Watching ‘The Vampire Lestat’ Gave Me a TV Hangover

Memory is a monster. It’s the sentiment that AMC’s adaptation of Anne Rice‘s Interview with the Vampire emphasized, via the show’s official tagline, long before the completion of its second season, but no one could have envisioned exactly how things would play out. Following Season 2’s most shocking revelations, it actually seemed as if the series’ titular vampire, Louis de Pointe du Lac (Jacob Anderson), was actually on his way to some form of reconciliation with his maker and on-again, off-again lover, Lestat de Lioncourt (Sam Reid), but if there’s one thing that the Rolin Jones-created series continually emphasizes, it’s that things are never that straightforward between immortals. The show’s title definitively shifting to The Vampire Lestat for its third season was its loudest signal yet that the story would be pivoting to a different point of view, but that change also brings with it a decisively bold chapter that manages to be equal parts chaotic and poetic, as perpetually unpredictable and enthralling as its subject, while refusing to hold the viewer’s hand throughout any of it.

What Is ‘The Vampire Lestat’ About?

Interview with the Vampire Season 2 leaves a lot of narrative threads dangling, and The Vampire Lestat doesn’t waste any time in tugging the biggest one — how the publication of journalist and interviewer Daniel Molloy’s (Eric Bogosian) book will go down not just with a mainstream audience but also with the subjects involved. Louis and Lestat’s relationship, which has been sitting in a tentatively optimistic place, suddenly becomes more complicated all over again when Interview with the Vampire starts making headlines, and Lestat instantly stalks his way into a Montreal bookstore to pick up a copy, which he then proceeds to viciously annotate with his own rebuttals and corrections. After that, the only logical next step is for Lestat to tell his side of the story, with Daniel, who can’t resist the tantalizing opportunity to uncover another vampire’s secrets, granted exclusive behind-the-scenes access to document events.

Naturally, the timing of Daniel’s documentary just so happens to coincide with the ongoing tour of Lestat’s new band — yes, you read that right, although Lestat hasn’t founded his own band so much as inserted himself into an existing one. Yet real fame and fortune aren’t coming so easily to the group formerly known as Satan’s Night Out, who are playing much smaller venues than they would like, and Lestat is walking a tightrope between capitalizing on the public’s rising interest in vampires — courtesy of Daniel’s book — and pissing off the existing immortal population by exposing more of their secrets. He’s not the only one caught between a rock and a hard place this season; Interview with the Vampire has brought more than a few suppressed feelings to the surface for Louis, too, who finds himself haunted by certain ghosts from his past.

In between intentionally probing sitdowns with Lestat, Daniel is feeling pretty salty about his own changed state, especially since the vampire who turned him, Armand (Assad Zaman), hasn’t reappeared since the events of that fateful night in Dubai. That said, maker and fledgling’s paths are practically destined to cross again once Armand learns of Daniel’s professional involvement with Lestat, which all but compels him to reemerge from the shadows to warn Daniel about the consequences of getting tangled up with the mercurial vampire who’s decided to enter his rockstar era. That’s not the only complicated dynamic that plays out amidst the debut of new songs and the memories that resurface in the process; Lestat is about to get a blast from the past in the form of his mother, Gabriella (Jennifer Ehle), a ruthless vampire whose connection with her son will no doubt raise more than a few eyebrows when its true nature is revealed.

‘The Vampire Lestat’ Is a Television Show and a Visual Album Wrapped Up in One

It’s difficult to fully articulate the experience of watching The Vampire Lestat‘s first six episodes provided for review (yes, not even critics know what will play out in the season finale as of this writing). Its storytelling approach is a completely different beast from the seasons that came before, unapologetically tumultuous and non-linear, jumping back and forth between present-day and flashbacks with no warning. You might think that Daniel’s documentary is the route through which most breadcrumbs are doled out, but it’s actually a collection of preserved recordings, referred to as Lestat’s “Failings,” that provide even more context to deconstruct the season’s lead, with Reid’s intimately resonant voiceover cluing us into the character’s inner thoughts alongside the identifying crackling of vinyl. The precise mode of their acquisition by the viewer is cloaked in mystery, but in more than one sense, the “Failings” seem to serve as Lestat’s final word on many subjects, including the personal regrets that still linger with him.

Despite the more meditative nature of the “Failings,” The Vampire Lestat completely embraces the madness and excess of its premise; the series’ initial episodes left me with the feeling that I was on the same wild tour as the characters, overwhelmed by an onslaught of imagery and swept up in the fervor of nightly shows. In addition to the performances themselves, in which Lestat and his fellow bandmates, including lead guitarist Larry (Schitt’s Creek‘s Noah Reid), rhythm guitarist Alex (Seamus Patterson), bassist Salamander (Ryan Kattner), and drummer TC (Sarah Swire), bring the desired energy and then some, there’s also the sensory whirlwind of the tour bus, of green rooms and afterparties — sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll by its most literal definition. Lestat might have his own lawyer on the payroll, but Christine (Jeanine Serralles) isn’t there to harsh the vibes, as equally likely to join the party as she is to find herself cleaning up his legal messes.

