The Vampire Lestat, are you finally watching this incredible series?
AMC+ Interview with the Vampire series comes in hard with its full revamp of title, style, and promotion with season 3: The Vampire Lestat.
The first two seasons split Anne Rice’s novel into two spectacular seasons, reimagining the story as a free-flowing universe rather than one storyline at a time. The first two seasons are set in modern-day Dubai, with journalist Daniel Molloy (Eric Bogosian) sitting down for the second time with the centuries-old vampire Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), who is determined to finally tell the truth about his life
Louis’s story begins in 1910s New Orleans, where grief and isolation lead him into the orbit of the magnetic and dangerous Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid). Seduced by promises of immortality and freedom, Louis becomes Lestat’s companion, but their passionate bond soon spirals into manipulation, violence, and emotional warfare. After transforming a dying young girl named Claudia (Bailey Bass) into a vampire in a desperate attempt to save their relationship, the trio forms a volatile family trapped between love and resentment.
Claudia’s growing desire for independence and disdain for Lestat push her and Louis to rebel against Lestat, ending in betrayal and bloodshed, allowing them to flee New Orleans.
Anne Rice’s Revenants and the Search for Other Vampires
The pair travels across the world in search of others of their kind. Along the way, they encounter revenants. While some viewers unfamiliar with Anne Rice’s novels dismissed them as “zombie vampires,” revenants are fully canon to her mythology.
This realization shows Louis and Claudia (played by Delainey Hayles in season 2) just how special they truly are. In Anne Rice’s world, not everyone turned into a vampire “takes”. A story all too familiar to Lestat, but we’ll get to that.
After a couple of years, Louis and Claudia find themselves in Paris, where they encounter the vampire Armand (Assad Zaman) and the Théâtre des Vampires, a coven hiding dark secrets behind theatrical spectacle. As Louis falls into a complicated relationship with Armand, old wounds resurface and the fragile balance within the coven collapses. The story builds toward a devastating season finale with a trial, tragic losses, and revelations that challenge everything Louis thought he remembered.
The final two episodes of Interview with the Vampire Season 2 are truly a masterpiece. The performances given by Sam Reid, Jacob Anderson, and Delainey Hayes are extraordinary to watch and should have received some sort of award recognition, but didn’t. The series wasn’t even in the conversation.
“Rolin Jones isn’t adapting one book at a time. He’s building an entire universe.”
How Netflix Helped Turn Interview with the Vampire Into a Hit
Up to this point, Interview with the Vampire has solidified itself as the best show on television that no one was watching.
AMC+ is a smaller platform known for hit shows like The Walking Dead franchise, but it wasn’t until the first 2 seasons of the series appeared on Netflix that suddenly, the audience exploded, word of mouth spread, and viewers finally discovered one of television’s most ambitious genre dramas. Now, the world is ready for The Vampire Lestat, and Rolin Jones and Sam Reid seem more than prepared to deliver it.
Now, the world is ready for The Vampire Lestat, and Rolin Jones and Sam Reid seem more than prepared to deliver it.
The Vampire Lestat Fully Embraces the Brat Prince Era
Interview with the Vampire has fully rebranded itself for its iconic character for season 3. Everything has changed, from the title and merchandise to Sam Reid performing a full Lestat concert at the New York City premiere. It’s Reid’s world now, and we’re all just living in it.
The tone of the series has also shifted as well. The first two seasons were told through Louis’s perspective and his smooth voice-over, capturing both his depression and his memories through an increasingly unreliable lens. Season 3 takes place in 2026, two years after the release of Daniel Molloy’s Interview with the Vampire, the book Louis never told Lestat was coming.
So, Lestat does what every super level-headed person would do: fully crashes out, starts a rock band, and writes, sings, and performs songs telling his story so that the love of his centuries will see the effects of his betrayal firsthand, unable to turn away. While I do think Lestat’s crash-out is valid, becoming a mediocre rockstar is hilarious (and canon). The reasoning hints at why he will be dubbed “The Brat Prince”.
Sam Reid’s Lestat is a hurricane in velvet.
A New Storytelling Style for The Vampire Lestat
Unlike previous seasons, The Vampire Lestat doesn’t tell a straightforward narrative. Instead, Rolin Jones unfolds Lestat’s tragic beginnings through intimate songs, flashbacks, panic attacks, and blood-induced drug trips (also canon). Lestat’s voice-over is much more chaotic, less refined, and sounds like an ADHD ramble. These choices set the tone for his fractured mental state.
The season introduces several major figures from Lestat’s past, including his mother Gabrielle (Jennifer Ehle) and the ancient vampire Marius. Of course, his bandmates learn he is a true vampire. But more interestingly, the series does not shy away from Lestat’s, shall I say…complicated relationship with his mother, Gabrielle. Where the book(s) alluded to the inappropriate nature of their relationship, the series takes away all question, diving headfirst into his mother’s predatory nature towards him, in this life and the previous. Think, Targarian, but so much worse.
We also meet the Vampire Marius, played by Twilight icon Christopher Heyerdahl. He is one of the most important characters in the story. He’s not only Armand’s maker, but also Lestat’s teacher of vampire ways, and most importantly, the keeper of Those Who Must Be Kept. Who are they? Akasha and Enkil, the first vampires and rulers of their kind.
While I am keeping this review spoiler-free, if you remember, at the end of season two, when Louis and Armand confront Lestat, he tells them, “I have the blood of Akasha in me,” causing them to step down. This jaw-dropping revelation is explained and explored this season.
Sam Reid Delivers a Career-Defining Performance as Lestat
When it comes to Sam Reid’s performance, what can I even say?
Reid’s Lestat is a hurricane in velvet. He’s magnetic and monstrous, hilarious and heartbreaking, turning every scene into a performance while revealing the aching loneliness beneath the spectacle. It’s the rare kind of portrayal that doesn’t just inhabit a character, it redefines how audiences imagine him.
I think the greatest achievement of his performance is how he captures the version of Lestat that readers often describe from Anne Rice’s novels: not simply a vampire, but an artist, a romantic, a narcissist, a predator, a dreamer, and a deeply damaged man, all occupying the same body. Lesser performances might choose one of those traits. Reid somehow plays all of them at once.
Jacob Anderson Remains the Heart of the Story
While much of the conversation surrounding the season will understandably center on Lestat, Jacob Anderson delivers equally compelling work as Louis. However, instead of being centered on reconciliations, we’re 2 years past the bombshell of the novel’s release. Louis’s story now focuses on growth, reflection, and revenge, without ever feeling disconnected.
Rolin Jones has always done an impeccable job of honoring the source material while expanding on it. He takes what we’ve all read between the lines, bringing it to life without the consequences of a 1970s/80s world. He is not telling this story one book at a time; he is building and melding the worlds, creating a universe I cannot wait to continue exploring.
Final Thoughts on The Vampire Lestat
The Vampire Lestat’s season is everything fans could have hoped for and more. It’s glamorous, messy, heartbreaking, funny, and utterly intoxicating, embracing every contradiction that has made the Brat Prince such an enduring icon. Whether reveling in its rockstar energy or exploring the emotional wreckage left in its wake, the season never loses sight of the humanity beneath the spectacle. By the final episode, one thing becomes abundantly clear: Lestat remains one of fiction’s most captivating characters, and this series has never been more confident in bringing his world to life.
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