The Vampire Lestat: 5 Questions I Have About Real Rashid

We spent the majority of the first season of Interview with the Vampire thinking that Assad Zaman was Rashid before the big revelation came that “Rashid” was really Armand and Real Rashid was portrayed by Bally Gill. We also learned that Real Rashid was a Talamasca agent and now in The Vampire Lestat we see that he’s back in action on behalf of the secretive organization, and once again he’s working with Raglan James (Justin Kirk). The more I think about Rashid, the more questions I have about him. Here are my top 5 questions about Real Rashid.

Who is Rashid really?

The truth is that we don’t know anything about Real Rashid, and we may never find out. While Raglan James is outspoken and eager to engage with everyone, Rashid keeps to himself. It’s hard to figure out who he really is.

In The Vampire Lestat’s “Toledo” episode, Daniel (Eric Bogosian) called Rashid one of his producers on the documentary. In Interview with the Vampire, he was Armand and Louis’ (Jacob Anderson) butler. In both cases, he’s also a Talamasca agent. He’s the one who watched over Daniel in Dubai and he slipped Daniel the script from the ill-fated Theatre des Vampires production that led to Claudia’s demise. Clearly, if he’s working on behalf of the Talamasca, they must trust him a great deal.

Does Rashid have supernatural abilities?

As we learned in Talamasca: The Secret Order and Mayfair Witches, many Talamasca members have some kind of supernatural ability. Does that mean Rashid has supernatural abilities?

It would make sense that Rashid can conceal his thoughts. Somehow he manages to get into the middle of the vampires’ den, so to speak, and no one seems to notice. He caught Daniel off guard at Lestat’s concert, and, later, he approached Louis’ table without Louis realizing he was there. If nothing else, Rashid seems to be very good at being a chameleon and hiding in plain sight.

Why is Rashid working with Raglan James?

Raglan James is known to be a man who works for himself above all. While James was purportedly in Toledo on Talamasca business, we can’t really take his word at face value. We still don’t know why he was at the auction in the season premiere. If you’ve read Anne Rice’s Tale of the Body Thief, you know that Raglan James is the rogue Talamasca agent who switches bodies with Lestat, forcing newly mortal Lestat-in-Raglan-James’-body to work with his friend, Talamasca elder David Talbot, to get his body back.

So if Rashid and Raglan James are still appearing together, as evidenced by their meeting with Louis, does that mean that Rashid isn’t in good standing with the Talamasca either? Is Raglan James tricking or coercing Rashid to work with him?

That leads me to my next question…

Is Rashid a double agent?

We may never get the full story about how Rashid came to be working for Armand and Louis in Dubai, but we have to wonder whether Rashid is playing both sides. Maybe he’s a full-blown Talamasca double agent who has been assigned to keep an eye on Raglan James by appearing to go along with whatever he’s up to so that this information can be reported back to the Motherhouse.

Or perhaps Rashid, like Raglan James (and apparently several members of the Talamasca), is working for his own benefit while doing the Talamasca’s bidding. The truth is that Raglan James could be doing all the heavy lifting when it comes to ferreting out the vampires’ secrets, and Rashid is there to absorb it all while keeping the Talamasca in the loop.

Why didn’t Louis and Armand know Rashid was working for the Talamasca?

The biggest question I have about Rashid is one that is tied to all of my other questions: How was Rashid able to hide his identity from Armand and Louis in Dubai? Did they really not know that there was a Talamasca agent working in their home?

Knowing that Rashid was working with/for the Talamasca in Dubai, it’s even funnier to think of how it came to be that Armand started playing the role of Rashid when Daniel arrived. Did Armand use his mind control powers on Rashid, not realizing that perhaps Rashid is immune to them?

It seems like Rashid has a unique ability to move in the vampires’ world without being noticed. Either the vampires are too busy with their own psychodramas and traumas to notice he’s there, or he’s able to use his own powers to remain hidden.

I really hope we get a chance to learn more about Rashid at some point. I wish AMC had given more time and space to Talamasca: The Secret Order before cancelling it. The spinoff series would have been the perfect place to explore Rashid’s history in the organization. For now we’ll just have to settle with speculating about his history and his motives and how it all fits into the bigger picture.

The Vampire Lestat airs Sundays at 9pm ET/PT on AMC and streams the same day on AMC+.