We’re reentering the Anne Rice Immortal Universe with the cast and creators of The Vampire Lestat (Interview with the Vampire Season 3)! Sam Reid, Jacob Anderson, Eric Bogosian, Hannah Moscovitch, and Mark Johnson discuss Lestat’s rock star origins, Louis’ new journey, and Daniel Molloy’s return as a vampire fledgling to Armand.
Interview with The Vampire Lestat Cast & Creators
Filled with emotional drama and long-held secrets, the cast and creatives behind The Vampire Lestat held a press conference at New York Comic Con to discuss the shifting character arcs, themes of healing from trauma, and teased at what to expect for season three of AMC Networks Interview with the Vampire.
Writer and Executive Producer Hannah Moscovitch sheds light on the overarching themes and narrative storytelling shifting away from Louis, the unreliable narrator – to Lestat, the vampire who remembers everything but has never dealt with 265+ years of past trauma.
Hannah Moscovitch: “In season one and two, we had Dubai and we had a vampire who wanted to be interviewed and who wanted to understand which parts of the past he had forgotten. And we had a character who was an unreliable narrator and who didn’t remember anything or some things. This season we have none of that.”
“…And then Lestat remembers everything. But then there’s a question about what that memory does to him and how much it f*cks him up. Because if you’ve lived this life for 265 years and you’ve gone relentlessly forward, but there’s been all this horror in your life and you’ve never examined it at all, and then suddenly you start to sing songs about yourself, all sorts of f*cked up things are gonna happen. And that’s what this season is about.”
Channeling this same sort of energy of self-exploration while trying to tame the chaos within, Sam Reid agrees that Lestat doesn’t quite know who he is when asked about the Vampire’s true nature.
Sam Reid: “I think if we had an answer, we wouldn’t have a show…Does he know who and what he is? I think that’s the journey, to try and work that out.”
Hannah Moscovitch: “That’s the whole season” (both laugh).
Daniel Molloy’s identity is also in question this season, after living his life to the point of being an older man full of regrets and suffering from sickness, he is suddenly turned into a vampire by Armand during the final moments of IWTV Season 2.
Is there a difference in being turned later in life, carrying more trauma from human experiences as opposed to when he asked Louis for the dark gift in his youth, while high on drugs in San Francisco?
Eric Bogosian: “The thing to remember is that, yes, you’re right. If you turn later in life, you’re going to carry more of what you were into this other thing, which is not human. You’re a vampire. You’re something else. It’s another dimension.”
Bogosian continues, “But he is laden with all of this. And unfortunately, like what Sam just said, the story of this season, a big part of it is Daniel, well, a big part for me anyway, is Daniel wrestling with the endless contradictions of being suddenly immortal.”
“I put in one little extra thing for me to just play the character. For a man who spent his life being an investigative journalist and thinks very logically, the world of vampires is not logical. These guys don’t do logical things. So that really bends his mind and it creates a lot of stress in this third season. It’s hard for him, his heart. And fun.”
When asked if there will be any onscreen romance reminiscent of The Devil’s Minion chapter, (from Queen of the Damned, book three in The Vampire Chronicles novels) for Daniel this season, Bogosian responded with “I feel that Armand’s love for Daniel is like when a kid has a stuffed animal and he drags it around with him for like years until it just has one button for one eye and he really loves that little stuffed animal. So, as romantic as that could be.”
While Daniel definitely has no onscreen loving, Sam Reid was questioned about whether his character Lestat’s motives for doing the interview with Daniel were driven by ego and the desire to control the narrative, or simply out of his love for Louis.
Reid responded by mentioning that in general, everything Lestat does contains a facet of his love for Louis. “And also as a character, his ego is a thing that he’s constantly grappling with.”
Sam Reid on the Vampire Lestat: “I think if we had an answer, we wouldn’t have a show…Does he know who and what he is? I think that’s the journey, to try and work that out.”
Reid Remarked that the way Lestat as a character was crafted by showrunner Rolin Jones and written by Hannah Moscovitch essentially leaves room for the dichotomy of ego and vanity Lestat exhibits on tour as a rockstar, while allowing the modern audience to observe the absurd juxtaposition of it all that a vampire is on tour in an era where strange things are indeed happening worldwide, daily.
Sam Reid: “What do you get when you put a vampire who takes himself very, very seriously in a position that is not really taken very seriously in the year 2025 when we’re dealing with everything shocking at any given moment?”
