The Vampire Lestat Press Convention

Throughout San Diego Comedian-Con, io9 was invited to a press convention for The Vampire Lestat, the most recent Anne Rice Immortal Universe sequence for AMC. And don’t get it twisted, this is not Interview With The Vampire season three; that is formally the Lestat present, as he takes the mic to inform his story and put some misconceptions about himself and his previous to relaxation—that’s, till they rise from the lifeless or awaken…

Star Sam Reid (Lestat de Lioncourt) was joined by Jacob Anderson (Louis de Pointe du Lac), Eric Bogosian (Daniel Molloy), and the present’s inventive workforce to interrupt down the slew of bulletins and teases sizzling off the SDCC panel. Fans of the show will recall that season two of Interview With the Vampire ended with a seeming reconciliation between Lestat and Louis, however their honeymoon part was seemingly short-lived as soon as Daniel Molloy really printed his guide, if the teaser screened on the conference is any indication.

It cold-opens on Louis and Lestat in separation proceedings with their legal professionals. “We’re in a divorce period.” Reid smiled. “The [Interview With The Vampire] guide continues to be fairly a big hurdle to have gotten over. On the finish of season two, neither of them had learn the guide, and so there’s clearly the fallout of that.”

Anderson jumped in, “That scene that you just see within the teaser was mad. I gained’t speak an excessive amount of about the entire scene, however I used to be a bit shaken after it… I used to be like, ‘What am I doing?’ I really feel like we needed to do a unique factor in that scene than we’ve performed earlier than.”

Reid continued, “Yeah, effectively, you form of have the historical past of two seasons and a whole lot of earlier expertise and a whole lot of weight like that that exists now between the 2 characters that we get to hold on to each scene, so it’s actually enjoyable that the layers simply grow to be deeper and deeper. It’s actually enjoyable. There’s countless prospects that you are able to do with these two characters [who] form of actually burn one another’s homes down and rebuild them again collectively block by block, just for any person to return in with a demolition crew and do it another time.”

And that somebody was Danny Boy Molloy along with his guide. Molloy returns as he’s recruited to doc Lestat’s musical facet of the story in a visible medium by the Brat Prince’s phrases and music. And sure, there might be a whole lot of songs about Louis and the fallout of their break-up.

“It’s the love of his life. How might he not be influenced by Louis in his songwriting?” revealed composer and music supervisor Daniel Hart, who stated he pulled musical influences from Led Zeppelin to Robert Plant, to classical to jazz, to even trendy music. “I feel it’s truthful to say, and I feel I’m allowed to say, he’s written songs in season three particularly about Louis. You’ll know that they’re songs about Louis. There are different songs about many different topics. Lestat has many ideas and emotions. However once we have been engaged on the songs in the beginning, I feel the factor we discovered was probably the most useful in looking for music that may embody the spirit of Lestat, was to try to keep away from doing what most musicals are required to do, which is to additional the plot of their lyrics.”

Showrunner Rolin Jones elaborated that all of it involves a head as Lestat resides by fairly an identification disaster between “the performative vampire and precise vampire,” and defined that after an occasion in episode one, Lestat begins questioning every little thing.

“There’s somewhat little bit of the portrait of the artist and throwing your self on the market, proper? And you place this music on the market; you place, like, ‘That is how I’m going to inform my story. I’m gonna inform it this manner’ This music is placing himself on the market as an artist [and] opens him as much as a degree of introspection that’s harmful, thrilling, very, very terrifying, and that he’s not ready for, and so you understand we’re in an actual Hamlet state of affairs right here. I feel that he’s going after the actually, actually huge issues, and I feel he’s charging ahead with abandon, and does that imply attempting to finish it? Don’t know. Does that imply he’s attempting to get to the opposite facet of this? What’s all this appearing out? What is that this eager for extremity? This factor that’s inside him cracks all of it open.”

And because it’s been confirmed that Akasha’s blood is inside him, it begs the query if this thirst for the unknown is what may very well be driving him. We don’t know but who’s taking part in the Queen of the Damned, the primary of their vampire type; Jones has stated a proposal was made to an actress, however she has but to be revealed. Reid, nonetheless, performed it coy on whether or not or not Akasha’s affect performs an element in how Lestat takes to fame.

“With the blood of Akasha, does he really feel like he’s invincible? Mainly, sure, I might say so, yeah, and to [a] fault. I feel he’s blindsided by how a lot energy that he has. I feel like an vital key [about Lestat] when you will have that a lot energy, he doesn’t actually really feel lovable as a result of it appears like, ‘If I confirmed all the energy, folks would simply be fearful of me.’ That’s a giant dynamic between [him and Louis] and [he] hides a lot of himself from Louis in order that he appears like he can’t be actually beloved, after which it finally ends up being catastrophic in his personal proper. And if you happen to really feel invincible, why not dive headfirst into the concrete and see what occurs? And carrying alongside the results of that, it’s his crux, I suppose. It’s the place we start the season.”

The Vampire Lestat returns in 2026 on AMC.

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