rice reading guide.