Reid continues “Like aliens are real? Cool. What else is going on? You know, we’re watching the most devastating things on the news on a daily basis. What value is, you know, a supernatural being who kind of dances around in leather pants? So, I think his ego is like super present. Reclaiming the narrative for his ego? I don’t know, maybe. Sorry. (laughs)”
Have you ever wondered how The Vampire Lestat cast spends their downtime while they are not filming the show in Toronto?
The Vampire Lestat cast flew into the press conference after shooting all night, and are really giving it their all to make this season wonderful for fans. Armand’s actor Assad Zaman flew into NYCC an hour prior to the Anne Rice Immortal Universe panel on the Main Stage, and despite trying to hide it, you could totally still see his vampire nails (while Eric Bogosian admitted he cut his off before attending the convention).
Hannah Moscovitch mentioned her delight at being from Toronto and having the opportunity to pull so much Canadian talent for the new season. While Sam Reid remarked that “Toronto is a beautiful city” he’s seen from a car window, Jacob Anderson shared his enjoyment over visiting theaters in his down time. And since I started out primarily as an anime blog, I feel some sort of moral obligation to mention that yes, Jacob Anderson is an anime fan.
When The Vampire Lestat cast was asked if any of them watched anime or read manga, Anderson responded (through collective, playful laughter) with some of his current favorite titles “I really enjoy Chainsaw Man, I thought it was very fun. One Punch Man, a lot. I just started Mob Psycho (100), it’s fun. And I’ve also just started Neon Genesis Evangelion, like from the beginning. I’ve been watching that to help go to sleep. (laughter) It’s very dark, but feel like there’s something about it that’s very meditative and…the horror! (bursts into laughter)”
In order to get into the rockstar era Lestat embodies in the new season, Sam Reid shared that he watched David Bowie’s Cracked Actor from his 1975 television documentary film for the BBC’s Omnibus strand.
“One thing I always have done and continue to do is, I found all of these incredible bootleg videos of David Bowie’s Cracked Actor tour that he did that somebody has compiled into like a singular video. I think it’s so wild that you just find this long-lost concert. And so, that really inspired me.” Reid continued that in addition to the dance moves, “that sense of showmanship, and then magic and mystery” is something the actor continually returns to.
As for Jacob Anderson’s creative process for Louis de Pointe du Lac this season? Well, not much can be said without giving his entire plot away. Anderson shared “I’m not being evasive, I promise, it’s just very difficult to talk about Louis’ journey in season three because so much of it is the invention of Rolin, and Hannah, and the writers.”
Moscovitch agreed, sharing what she and Anderson were talking about in reference to his character Louis’ storyline in the new season “We were trying to think of what we could say about Louis’ journey this season.”
Moscovitch continued by giving an analogy of Louis putting Claudia’s dress up on the wall of his Dubai penthouse (alongside Paul’s portrait) as a step toward healing, but not the magical solution to all of his problems.
“Let’s say your daughter dies and you put a yellow dress up on the wall to honor her. That’s not actually going to fix it, right? Like, how long will that really work?”
Finishing that despite Louis’ ending claim that he “owns the night”, how long can he really do so when (presumed) undealt with emotions like grief and rage could wash over him in waves?
Hannah Moscovitch: “That’s going to come in waves. Like, that’s gonna come in and out. So, I think that in some ways is what we did with Louis this season, we were like, that’s great that he has that yellow dress up there. But his daughter’s dead. And his relationship with (Armand for) 77 years ended. He has to figure out a whole pile of sh*t now.”
Sam Reid: “And just remember another thing that you said is that Dubai was actually only 11 days, right?”
Hannah Moscovitch: “Yeah.”
Jacob Anderson: “Yeah.”
(laughter)
Sam Reid: “It’s just an interesting thing to remember.”
Jacob Anderson warned that despite the momentum of believing one’s life is fixed through simple actions, that doesn’t always mean there isn’t an eventual crash out. “There comes a point where, you know, you suddenly lose energy and the truth comes to light again.”
Interview with the Vampire’s third season, The Vampire Lestat is slated for release in 2026. You can watch the extended first look now on YouTube, courtesy of AMC Networks. And if you’re interested, you can read my thoughts on the new season when it premieres over on my second blog.
Which character are you most excited to revisit in IWTV Season 3?
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