Music is one of the realms in which The Vampire Lestat becomes most hypnotic, thanks to the genius of series composer Daniel Hart, but the show does much more with its songs than merely use them to accompany Reid strutting and vamping onstage. While the band’s sound is more general, non-specific rock at first, Lestat is struck by inspiration to write more music while they’re touring, with each song linked to a defining event from his past — including his relationship with former lover Nicolas de Lenfent (Joseph Potter), his kidnapping and eventual siring by the vampire Magnus (Damien Atkins) and the death of Claudia (Delainey Hayles). In these moments, The Vampire Lestat effectively becomes both a TV show and a visual album, with the soundtrack serving as its own form of soul-baring storytelling rather than just a series of ridiculously catchy earworms (though I can foresee Lestat ending up on more than one viewer’s Spotify Wrapped by the end of the year).

‘The Vampire Lestat’ Is More of a Continuation of ‘Interview with the Vampire’ Than a Reset

The decision to retitle Interview with the Vampire does make sense in the context of the greater story, but it would be a mistake to assume that any newcomers could simply buy tickets to this tour. The Vampire Lestat is still very much a third season, with prior knowledge of its predecessors a requirement to fully grasp where each of the characters is positioned at the start and why they move in a particular direction. There’s very little rehashing of the memories that Louis has already recounted, but viewers are still treated to the occasional revisit of certain scenes from Lestat’s perspective, among them the humorous reveal that Gabriella was actually hanging out in the background of that theater box conversation with Armand, for example. It’s those occasional inclusions that work to remind the viewer that these characters will always recall certain events differently, and that the truth likely lies somewhere between exaggeration and reflection.

Lestat may be the fixed point around which the season’s story orbits, but make no mistake: The Vampire Lestat is an impressive ensemble effort. Reid has the Herculean task of balancing multiple sides of Lestat this time around, peeling back countless layers of a character who is simultaneously just as compelling as you remember and even more damaged than you thought. Anderson’s Louis sits in a more self-assured place than before, but his Season 3 storyline (a completely original construction for the series) allows the actor to lean into several different facets, from chilling mercilessness to heartbreaking vulnerability. Hayles’ return has already been revealed, but the shape it takes is too good to be spoiled, and its culmination will undoubtedly go down as one of the series’ best moments to date.

Bogosian also makes a welcome addition to the immortal portion of Season 3’s cast, and while Daniel’s baby vampire status hasn’t diminished the character’s trademark sarcasm in the slightest, Armand’s arrival is accompanied by new emotional territory for the actor to play as well as stark evidence of his screen chemistry with Zaman. (Then again, it could be argued that Zaman, as Armand, has chemistry with just about everyone.) As Akasha, Sheila Atim completely defies easy description, giving a tremendous performance that will challenge any preconceived notion of the character. Yet Ehle might be having the most fun this season as Lestat’s mother, Gabriella, with a trilling Italian accent and the ability to vacillate between quiet fury and hilarious theatrics in a way that rivals even the antics of her onscreen offspring.

There’s been increased buzz about the uptick in shows written to be more “second-screen friendly,” with an overemphasis on exposition that enables viewers to keep track of the story even while scrolling on their phones. The Vampire Lestat has no such compulsion, with no interest in toning itself down or demystifying its narrative approach. Cultural references, pop or otherwise, are seeded with dizzying frequency, with Lestat just as likely to name-drop Reddit and the perils of embracing internet virality as he is to express his admiration for the “extraordinary” efforts of competitive-eating champion Joey Chestnut. The breakneck pace of those early episodes is a tone-setter early on, which does make it more obvious when the story takes a foot off the gas later in the season, but viewers tuning in weekly will likely have a very different perception of the season’s tempo shifts compared to a critic who inhaled most of her screeners in one sitting. In the same way that reading an amazing book can lead to a “hangover” of sorts, I’m still nursing the TV version after watching The Vampire Lestat (complimentary, of course).

The Vampire Lestat sits in a unique place within the overall series, both a sharp pivot from the straightforwardly formal interview that preceded it and a chaotically thrilling continuation of the existing story. While there’s no official word yet about what the show’s future looks like, an intriguing tease for Season 4 signals that another potential shift could be incoming, one that moves beyond immortals reflecting on the past and pushes into broader supernatural territory with even bigger ramifications for its world. If the overwhelming strengths of The Vampire Lestat prove anything, though, it’s that the show that kicked off AMC’s Immortal Universe can certainly reinvent itself again and again without sacrificing its bite.

The Vampire Lestat premieres June 7 on AMC.

Release Date

June 7, 2026

Network

AMC

Writers

Jonathan Ceniceroz, Ryan Kattner, Anusree Roy, Hannah Moscovitch, Kevin Hanna, Rolin Jones

Cast

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  Jacob Anderson

  Louis de Pointe du Lac

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Pros & Cons

• An eternally compelling Sam Reid leads a thoroughly confident ensemble alongside terrific mainstays Jacob Anderson, Eric Bogosian, Assad Zaman, and Delainey Hayles in a surprising role.
• The show’s full-throated embrace of its wild tour premise results in the sensation of a drug trip for the viewer.
• The soundtrack from series composer Daniel Hart becomes its own form of soul-baring storytelling.
• Newcomers Jennifer Ehle and Sheila Atim are powerful additions.
• The season sets up an intriguing new direction for the greater story to pivot to.

• The season’s pace slows a bit in the back half compared to its breakneck start.