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AMC’s daring adaptation of Interview with the Vampire has been bringing thrilling new dimension to Anne Rice’s 1976 novel, with plenty of its own dramatic changes. But astute fans watching Season 2 have been picking up on how showrunner Rolin Jones’ version has been weaving in bits from other books in the late gothic horror author’s 13-book Vampire Chronicles series, including revelations made in the first novel’s sequel, The Vampire Lestat, and the sixth book, The Vampire Armand. With episode 10 (the third of Season 2), Jones and his team have teased a jolting new possibility that could bring into the fold one of the series’ strangest adventures: The Tale of the Body Thief (book four in the series).
This allusion begins when “No Pain” opens with ornery interviewer Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) on a lunch break at a sushi restaurant, where the fish is so fresh it’s served still gasping for air. (“I’m partial to the non-wriggling items. I should have said that,” Daniel quips, urging the chef to silently chop off the head of the entrée.) That’s when a curious new character butts into the conversation.
Sitting a few seats away at the sushi bar, a smirking, bespectacled white man (Justin Kirk) in a business suit declares, “The perils of omakase. We cede power to the chef. Submit to his whims, to his eye the fish market. A series of risks.” But this is no small talker. This is a new wrinkle for Daniel. And his name is Raglan James.
Who is Raglan James?
Credit: Larry Horricks / AMC
Within the TV show Interview with the Vampire: Part II — as the second season’s opening title card calls it — Raglan James is a mysterious secret agent who knows much more about vampires — and Louis (Jacob Anderson) and Armand (Assad Zaman) specifically — than even Daniel does. In “No Pain,” he makes clear to Molloy not only that he knows exactly who the journalist/author is, but also why he is really in Dubai.
This well-informed stranger is with some intelligence agency, though not Mossad. “I wish. I’d be better funded,” Raglan snarked. “No. I work for another watchful shop, the name of which has not come up in your conversations with them… The name is Raglan James.”
This name should make the ears of Anne Rice readers perk up, as Raglan was a crucial character in The Tale of the Body Thief. More specifically, Raglan James is the name of a con man with psychic powers that allow him to swap bodies with others. Specifically, he wishes to switch bodies with the vampire Lestat.
What happens in The Tale of the Body Thief?
Published in 1992, this book is set after Lestat responded to Louis’ book by becoming an iconoclastic rock star (The Vampire Lestat) and then faced off against the world’s most powerful vampire (The Queen of the Damned). Though he’s lived to tell the tale, Lestat begins The Tale of the Body Thief scorched with ennui.
Enter Raglan James, who propositions Lestat with the possibility of being human again. If they trade bodies — just for one day! — perhaps the world-weary vampire can reconnect to human wonder. Lestat agrees. But shocker: James has no intention of surrendering this preternatural vampire body back to its owner.
Much of this Rice novel follows Lestat, feeble and human, desperately tracking down the vampire Raglan to recover his body. And to do so, he asks the help of a friend in the Talamasca.
What is the Talamasca?
Credit: Larry Horricks / AMC
In the books, the Order of the Talamasca is a secret society that monitors supernatural creatures, including vampires, witches, and werewolves. In The Body Thief, Raglan claims to have been an alum. Plus, Lestat grows closer and closer with the current head of the group, David Talbot, in his quest to get his body back. But what does any of that have to do with Interview with the Vampire?
Well, aside from the Raglan connection, episode three of Interview with the Vampire introduces a secret society that has been tracking vampires (currently 1,600 of them), presumably for some time. When Daniel gets back to his laptop in Louis and Armand’s home, he gets a message from “RJ,” which directs him to a new folder on his computer: Bibliotheca Talamasca.
When Daniel opens it, a flood of files pour forth, alarming him and causing him to hit the escape key — drawing Louis’ attention. Well, at least Louis notices Daniel is uncharacteristically distracted. What lies in this folder will surely impact the interviews as Daniel moves forward. But what is Raglan James up to?
How will The Body Thief, Raglan James, and the Talamasca factor into Interview with the Vampire?
Credit: Larry Horricks / AMC
To Jones’ credit (also an RJ!), AMC’s Interview with the Vampire series has taken major liberties with the source material, meaning even Anne Rice devotees can’t be certain what will happen next. With Season 1, the show dramatically changed its titular vampire, transforming Louis from a brooding 1790s white slave owner to a slick 1910 Black Creole brothel owner. The series also aged up child vampire Claudia from 5 to 14, making production more possible and allowing for more mature storylines. With these shifts in time and character, many other new pieces have fallen into place, including the shocking reveal at the end of Season 1 that the loyal human attendant Rashid was actually the vampire Armand in disguise!
Raglan’s introduction could mean a successive season might tackle The Tale of the Body Thief head on — with this smirking secret agent drawing the ire of the undead as he swindles the Brat Prince. Or it could mean Raglan James is not what he seems. With episode 10, Interview with the Vampire has already woven in plot points from Lestat and Armand’s other books. So why not the core of The Body Thief?
Could it be that James is actually Lestat in a borrowed human form? Could Lestat have infiltrated the Talamasca, promising his assistance but working toward his own ends? Perhaps this unassuming human form can slink about Louis and Armand undetected? Might it mean he’s plotting some big vengeance … or something even more sinister?
On one hand, fans might snarl at the idea of anyone but Sam Reid playing Lestat, as the Australian actor is deliciously feral in the role. But on the other, Reid’s Lestat Classic is already popping up throughout the flashbacks. Not in the flesh, but as a bittersweet hallucination for Louis, taunting and tantalizing him in equal measure with desire and regret. So, the more the merrier?
And who better than Justin Kirk to play a vampire in the body of a con man? The celebrated actor has awed audiences since 2004, when he earned an Emmy nomination for playing outrageous prophet Prior Walter in the HBO adaptation of Angels in America. Next, he thrilled us as the bad boy brother-in-law of Mary Louise Parker’s quirky dealer on Weeds. And most recently, he brought his unique brand of sophisticated surliness to Succession as extremist presidential candidate Jeryd Mencken.
Kirk is a character actor who relishes playing a complicated rogue. So, his Raglan James being Lestat in a very good disguise makes a certain dark sense. In the episode, Daniel makes the comment, “I really got to meet this guy” as Armand recounts his first encounter with Lestat. Could it be he already has? Will this be the game Rolin Jones is playing with in Season 2? We’ll have to stay tuned to find out.
How to watch: Interview with the Vampire: Part II airs Sundays on AMC and AMC+.
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